The Song of My Cid: From Burgos to Valencia

The Song of My Cid opens on a man leaving home. Rodrigo Díaz, accused of stealing money from King Alfonso VI, sees his doors standing open and sighs. Tradition makes Vivar, named in the poem, his birthplace. Today Vivar del Cid is a small village with a monument to the Cid at the Solar del Cid and the Cid's windmill, where the modern Camino del Cid begins.

Location precision: The poem names Vivar but not the Cid's house; the pin marks the village.

Visitor guidance: A short drive from Burgos; the Solar del Cid monument and the windmill (start of the Camino del Cid) are in the village.

Riding out of Vivar, the Cid's party sees a crow on the right, the lucky side; entering Burgos, it is on the left. He tells Álvar Fáñez that they have been thrown out of the land. The city kept him in the end: first buried at the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña, the Cid now lies at the centre of Burgos Cathedral, in the tomb he shares with Doña Jimena.

Location precision: The poem names the city of Burgos but not a building; the pin marks the cathedral, where the Cid is buried today.

Visitor guidance: The tomb of the Cid and Jimena is inside Burgos Cathedral.

Before riding into exile, the Cid leaves his wife Doña Ximena and his daughters Elvira and Sol in the care of the monastery of Cardeña, as the poem tells it. History does not confirm that scene. What is documented is the sequel: after he died in 1099 and Valencia fell, his remains were brought here in 1102, and for some years his embalmed body sat on a bench in the presbytery. By about 1280 the monks had built a body of stories, the Legend of Cardeña, binding him to a monastery he had had little to do with in life.

In the poem, the exile ends in triumph: the Cid captures the city of Valencia and sends for his family. History is messier. An uprising in October 1092 gave him his opening, and when the siege ended in May 1094 he had carved out his own principality on the Mediterranean coast. He died here on 10 July 1099 and was first buried in the cathedral. The cathedral standing today was built over the site of a former mosque, long after his time.

Location precision: The poem and history place the Cid in the city, not at one building; the pin marks the cathedral, where he was first buried.

Visitor guidance: Valencia Cathedral stands in the old centre; it is a later building on the site of the former mosque.

On the road home from Valencia, the infantes of Carrión abuse and abandon the Cid's daughters at the roadside in Corpes, tied to trees. Their cousin Félez Muñoz suspects trouble, goes back and takes them to safety. Where Corpes lay is still argued. This village in Guadalajara is one place identified with it; another claim points to Castillejo de Robledo in Soria. The modern Camino del Cid itself notes that scholars have long debated the site.

Location precision: The poem's Corpes has never been located for certain; this village is only one proposed identification.

Back in Castile the story turns to justice. The infantes of Carrión, married to the Cid's daughters, have shamed themselves, so the Cid asks the court of Toledo for justice. Toledo had been in Alfonso VI's hands since 25 May 1085. The court is settled by a duel in which the infantes are defeated by the Cid's men, and the daughters remarry the infantes of Navarre and Aragon. The Alcázar, a fortress since the 10th century, stands in the city.

Location precision: The poem names the court at Toledo but no building; the pin marks the Alcázar as a landmark of the city.

Visitor guidance: The Alcázar is a fortress in the old town of Toledo.