Spain and Her Colonies, Compiled from the Best Authorities

by Unknown

For seven years Alfonso of Leon and Sancho of Castile had been at war, each seeking to destroy the other; and at length at Golpejara, near Carrion, on the eve of what promised to be a decisive battle, a solemn engagement was entered into by the brothers that whichever of the two was worsted in the encounter should resign his kingdom to the other without further bloodshed. The Castilians, in spite of Sancho and his famous Champion, were defeated at Golpejara; and Alfonso of Leon, foolishly trusting his brother’s word, took no heed to improve his victory, and his unsuspecting army was overwhelmed the next day by the Castilian troops under Ruy Diaz de Bivar, the author of this exceedingly characteristic, if not entirely authentic piece of treachery.

It is scarcely surprising that the Cid was not trusted by Alfonso of Leon, when he, in his turn, succeeded to the crown of Castile. But for the moment Alfonso was not only deprived of his throne and of his liberty by his more successful brother, but he was compelled to purchase his life by a promise to enter the monastery of Sahagun. Disregarding this vow, and making good his escape to Toledo, the royal refugee was received with the usual hospitality of the Arab by El Mamun, the Moslem ruler of the city, who sheltered and entertained him, as he himself admitted, “like a son.”

Sancho meanwhile had turned his arms against his brother Garcia, whom he dispossessed of his territories; against his sister Elvira, who met with a similar fate, and, lastly, against his sister Urraca, who withstood him boldly in her city of Zamora. And not only did this time-honored fortress resist the attack of Sancho and his wily major-general, but the king was slain outside the walls of the city by one of his sister’s knights. Alfonso thus not only recovered his own kingdom of Leon, but, swearing perpetual friendship with El Mamun of Toledo, he was elected king of Castile by the Commons assembled at Burgos; and the defeated refugee of 1071 found himself, in less than two years, the greatest prince in Christian Spain; Alfonso the Sixth of Leon and of Castile.

Yet the legend runs that Alfonso was compelled to undergo the indignity of a public examination, and a triple oath before the knights and nobles assembled at Burgos, to the effect that he had had no share in the murder of King Sancho; and the oath was administered by Ruy Diaz of Bivar, the companion in arms of the Castilian king, sometime the faithless enemy of Carrion, but now the acknowledged leader of the Castilian nobility.

Alfonso of Leon may have forgiven the treachery in the field, but he never forgot the insult in the Council. He restrained his indignation, however, and was even induced by reasons of State to grant to the bold Castilian lord the hand of his cousin Ximena in marriage, and to intrust him with the command of an expedition into Andalusia. But the royal favor was of brief duration; and in 1081 we find that Roderic, partly owing to the intrigues of Garcia Ordonez, and partly to the enduring enmity of the king, was banished from the Christian dominions.

Of all the petty sovereignties that came into existence on the breaking up of the Ommeyad Caliphate of Cordova, that of Moctadir, the chief of the Ben-i-hud of Saragossa, was the most powerful in Northern or Central Spain; and at the Moslem court of Saragossa, Ruy Diaz, with his fame and his followers, was warmly welcomed (1081) by Moctadir as a Said or Cid—a lord or leader of the Arabs. He had been driven out of Castile by Alfonso. He found a home and honorable command at Saragossa. So long as he could make war upon his neighbors, all countries were alike to Roderic of Bivar. Nor was it long before his prowess brought honor and profit to Moctadir, or, rather, to his son and successor, Motamin.

Ramon Berenguer III., count of Barcelona, was engaged, like other Christian princes of his time, in chronic warfare with his Moslem neighbors; and Motamin, with his Castilian Cid, marching against the Catalans, defeated the Christians with great slaughter at Almenara, near Lerida, and brought Ramon Berenguer a prisoner to Saragossa (1081), where the victorious Cid was loaded with presents by the grateful Motamin, and invested with an authority in the kingdom subordinate only to that of the king himself. Two years later (1083) an expedition was undertaken by the Moslems, under Roderic, against their Christian neighbors in Aragon. King Sancho Ramirez was completely defeated by the Castilian champion, who returned once more to Saragossa loaded with booty and renown. In 1084 the Cid seems to have paid a friendly visit to the court of Alfonso VI. But although he was apparently well received, he suspected treachery, and, returning to the court of the Moslem, once more took service under the delighted Motamin. His next campaign, undertaken in the following year, was not against any Christian power, but against the hostile Moslems of northern Valencia, and was crowned with the usual success. Motamin died in 1085, but the Cid remained in the service of his son and successor, Mostain, fighting against Christian and Moslem as occasion offered, partly for the King of Saragossa, but chiefly for the personal advantage of Ruy Diaz of Bivar. A stranger national hero it is hard to imagine! Nor were his subsequent proceedings in any degree less strange.

Al Mamun, the host and protector of Alfonso VI., had died in 1075, leaving, his grandson, Cadir, to succeed him as sovereign of Toledo. Abdulaziz, the viceroy of the subject city of Valencia, took advantage of the weakness of the young prince to declare himself independent, and placing himself under the protection of the Christians, undertook to pay a large subsidy to Alfonso VI. in return for his recognition and support. The subsidy was punctually paid, and, in spite of a present of no less than a hundred thousand pieces of gold handed over by Moctadir of Saragossa to Alfonso as the price of Valencia, Abdulaziz retained his hold of the city until his death in 1085. On this, numerous pretenders to the government immediately arose, including Moctadir of Saragossa, a purchaser for value, and the two sons of Abdulaziz; while Alfonso took advantage of the confusion that ensued to persuade Cadir to surrender Toledo, much coveted by the Christian king, and to accept, or, more exactly, to retain, for himself the sovereignty of Valencia, under the humiliating protection of Castile. Alfonso cared nothing that Toledo was the inheritance of his youthful ally, the home of his old protector, when he himself was a hunted refugee. He cared nothing that the Valencians were hostile to Cadir, and that powerful neighbors were prepared to dispute his possession. He cared nothing that Moctadir, who had actually purchased the city from Alfonso himself, was on the way to make good his claim. A treaty was forced upon Cadir by which Toledo was surrendered to Alfonso VI. (1085), and the Christian king was bound to place and maintain the unhappy prince in possession of his own subordinate city of Valencia.

Toledo thus became the capital of Christian Spain; and the evicted sovereign, escorted by a large force of Castilian troops under Alvar Fanez, made his sad and solemn entry into Valencia, despised at once by the citizens of Toledo, whom he had abandoned to the Christian sovereign, and by the citizens of Valencia, where his power was maintained by Christian lances. And costly indeed was this Christian maintenance. Six hundred pieces of gold is said to have been the daily allowance of the army of Castilian mercenaries; and the taxes that were necessitated by their presence only added to the unpopularity of the government. Many of Cadir’s Moslem subjects fled from the city; and their place was taken by his Christian supporters or pensioners, whose rapacity was, if possible, exceeded by their cruelty. But the coming of the Almoravides gave a new turn to the fortunes of the city. Alvar Fanez and his knights were recalled by Alfonso, and after the defeat of the Christians at Zalaca, in October, 1086, Cadir found himself threatened with immediate expulsion by his own citizens, supported by Mondhir of Lerida, the uncle of Mostain of Saragossa. In this difficulty he once more sought the protection of Christian lances, and applied for aid to the Cid, who immediately advanced on Valencia.

An intriguer, at all times and places, Roderic promised his support to Cadir in return for admission within the walls. He entered into a formal treaty with Mostain that the city should be his, if all the booty were handed over to the Campeador; and he sent envoys to Alfonso to assure him that in all these forays and alliances he thought only of the advantage of Christendom and the honor of Castile. Mondhir, overawed by the appearance of the allied army from Saragossa, hastily retired from before Valencia, where Mostain and his Christian Said were welcomed as deliverers by Cadir.