three of them. By the middle of the following century the
enthusiasm that had followed the first successful blows struck
against the Moor had waned, and with it the vividness of their
historical significance and order.

Let us look at the Cid for a moment as he was seen by a Latin
chronicler who confesses that the purpose of his modest narrative
was merely to preserve the memory of the Cid of history.

When Ferdinand I of Castile died under the walls of Valencia in
1065 he divided his kingdom among his five children. To Sancho he
left Castile, to Alphonso Leon, to Garcia Galicia, to dona Urraca
the city and lands of Zamora, and to dona Elvira Toro. Sancho,
like his father, soon set about uniting the scattered inheritance.
Ruy Diaz, a native of Bivar near Burgos, was his standard bearer
against Alphonso at the battle of Volpejar, aided him in the
Galician campaign and was active at the siege of Zamora, where
Sancho was treacherously slain. Alphonso, the despoiled lord of
Leon, succeeded to the throne of Castile. Ruy Diaz, now called the
Campeador (Champion) in honor of his victory over a knight of
Navarre, was sent with a force of men to collect the annual taxes
from the tributary Moorish kings of Andalusia. Mudafar of Granada,
eager to throw off the yoke of Castile, marched against the
Campeador and the loyal Motamid of Seville, and was routed at the
battle of Cabra. Garcia Ordonez who was fighting in the ranks of
Mudafar was taken prisoner. It was here probably that the Cid
acquired that tuft of Garcia's beard which he later produced with
such convincing effect at Toledo. The Cid returned to Castile
laden with booty and honors. The jealousy aroused by this exploit
and by an equally successful raid against the region about Toledo