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El Campeador

Page 24

by Griff Hosker


  Don Iago turned to me and, grinning, clasped my arm, “And it is good to know that in an uncertain world some things never change. I am pleased that you are still the madman, the hero of Salamanca. You say that which others only think!”

  As we mounted Babieca and Hercules El Campeador said, “It is a pity that he does for I fear he will have a shorter life because of it!”

  We turned our horses and left León without a backward glance. It was many years until we returned. When we reached the parting of the ways Rodrigo said, “I will say farewell to my wife for I will not bring her and my children and I will meet you at Briviesca.”

  “Then we head for Catalonia and not the taifa?”

  “I know that Ramon Berenguer bears me no love but his is the only Christian country left to me. I will try him and if he will allow me to serve him then Jimena and my family can come.”

  “But you think that will not happen.”

  “No, we will try it and then offer our swords to the Moors!”

  Epilogue

  Maria was forewarned of my arrival and was tearful when I entered my hall. None knew of the King’s punishment and so, with all of my men and family gathered I told them. Maria fell to her knees and wept. Anna and Isabella had also been with me for years and their faces showed their shock.

  “The men I take know who they are.”

  Geoffrey said, “We will all follow you, lord!”

  “And if I knew where I was going that might be something I would consider, but all of you need to stay here and protect my foster mother and my land. This is exile and not banishment. As such it can be rescinded. When I am able, I will send word to you. This is not something I chose. Rather it was chosen for me when I was asked to train Rodrigo de Vivar. None of you wish me to abandon him, do you?” I looked at them all but held the gaze of Maria and she shook her head and rose.

  She came over to me and hugged me, “It is my fault and your foster father’s for we brought you up this way. You are noble and you are loyal. It is a shame the King is not more like you. We will keep a home for you and pray for you each night. This night we will feast as though it is Christmas for who knows when we shall meet again!”

  I learned, from the men I had left behind, that Álvar had been sent on a diplomatic mission to Anjou and that he had known nothing about our fate. I was pleased for I had worried that our old comrade had been part of the conspiracy. I saw now that it was not true. If he had been present then he would have intervened. King Alfonso was cunning!

  It was noon the next day when Rodrigo arrived. He had with him Rafa and Carl and they led spare horses and El Campeador’s war gear. He had a tearful farewell with Maria and then we headed up the road, first to Pamplona and then to the coast and Catalonia.

  When we reached the col and looked down on my home he said, “And now the real adventure begins. Know this, William Redbeard, there is no other man I would rather do this with. Let us step out on this precipice together.”

  “Aye, for you truly are El Campeador!”

  Our horses began the descent to Navarre and we lost sight of Castile. We were exiles and wanderers but we were also a band of warriors and I feared any man who came up against us!

  The End

  Glossary

  Armiger- champion

  Barracho – steep-sided gully

  Buskins- boots

  Campi doctor -battlefield trainer

  Chevauchée a raid by mounted men, normally knights

  Jubbah- quilted garment worn over or beneath mail

  Magerit –Madrid

  Mozarab-one who fights for the Taifa states but is not necessarily a Muslim

  Pariah- tribute

  Pel- a wooden stake embedded in the ground where men at arms would practice their strokes

  Taifa –a faction or geographical area which followed a petty king or warlord in Iberia

  Tijfaf- quilted armour for horses

  Quintain- a target used by mounted men

  Ventail- a piece of mail secured on a helmet and covering all but the eyes of a knight

  Maps and Illustrations

  Historical Notes

  Books used in the research:

  The Normans- David Nicolle

  Norman Knight AD 950-1204- Christopher Gravett

  The Knight in History- Francis Gies

  Knights- Constance Brittain Bouchard

  El Cid- The Making of a Legend, M.J. Trow

  El Cid and the Reconquista 1050-1492

  Armies of the Crusades- Wise and Embleton

  The Moors- Nicolle and McBride

  English Medieval Knight 1200-1400 Gravett and Turner

  Age of Empires computer game

  This story began to be written when I was about fourteen, more than fifty years ago and I watched Charlton Heston chew up the scenery in the great epic, El Cid. When I began to write the story, I did my research and found that the Charlton Heston El Cid was not the legend that I thought he was. I think that good as the film was the truth and reality showed an even greater Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar.

  This is a story and while I have been at pains to write a historically accurate story, I have used the holes in history to make it fiction. Most of what we know about El Cid comes from a poem, written a long time after the great Spanish knight died, Carmen Campidoctoris. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carmen_Campidoctoris. There is doubt about almost everything which happened to Rodrigo until he was already famous. Even the inscription on his sword which I used is in doubt as the one in Valencia says that it was made in 1040, and that was three years before he was even born. Briviesca was an ancient fortress but it was moved in the fourteenth century to its present position. Of the old settlement, there are few traces left and I have had to use my imagination.

  I have made his father, Don Diego, ‘a bad ‘un’ as it suited my story but we know very little about him and his grandfather, the Lord Luis of my story, is better documented.

  The only documented battles we have for this period are Atapuerca and Graus although King Ferdinand and Prince Sancho did manage to subjugate two taifa and make them vassals. The written records are a little vague and as most of the material we have comes from many years after Rodrigo’s death then it is hard to differentiate where the legend ends and reality kicks in. My philosophy is, if in doubt then make it up!

  There are, however, more than a couple of incidents which baffle me as a historian. The murder of King Sancho is one. According to the limited history we have King Sancho and the deserter, Vellido entered the forest where King Sancho was stabbed with a spear. I have tried to make sense of this in my explanation. If it seems farfetched, then I agree with you. I cannot see why the King would go alone with a deserter into a wood.

  The second incident was the Battle of Cabra. According to one legend, and the film ‘El Cid’, then the reason that El Cid is banished is because he demanded an oath from King Alfonso. That legend grew in the 14th century and was not recorded at the time. More than that King Alfonso did send Rodrigo on a diplomatic mission to the Emir of Córdoba to secure the pariah. That would not have happened if Rodrigo was in disgrace. The Count Garcia did lead Christian knights to support the Emir of Granada in an attempt to take Córdoba. He was captured by El Cid and returned to Castile. It was a year after the Battle of Cabra when we last see Rodrigo at court and then he is exiled. My story is my version of events, but it may not be the true one. Until someone builds the TARDIS or a good version of Doc Brown’s time machine, we shall never know.

  The kings, princes and emirs all existed and behaved, pretty much as I describe. King Ramiro was not killed by a knight but a Moor who could pass as a Christian! I gave Iago that honour. The story of Prince Sancho and his fiancée was also true, and I had to read my research several times to work out that it was not, in fact, a brother and sister who married!

  The term Taifa means a faction but the reality is that the Emirs who ran those states were largely warlords and the idea of Christian fighting Muslim is mislea
ding. Christian and Moor would ally when it suited their purposes and they would act like sharks around a wounded shark when it suited too.

  I have used William as the narrator for I wish the story to continue after El Cid’s death. (Sorry, spoiler alert!) I have, however, tried to use William to get into Rodrigo’s mind. At the moment there will be a final book to this series but that depends upon how William Redbeard develops. He is a real person to me and he has a mind of his own. Like Ted Hughes’ ‘Thought Fox’ my stories often write themselves. It is a scary world in which I live.

  I also discovered a good website http://orbis.stanford.edu/. This allows a reader to plot any two places in the Roman world and if you input the mode of transport you wish to use and the time of year it will calculate how long it would take you to travel the route. I have used it for all of my books up to the eighteenth century as the transportation system was roughly the same. The Romans would have been quicker!

  Griff Hosker

  February 2020

  Other books by Griff Hosker

  If you enjoyed reading this book, then why not read another one by the author?

  Ancient History

  The Sword of Cartimandua Series

  (Germania and Britannia 50 A.D. – 128 A.D.)

  Ulpius Felix- Roman Warrior (prequel)

  The Sword of Cartimandua

  The Horse Warriors

  Invasion Caledonia

  Roman Retreat

  Revolt of the Red Witch

  Druid’s Gold

  Trajan’s Hunters

  The Last Frontier

  Hero of Rome

  Roman Hawk

  Roman Treachery

  Roman Wall

  Roman Courage

  The Wolf Warrior series

  (Britain in the late 6th Century)

  Saxon Dawn

  Saxon Revenge

  Saxon England

  Saxon Blood

  Saxon Slayer

  Saxon Slaughter

  Saxon Bane

  Saxon Fall: Rise of the Warlord

  Saxon Throne

  Saxon Sword

  Medieval History

  The Dragon Heart Series

  Viking Slave

  Viking Warrior

  Viking Jarl

  Viking Kingdom

  Viking Wolf

  Viking War

  Viking Sword

  Viking Wrath

  Viking Raid

  Viking Legend

  Viking Vengeance

  Viking Dragon

  Viking Treasure

  Viking Enemy

  Viking Witch

  Viking Blood

  Viking Weregeld

  Viking Storm

  Viking Warband

  Viking Shadow

  Viking Legacy

  Viking Clan

  Viking Bravery

  The Norman Genesis Series

  Hrolf the Viking

  Horseman

  The Battle for a Home

  Revenge of the Franks

  The Land of the Northmen

  Ragnvald Hrolfsson

  Brothers in Blood

  Lord of Rouen

  Drekar in the Seine

  Duke of Normandy

  The Duke and the King

  New World Series

  Blood on the Blade

  Across the Seas

  The Savage Wilderness

  The Bear and the Wolf

  The Reconquista Chronicles

  Castilian Knight

  El Campeador

  The Aelfraed Series

  (Britain and Byzantium 1050 A.D. - 1085 A.D.)

  Housecarl

  Outlaw

  Varangian

  The Anarchy Series England

  1120-1180

  English Knight

  Knight of the Empress

  Northern Knight

  Baron of the North

  Earl

  King Henry’s Champion

  The King is Dead

  Warlord of the North

  Enemy at the Gate

  The Fallen Crown

  Warlord's War

  Kingmaker

  Henry II

  Crusader

  The Welsh Marches

  Irish War

  Poisonous Plots

  The Princes’ Revolt

  Earl Marshal

  Border Knight

  1182-1300

  Sword for Hire

  Return of the Knight

  Baron’s War

  Magna Carta

  Welsh Wars

  Henry III

  The Bloody Border

  Baron’s Crusade

  Sentinel of the North

  Lord Edward’s Archer

  Lord Edward’s Archer

  King in Waiting

  Struggle for a Crown

  1360- 1485

  Blood on the Crown

  To Murder A King

  The Throne

  King Henry IV

  The Road to Agincourt

  Tales of the Sword

  Modern History

  The Napoleonic Horseman Series

  Chasseur a Cheval

  Napoleon’s Guard

  British Light Dragoon

  Soldier Spy

  1808: The Road to Coruña

  Talavera

  The Lines of Torres Vedras

  The Lucky Jack American Civil War series

  Rebel Raiders

  Confederate Rangers

  The Road to Gettysburg

  The British Ace Series

  1914

  1915 Fokker Scourge

  1916 Angels over the Somme

  1917 Eagles Fall

  1918 We will remember them

  From Arctic Snow to Desert Sand

  Wings over Persia

  Combined Operations series

  1940-1945

  Commando

  Raider

  Behind Enemy Lines

  Dieppe

  Toehold in Europe

  Sword Beach

  Breakout

  The Battle for Antwerp

  King Tiger

  Beyond the Rhine

  Korea

  Korean Winter

  Other Books

  Great Granny’s Ghost (Aimed at 9-14-year-old young people)

  For more information on all of the books then please visit the author’s web site at www.griffhosker.com where there is a link to contact him or visit his Facebook page: GriffHosker at Sword Books

 

 

 


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