Saturday, August 27, 2022

El Cid lives on in small-town Catalonia

4 surprising tributes stamped into power-poles next to vines on the edge of town, Sant Cugat Sesgarrigues (where I live.)

El Cid (1045 – July 10, 1099), whose birth name was Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (or Bibar), is a Spanish national hero, a mercenary soldier who fought for the Spanish king Alfonso VII to liberate parts of Spain from the Almoravid dynasty and eventually captured the Muslim caliphate of Valencia and ruled his own kingdom. 

...He [also] fought for the Huddid dynasty for almost ten years, scoring significant victories against both Muslim and Christian foes."







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