EL CID .sx The Facts behind the Legend .sx by Henry Austin .sx The Canon in " Don " :sx There is no doubt that there was such a man as El Cid , but much doubt whether he achieved what is attributed to him .sx El Cid- the hero idealised in Spain's most famous mediaeval epic poem , also by Corneille and Victor Hugo , and now in an American spectacular film .sx What are the facts about this man who has inspired such a powerful legend ?sx Rodrigo de Vivar , named by the Moslem Spaniards , El Sayyid Campeador , the lord and champion , was born about 1043 and died at the age of 56 in 1099 .sx The date and place of his birth are unknown .sx His mother , of the Asturian nobility , and his father , a Castilian , lived in Vivar , a little village which even today is primitive and grim in appearance .sx The young Rodrigo found himself from the start in the midst of the strains and tensions that Spain was then enduring .sx This barren land , glacial in winter and torrid in summer , was on the frontier between the rival Christian kingdoms of Castile and Navarre , both sides allying themselves to one or other of the Moslem states of Spain to gain a temporary advantage .sx The Moslem Spaniards .sx At this stage of Europe's history , regional not national power was the chief motive in politics ; in Spain , neither secular nor religious unity was considered a goal worth fighting for .sx The small Christian states in the north were divided ; so were the Moslem states of central and northern Spain .sx The Moslems of Spain , the so-called Moors , were for the most part of Spanish blood .sx They had adopted the language and ways of living , and some the faith of the Moslems .sx Many of them had two names , Moslem and European , and had adopted such customs as the harem and certain legal procedures .sx Arabic was the written language of law and commerce for two centuries after the Christian conquest of Toledo by Alphonso =6 in 1085 .sx Peace and War .sx Rodrigo de Vivar has been called by one historian " the most colourful of the " , the Spaniards who had adopted the Moslem way of life ( in Arabic , mustarib) .sx He spent most of his life among these people .sx Having received a good education at the Christian court of Sancho =2 , King of Castile , he became the Constable of the little kingdom , a rank which included command of the army and of the legal administration .sx His first taste of action had been in the battle of Graus , at the age of twenty , between Sancho , in alliance with the Moors of Saragossa , and Ramiro =1 , King of Aragon .sx For the next twelve years of his life , he led a peaceful existence as a country gentleman , carefully looking after his property .sx During this time , he became involved in only one battle .sx Sancho sent him to Seville to collect tribute from the king , Motamid .sx While he was there Abdullah , King of Granada , attacked Seville but without success .sx Apart from this one excitement , Rodrigo led a quiet life , in the words of Louis Bertrand , in his History of Spain , " saddling his horse only to go and raid his neighbour's cows and sheep .sx " Jimena .sx To please Alphonso , Sancho's brother and rival , he agreed to marry Jimena Diaz , daughter of the Count of Oviedo , and niece of Alphonso =5 , King of Leon .sx This marriage of convenience was designed to strengthen an alliance between the Castilian and Leonese nobility .sx Later Rodrigo helped Sancho in his struggle for power with his brother , by suggesting a deceitful way of taking possession of Leon .sx A new period in Rodrigo's life began in his late thirties , in 1081 , when Alphonso =6 , Sancho's younger brother and successor , exiled him from his kingdom .sx He had , it was alleged , kept part of the tribute he had collected from Motamid of Seville .sx For this he was dismissed from the court and banished .sx At the head of three hundred free lances , he rode out of Vivar , leaving Jimena and his children , to begin a life of mercenary combat , living by what he could commandeer .sx In his subsequent conduct , made up of both cruelty and kindness , " he was almost as much Moslem as Christian " ( Philip Hitti , History of the Arabs) .sx He first offered his services to Berenguer , the Christian Count of Barcelona .sx The count rejected him .sx He then travelled on to Saragossa , where Moktadir , the Moslem king now ruled .sx This time his offer was accepted .sx As Moktadir was in alliance with Alphonso of Castile , Rodrigo was not making any dramatic or even unusual departure from one way of life to another .sx Such hard and fast divisions of humanity were to come later .sx At Saragossa , the old Roman town of Caesarea Augustus , Rodrigo served his new master well .sx Fighting for him against the Christian King of Navarre , he won from his Moslem soldiers the title of El Cid Campeador .sx He extended the Moslem dominions at the expense of the Christian states of Aragon and Barcelona , and led raids into his former province of Castile .sx Moktadir , the King of Saragossa , was a man of letters and the cultured head of a court of poets , philosophers and tutors .sx Rodrigo made this court his home and the base for his career of freebooting .sx Saragossa , the most Islamised city of Spain , a town of minarets and mosques , fountains and entertainment , must have been a fascinating place to live in .sx Rodrigo lived here for more than ten years , until he established himself as sole ruler of Valencia in 1094 .sx Valencia .sx In the words of Louis Bertrand , " the great love of the Cid was not Jimena ; it was " .sx In charge of an army of seven thousand men , most of them Moslem , he besieged this Moslem city for nine months and finally defeated it .sx All the conditions he had agreed to before the surrender , he violated ; the Cadi , his opposite number , he burnt alive .sx Before the occupation of Valencia , Rodrigo had shown inexcusable cruelty by throwing refugees from the city onto bivouac fires .sx He chased the remainder back into the town , unleashing his camp dogs onto them .sx Having established himself as sole ruler of Valencia and Murcia , he summoned his wife and his daughters .sx He made the chief Mosque a Cathedral and installed an archbishop .sx In general policy he followed the course that he had adopted at the court of Moktamid , of peaceful co-operation with both the Christians and the Moslems in his domain .sx He proudly called himself " Emperor of the Two " , but he withstood any prompting he may have received of giving himself the official title of King .sx The Berbers .sx Rodrigo and his family only enjoyed four years of rule in Valencia .sx In 1099 his realm was attacked by the Berber warriors of North Africa , attracted across the narrow Straits by the high standard of living and the riches of Moslem Spain .sx At the battle of Cuenca he was defeated and he died shortly afterwards of a fever .sx Valencia held out for another three years , at the end of which , Jimena left the city with her children , taking with her the bones of her dead husband , to bury them in the monastery of San Pedro at Cardena , near Burgos .sx The Legend .sx The anonymous Poema del Cid , the finest and the oldest extant Spanish literary work , appeared in the latter half of the twelfth century .sx This poem , together with nearly two hundred ballads written about him , most of which were written in the sixteenth century , extol Rodrigo as a brave and chivalrous knight , and as the inspirational hero of the Christian conquest of Spain .sx The Poema has deeply influenced Spanish thought and the formation of the national character .sx El Cid , in fact , lived comfortably in both the Christian and Moslem courts of Spain .sx He fought the invading Berbers , it is true ; but then , so did the Moslem states of Spain also .sx Some writers have tried to justify the claims made by the Poema and the ballads ; one of them , Louis Bertrand , in his History of Spain , can only say :sx " It is impossible that this great Castilian should not have conceived the future unification of Spain as an absolute " .sx The known facts of Rodrigo's life show that he was more concerned with truly peaceful co-existence between the two religions ( with an occasional raid as a diversion and an extension of diplomacy ) than with the concept of total victory for one side or the other .sx PETER THE GREAT in London .sx by Francis Carr .sx The strangest sight in London in 1698 was that of the giant Tsar of Russia , striding out of his house in Norfolk Street , just off the Strand , and entering one of the local taverns to quaff a pint of ale .sx At six foot nine inches , he was certainly the tallest celebrity in the western world .sx On January 10th , of that year , at the age of twenty-six , Peter arrived in London .sx He had come from Amsterdam with an escort of three British war-ships aboard " The Royal " , a fine new yacht which King William was later to present to him .sx Stories of Peter's 'grand embassy' had already spread throughout every country on the Continent .sx Never before had such a large body of Russians come so far from their native land , and never before had western Europe seen a Tsar .sx On his journey through Hanover Peter had met the beautiful Electress of Brandenburg , Princess Sophia Charlotte , whose husband , Frederick , was four years later to declare himself the first King of Prussia .sx She and her mother Sophia , the Electress of Hanover , gave a large banquet in Peter's honour ; being unused to western manners , he became embarrassed and almost speechless .sx He amused the company by saying , in reply to questions about his favourite pastimes , " from my youth up I have had a real passion for navigation and " .sx After the banquet he played to the court on his own drum .sx In Holland he lived incognito as a carpenter in the shipyards of the East India Company at Amsterdam .sx This soon became an open secret , but Peter insisted on keeping up the pretence , turning his back on anyone calling him " Your " .sx He lived and dressed as a workman , lit his own fire and cooked his own meals .sx The Duke of Marlborough came to the shipyards to look at him , and the foreman pointed him out- hardly necessary on account of his great height- by saying :sx " Peterbas ( Master Peter ) , help those men carry the " .sx During the five months he stayed in Holland , he studied , besides carpentry , navigation , astronomy , law-court procedure , fortification , mathematics , printing , botany , copper-plate engraving , surgery , dentistry , and the making of fire-engines and fireworks .sx He impressed his instructors by his eagerness to learn and the speed with which he grasped the essentials of each subject .sx He arranged for 345 Dutch sailors , several ship's captains and doctors , and many other craftsmen to sail to Russia to teach their various skills .sx Having been told ( by an Englishman ) that in England he would find the cleverest shipbuilders in the world , he asked King William , whom he met in Utrecht , for permission to come to this country .sx This was gladly given , and the King , when he was back in England , gave him his newest yacht , the " Royal " , a handsome vessel mounting twenty brass cannon , and three men-of-war as escort .sx Peter set sail from Amsterdam with a dozen of his friends , having left behind the greater part of his embassy to continue their apprenticeship in the Dutch shipyards and munition works .sx In charge of the convoy was Vice-Admiral Mitchell , to whom Peter later said , while watching a sham naval battle off Spithead , that he thought an English admiral was a happier man than a Tsar .sx In his shirtsleeves .sx After three days at sea the Russians arrived at Greenwich , where Peter left his yacht and boarded the royal barge , which took him to the Strand .sx Here he was given a house in Norfolk Street .sx This soon resembled a stable .sx Three days after his arrival , William called on him and was taken up to his bedroom , where the Tsar met the King in his shirtsleeves .sx