The last three lines of the colophon provide the terminus ante quem: “May God grant his paradise to the man who wrote this book! / Per Abbat wrote it down, in the month of May, / in the year 1207” ( The Poem of the Cid, lines 3731-33). The work now known as the Cantar (or Poema) de mio Cid is one of the earliest of such retellings, having likely been composed in the final years of the twelfth century or beginning of the thirteenth (Smith 18 Michael 16). The tremendous successes and challenges experienced by Rodrigo Díaz have led to many retellings of his life and deeds. Cristina married Ramiro, the grandson of King García III of Navarre and María married Ramón Berenguer III of Barcelona little is known about Diego, who does not feature in the Cantar de mio Cid Rodrigo’s daughters, called Elvira and Sol in the Cantar, are central figures of the second half of the work. They had three children who survived to adulthood: Cristina, María, and Diego, though the order of their birth is unknown. With respect to his family life, Rodrigo Díaz married Jimena in 1074 or 1075 (121-23). Jimena, who would live at least another decade, returned Rodrigo’s body to Castile, where it was reinterred at the monastery of Cardeña (187). His wife, Jimena, remained there until 1102, at which point the city was evacuated after a lengthy siege by Almoravid forces (186).

He held the city until his death in 1099. After numerous military campaigns in the Levante in the 1090s, he besieged Valencia in 1093, which surrendered in 1094 (163-64). He was banished by Alfonso in 1081, which led him to serve the Muslim ruler of Zaragoza after recovering the King’s favor, he was banished a second time in 1089 (125). Upon Sancho’s assassination in 1072, the Cid became the vassal of the slain king’s brother, Alfonso VI, with whom he fell out of favor on more than one occasion (116, 118-20). He came from an aristocratic family, eventually serving King Sancho II of Castile (and later León and Galicia). El Cid is an unofficial title gained in his later years, which stems from the Arabic sayyid and can be translated to señor or lord (3). Rodrigo Díaz was likely born in Vivar around 1043 (Fletcher 107). Though not to be confused with a work of historiography, the hero protagonist of the Cantar de mio Cid was indeed a historical figure.

Poema de Mío Cid by Anonymous