El Cid

Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was born around 1043 in Vivar, a village near Burgos. Leading his own band of loyal knights, he built a reputation serving in the armies of both Christian and Muslim rulers across the fractured landscape of 11th-century Iberia. At the close of the century he came to dominate the Levante, reclaiming the Taifa of Valencia from Moorish control and ruling the Principality of Valencia from 17 June 1094 until his death on 10 July 1099. His wife Jimena Díaz inherited the city and held it until 1102, when the Moors retook it. After his death he became the protagonist of El Cantar de mio Cid, the most significant medieval Spanish epic poem, which cast him as the ideal knight: strong, valiant, loyal, just, and pious. His granddaughter married into royalty - her son García Ramírez became King of Navarre - and El Cid remains Spain's most celebrated national hero.