Almoravid quartermasters arrived at El Cuarte in mid-September; the column of soldiers, women, children, servants, pack trains, and animal herds took another 15 days to arrive at the campsite. With him were his principal captains and his most imposing units, including a mehala camel corps. The city, Muhammad said, should surrender without delay.
El Cid, however, stood firm. This first encounter concluded with Muhammad ordering elephants to push forward six wheeled belfries built at El Cuarte. Rawhides covered the front and sides for protection against flaming arrows. The following day, Muhammad strengthened the cordon around the city, deploying archers, spearmen, javelin throwers, and horsemen and making a show of trumpeting elephants. That night, the sky filled with black clouds loaded with moisture. The populace had been warned to stay home.
Roused at 3 a. All carried new shields made by Basque craftsmen from tough haya beech wood, with forged iron reinforcements. Standing shoulder to shoulder in a single rank, they made a formidable shield wall. Struggling awake from their Ramadan slumber, the Almoravid sentries squinted into the rising sun.
Though the siege machines had frightened the citizens of Valencia, Rodrigo had seen an opportunity in them. Flames shot up the wooden scaffolds and ladders. Meanwhile, behind the walls of Valencia, Rodrigo had divided his main force into two. He took charge of the lead element, according to Abu bin Alqama, the only chronicler to witness the scene. Springing onto the back of his famed warhorse, Babieca, he put spur to flank and led his knights through the gates at the trot.
James], and at them! The knights charged through the pandemonium that was now the Almoravid cordon. The ground trembled under the hooves of the destriers as they trampled lanced Berber warriors, tents, field kitchens, and supplies. Then, with the bewildered Berbers facing this group, the second wing smashed into them from the rear.
Leaderless and without orders, Berber cavalrymen seized mounts and set off in wild pursuit. As they arrived at El Cuarte, they were shaken by the spectacle: The Turia, swollen by water surging down from the mountains, had become a torrent rushing to the sea, carrying away pavilions, campaign tents, supply wagons, and stores. For Rodrigo had ordered the irrigation weirs opened or broken. Even as the Almoravids struggled to meet this new assault, their situation took another turn for the worse.
The "Historia Roderici" was written in Latin by a Catholic cleric sometime before The poem "Carmen," written in Latin about , extols the battle between Rodrigo and the Count of Barcelona; and the "Poema del Cid," was written in Spanish about Later documents written long after El Cid's life are even more likely to be fabulous legends rather than biographical sketches.
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Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. The Cid's enemies at court declared that he was not a faithful vassal but a traitor, and the King believed them. Thus after a victorious campaign against Toledo, the Cid was exiled from Castile in the summer of He spent his first decade of exile fighting for various Christian and Moslem rulers.
Throughout he remained loyal to Alfonso, despite the King's steadfast refusal to forgive him. In the Cid, in coalition with the kings of Saragossa and Aragon, concentrated on repelling the advance of the Berber Almoravids in eastern Spain.
In November he began a siege of Valencia, and the city finally fell in June Such action consisted of an intervention in Valencia on a huge scale, with Rodrigo leaving for the front with a large army, in the direction of Murviedro.
Sagunto, Valencia. Meanwhile, the circumstances in that area had changes for the worse. The paths of the old friends separated and the former enemies forged an alliance. The confrontation seemed imminent but this time, diplomacy proved to be more effective than weapons, and following a series of negotiations, the count of Barcelona withdrew without a fight. Then Rodrigo acted in a very strange way for a royal envoy, and started to collect the taxes that were formerly paid to the Catalan counts or the king of Castile for himself, in Valencia and the other territories of the eastern seaboard.
This attitude suggests that during his time at court, Alfonso VI and Rodrigo has reached an agreement to achieve the true independence of the Battler, in return for defending the strategic interests of Castile on the eastern flank of the Peninsula. This situation, in fact, would become a reality at the end of , following the sinister incident of the castle of Aledo.
It happened that Alfonso VI had managed to control this stronghold in what is now the province of Murcia , which was threatened by the small kingdoms of Murcia, Granada and Seville, against which the Castilian troops posted there launched continuous attacks. Bocairent, Valencia.
This situation, in addition to the activity of the Battler in the east, moved the kings of these kingdoms to once more ask for the support of the emperor of Morocco, Yusuf ben Tashufin, who disembarked with his forces in the early summer of the year and laid siege to Aledo.
As soon as Alfonso found out about this situation, he left to help the besieged stronghold, and sent instructions to Rodrigo to meet him. The Battler marched towards the south, where he approached the region of Aledo, but he failed to meet the troops from Castile as he had promised.
It is not certain whether this was just an error in coordination during a time when communications were difficult to establish, or deliberate disobedience on the part of the knight from Burgos, who had other plans.
This will never been known, but the result was that Alfonso VI considered the action of his vassal to be unforgivable and again condemned him to exile, and even expropriated his property, which was only usually done in cases of treason.
From this time on, the Battler became an independent leader and continued to act in the eastern region of the Peninsula guided only by his own interests. Elche, Alicante. After signing the peace treaty, Rodrigo returned to Valencia in , where again he was able to collect the taxes of the capital and those of the main strongholds of that region. Almundir, to whom that region belonged, was afraid that the treaty might be broken and again forged an alliance against Rodrigo with the count of Barcelona, whose troops marched southward, in search of Rodrigo.
This victory firmly consolidated the dominant position of the Battler in the east , as before the end of the year, probably in the autumn of , the count of Barcelona and the Castilian leader sealed a pact by which the former would stop intervening in the area and leave Rodrigo free to act in the future. Beach in Cullera, Valencia. In principle, the Battler limited himself to collecting taxes in Valencia and to controlling some strategic strongholds that allowed him to dominate the whole territory, i.
This ambitious plan failed, however, and Alfonso VI was forced to retreat to Castile just after reaching Valencia, without having obtained any benefits from the campaign. Rodrigo, on the other hand, who was then in Saragossa, negotiated an alliance with the king of that city and launched an attack in reprisal against La Rioja.
From then on, only the Almoravids were able to stand up to the domain of the Battler in the eastern seaboard. It was then that Rodrigo finally decided to change from a policy of establishing protectorates to one of conquest.
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