After a while Alfonzo recalled the Cid from banishment and gave him
seven castles and the lands adjoining them. He needed the Cid's
help in the greatest of all his plans against the Moors. He was
determined to capture Toledo. He attacked it with a large army
in which there were soldiers from many foreign lands. The Cid is
said to have been the commander. After a long siege the city fell
and the victorious army marched across the great bridge built by the
Moors, which you would cross to-day if you went to Toledo. [NOTE
FROM Brett Fishburne: This stunned me, so I researched it briefly
and it turns out that the bridge was washed out completely in 1257,
then rebuilt by Alfonso X. There were numerous other reconstructions
done between then and 2000, the most recent of which I am aware
was in the late 1970s using stone blocks found in situ.]

Valencia was one of the largest and richest cities in Moorish Spain.
It was strongly fortified, but the Cid determined to attack it.

The plain about the city was irrigated by streams that came down
from the neighboring hills. To prevent the Cid's army from coming
near the city the Saracens flooded the plain. But the Cid camped
on high ground above the plain and from that point besieged the
city. Food became very scarce in Valencia. Wheat, barley and
cheese were all so dear that none but the rich could buy them.
People ate horses, dogs, cats and mice, until in the whole city
only three horses and a mule were left alive.

Then on the fifteenth of June, 1094, the governor went to the camp
of the Cid and delivered to him the keys of the city. The Cid
placed his men in all the forts and took the citadel as his own
dwelling. His banner floated from the towers. He called himself