Famous Men of the Middle Ages · Ch. XVI · Unit 6: The Cid and the Norman Conquest
23. The Cid
Goal: Your child can tell who the Cid was, some of the stories told about him, and how he took Valencia.
You'll need
- The book, open to this chapter
- A map of Europe and the Mediterranean (a free online map or a globe)
- Paper and colored pencils
- Your timeline strip (see the tips at the top)
What's in the book
Chapter XVI (1040-1099): the young knight Rodrigo shares his horse, table and bed with a leper, who turns out, in the legend, to be St. Lazarus and promises him success. The Spaniards call him Campeador, the Champion; the Moors call him the Cid, the Lord. Banished by King Alfonso, he borrows money on two chests of sand, wins battles, serves a Moorish king, then helps take Toledo. In 1094 he takes Valencia, rules it justly, and lets the Moors keep their mosques. The legend says his dead body, armed and on his horse, led one last victory.
The lesson, step by step
Set the scene
Find Spain. Point to Toledo in the middle and Valencia on the east coast. Say: The Moors (Muslims from North Africa) had ruled most of Spain for over three hundred years. In the Cid's time the Spanish kingdoms in the north were pushing them south.
Read the chapter
Read Chapter XVI aloud. It begins:
Late one sunny afternoon one and twenty knights were riding along the highway in the northern part of Spain.
Explain: a leper was a person with leprosy, a disease people then feared so much that lepers were driven out of towns.
Tell it back
Prompts:
- What did Rodrigo do for the leper, and what happened that night?
- What do "Campeador" and "the Cid" mean?
- How did the Cid get money when he was banished?
- How was Valencia taken?
Legend or history?
SayThe Cid was a real knight, and he really took Valencia. The story of St. Lazarus and the story of his body riding out to battle are legends, told by Spaniards who loved him. The book even says the second one comes from a legend.
Talk it over
Read this:
They were allowed to have their mosques and to worship God as they thought right.
Ask:
- The Cid fought the Moors, but also served a Moorish king and ruled Moors fairly. What does that tell you about him?
- Was the trick with the chests of sand honest? Does it matter that he paid the money back?
Remember it
Read the words near his tomb:
Brave and unconquered, famous in triumphs of war,
Enclosed in this tomb lies Roderick the Great of Bivar.
Add "1094 The Cid takes Valencia" to the timeline.
Afterwards
Ask your child which story about the Cid they liked best and why.
Tip
The book's "about $2,000" for six hundred marks is in 1904 money. You can skip it or talk about how prices change.
Answers to the book's problems
He lifted the leper onto his horse, sat him by his side at supper and shared his bed; at midnight the leper breathed on him and vanished, and a shining figure said he was St. Lazarus. Campeador means Champion; the Cid means Lord. He filled two chests with sand and borrowed money on them, making the lenders swear not to open them for a year. He camped on high ground above the flooded plain and besieged the city until hunger made the governor hand over the keys. Good answers see both the trick and the repayment.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.