what you say pleases me well; and here I swear to God and to St. Mary,
that I never slew him, nor took counsel for his death, neither did it
please me, though he had taken my kingdom from me. And I beseech ye
therefore all, as friends and true vassals, that ye tell me how I may
clear myself. And the chiefs who were present said, that he and twelve
of the knights who came with him from Toledo, should make this oath in
the church at St. Gadea at Burgos, and that so he should be cleared.

XI. So the King and all his company took horse and went to Burgos. And
when the day appointed for the oath was come, the King went to hear
mass in the church of Gadea, and his sisters the Infantas Dona Urraca
and Dona Elvira with him, and all his knights. And the King came
forward upon a high stage that all the people might see him, and my Cid
came to him to receive the oath; and my Cid took the book of the
Gospels and opened it, and laid it upon the altar, and the King laid
his hands upon it, and the Cid said unto him, King Don Alfonso, you
come here to swear concerning the death of King Don Sancho your
brother, that you neither slew him nor took counsel for his death; say
now you and these hidalgos, if ye swear this. And the King and the
hidalgos answered and said, Yea, we swear it. And the Cid said, If ye
knew of this thing, or gave command that it should be done, may you die
even such a death as your brother the King Don Sancho, by the hand of a
villain whom you trust; one who is not a hidalgo, from another land,
not a Castillian; and the King and the knights who were with him said
Amen. And the king's colour changed; and the Cid repeated the oath unto
him a second time, and the King and the twelve knights said Amen to it
in like manner, and in like manner the countenance of the King was
changed again. And my Cid repeated the oath unto him a third time, and
the King and the knights said Amen; but the wrath of the King was
exceeding great, and he said to the Cid, Ruydiez, why dost thou thus