Chronicle of the Cid

Here is the original story of Spain's greatest hero, not the legend but the living medieval account that shaped a nation's soul. The Cid Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar rides from the pages of the 13th-century Crónica General de España, compiled under King Alfonso the Wise, into this vital translation. We see him as his contemporaries saw him: a formidable knight of 11th-century Castile, wronged and exiled, who carved his legend through countless battles against the Moors and rivals alike. The narrative captures the raw energy of medieval Spanish chronicle-writing, where holy war and personal honor intertwine, where captives are rescued and kingdoms tremble at the name of the Campeador. This is not the polished myth of later centuries but something more immediate and ferocious: the birth of a national hero in his own words and those who witnessed his deeds. For readers who thrilled to the Poem of the Cid or simply hunger for the foundational epics of Western literature, this chronicle reveals the historical bedrock beneath the legend.