“Seventy thousand Christian warriors,
All in snowy garments dight,
Led by one of giant stature,
Mounted on a charger white;

“On his breast a cross of crimson,
In his hand a sword of fire,
With it hew’d he down the Paynims,
As they fled, with slaughter dire.”
Ancient Spanish Ballads (Lockhart’s tr.).

The Christians, having routed the enemy, yet knowing, as the Cid had told them, that they would never be able to hold Valencia when he was gone, now marched on into Castile, the dead hero still riding Babieca in their midst.  Then Ximena sent word to her daughters of their father’s demise, and they came to meet him, but could scarcely believe that he was dead when they saw him so unchanged.

By Alfonso’s order the Cid’s body was placed in the Church of San Pedro de Cardena, where for ten years it remained seated in a chair of state, and in plain view of all.  Such was the respect which the dead hero inspired that none dared lay a finger upon him, except a sacrilegious Jew, who, remembering the Cid’s proud boast that no man had ever dared lay a hand upon his beard, once attempted to do so.  Before he could touch it, however, the hero’s lifeless hand clasped the sword hilt and drew Tizona a few inches out of its scabbard.

“Ere the beard his fingers touched,
Lo! the silent man of death
Grasp’d the hilt, and drew Tizona
Full a span from out the sheath!”

                            Ancient Spanish Ballads (Lockhart’s tr.).

Of course, in the face of such a miracle, the Jew desisted, and the Cid Campeador was reverently laid in the grave only when his body began to show signs of decay.  His steed Babieca continued to be held in great honor, but no one was ever again allowed to bestride him.

[Sidenote:  Evacuation of Valencia.] As for the Moors, they rallied around Valencia.  After hovering near for several days, wondering at the strange silence, they entered the open gates of the city, which they had not dared to cross for fear of an ambuscade, and penetrated into the court of the palace.  Here they found a notice, left by the order of the Cid, announcing his death and the complete evacuation of the city by the Christian army.  The Cid’s sword Tizona became an heirloom in the family of the Marquis of Falies, and is said to bear the following inscriptions, one on either side of the blade:  “I am Tizona, made in era 1040,” and “Hail Maria, full of grace.”

CHAPTER XVIII.

GENERAL SURVEY OF ROMANCE LITERATURE.

[Sidenote:  Cycles of romance.] In the preceding chapters we have given an outline of the principal epics which formed the staple of romance literature in the middle ages.  As has been seen, this style of composition was used to extol the merits and describe the great deeds of certain famous heroes, and by being gradually extended it was made to include the prowess of the friends and contemporaries of these more or less fabulous personages.  All these writings, clustering thus about some great character, eventually formed the so-called “cycles of romance.”