The Cid and His Spain by Ramón Menéndez Pidal

Author:Ramón Menéndez Pidal [Pidal, Ramón Menéndez]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, General
ISBN: 9781134982400
Google: CYykDAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2016-07-07T16:17:39+00:00

The Cid in Vain endeavours to obtain a Legal Trial.

When Rodrigo at Elche learned that his proposal had been rejected, he determined to conduct his own defence and, being learned in the law, drew up four different forms of oath containing an explanation of his involuntary fault, a protestation of loyalty to the king, and a form of “confusion” or legal curse invoking divine justice. In the first three oaths he justified his conduct during the recent campaign, whilst in the fourth he presented the defence in more general terms, to provide against the possibility that the unknown accusations might refer to facts prior to Aledo. He asked that the King should choose whichever he pleased of those four oaths and, to fulfil it, declared himself ready to fight with any knight of the King, his equal in the rank he had held when he enjoyed the royal favour. And he ended up by saying that, if any other oath be found juster and better than his own, he would gladly accept it and clear himself by undergoing the ordeal therein imposed.

Now, according to the law of those days, when the call to arms went forth, anyone who strove to join the standard but failed to get there, cleared himself merely by taking an oath.1 Alphonso, however, did not deign to accept either the oath or the challenge of the Cid and refused to listen to his demand that he be allowed either a regular trial or an opportunity to meet his accusers face to face. In the eleventh century the King’s power was absolute, and Alphonso, in the knowledge that the Cid was without a friend at Court, made him feel the full weight of this power. A hundred years were to pass before Alphonso IX of Leon was compelled to swear before the Court in 1188 that he would refrain from venting his anger on anyone on the strength of intrigue or slander without first hearing the accused, disclosing the name of the informer, and making him prove his accusation or pay the penalty.

The blind intolerance of King Alphonso is of special significance at a moment when he was feeling particularly elated by the success attending a difficult campaign and the Cid had just achieved, both quickly and brilliantly, the submission of Albarracin, Valencia, and Alpuente in the name of his liege lord. No doubt this unexpected success of a vassal caused chagrin, not only to the hostile magnates, but to the King himself, and he in his implacable rage seemed only to desire to undo the Cid’s work in the East, while regretting the concession he had made to the hero of whatsoever conquests he might gain. Be that as it may, subsequent events, including the siege of Valencia by the King in 1092, all give point to this argument.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.