XI. deserted, save only that they found certain women who had BOOK hid themselves, and who told them of the defeat of King Bucar. And the dead were so many that they could scarcely make way among them. And they went on through this great mortality to the port, and there they saw no ships but so many Moors lying dead that tongue of man cannot tell their numbers; and they began to gather up the spoils of the field, which were tents, and horses, and camels, and buffaloes, and flocks, and gold and silver, and garments, and store of provisions, out of all number, so that they had wherewith to suffice the city of Valencia for two years, and Cid. cap. to sell to their neighbors also; and they were full rich from Chr. Gen. that time. Chr. del 285. ff. 309. sons-in-law came to XI. When the company of the Cid departed from the How the Siete Aguas, they held their way by short journeys to Salva- of the Cid cañete. And the Cid went alway upon his horse Bavieca, meet the as they had brought him out from Valencia, save only that body. he wore no arms, but was clad in right noble garments; and all who saw him upon the way would have thought that he was alive, if they had not heard the truth. And whenever they halted they took the body off, fastened to the saddle as it was, and set it upon that frame which Gil Diaz had made, and when they went forward again, they placed it in like manner upon the horse Bavieca. And when they reached Salvacañete, the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Doña Ximena, and Alvar Fañez, and the other honorable men, sent their letters to all the kinsmen and friends of the Cid Ruydiez, bidding them come and do honor to his funeral; and they sent letters also to his sons-in-law, the Infantes of Aragon and Navarre, and to King Don Alfonso, And they moved on from Salvacañete and came to Osma, and then Alvar Fañez asked of Doña Ximena if they should not put the body of the Cid into a coffin covered with purple, and with nails of gold; but she would not, for she said that while his countenance remained so fresh and comely, and his eyes so fair, his body should never be placed in a coffin, and XI. BOOK that her children should see the face of their father; and they thought that she said well, so the body was left as it was. And at the end of fifteen days the Infante of Aragon arrived, with Doña Sol his wife, and they brought with them an hundred armed knights, all having their shields reversed hanging from the saddle bow, and all in grey cloaks, with the hoods rent. And Doña Sol came clad in linsey-woolsey, she and all her women, for they thought that mourning was to be made for the Cid. But when they came within half a league of Osma, they saw the banner of the Cid coming on, and all his company full featly apparelled. And when they drew nigh they perceived that they were weeping, but they made no wailing; and when they saw him upon his horse Bavieca, according as ye have heard, they were greatly amazed. But so great was the sorrow of the Infante that he and all his company began to lament aloud. And Doña Sol, when she beheld her father, took off her tire and threw it upon the ground and began to tear her hair, which was like threads of gold. But Doña Ximena held her hand and said, Daughter, you do ill, in that you break the command of your father, who laid his curse upon all who should make lamentation for him. Then Doña Sol kissed the hand of the Cid and of her mother, and put on her tire again, saying, Lady mother, I have committed no fault in this, forasmuch as I knew not the command of my father. And then they turned back to Osma, and great was the multitude whom they found there assembled from all parts to see the Cid, having heard in what manner he was brought, for they held it to be a strange thing; and in truth it was, for in no history do we find that with the body of a dead man hath there been done a thing so noble and strange as this. Then they moved on from Osma, and came to Santesteban de Gormaz. And there after few days the King of Navarre came with the Queen Doña Elvira his wife; and they brought with them two hundred knights; howbeit their shields were not reversed, for they had heard that no mourn ing was to be made for the Cid. And when they were BOOK XI. within half a league of Santesteban, the company of the Cid went out to meet them, as they had the Infante of Aragon; and they made no other lamentation, save that they wept with Doña Elvira; and when, she came up to the body of her father she kissed his hand, and the hand of Doña Ximena her mother. And greatly did they marvel when they saw the body of the Cid Ruydiez how fair it was, for he seemed rather alive than dead.. And they moved on from Santesteban, towards San Pedro de Cardeña. Great was the concourse of people to see the Cid Ruydiez coming in that guise. They came from Rioja, and from all Castille, and from all the country round about, and when they saw him cap. 256. their wonder was the greater, and hardly could they be f. 310. persuaded that he was dead. Chr.delCid. Chr. Gen. Don Alfon Cid so came to do honor to had the Cid. XII. At this time King Don Alfonso abode in Toledo, How King and when the letters came unto him saying how the Campeador was departed, and after what manner he discomfited King Bucar, and how they brought him in this goodly manner upon his horse Bavieca, he set out from Toledo, taking long journeys till he came to San Pedro de Cardeña, to do honor to the Cid at his funeral. The day when he drew nigh the Infante of Aragon and the King of Navarré went out to met him, and they took the body of the Cid with them on horseback, as far as the Monastery of San Christoval de Ybeas, which is a league from Cardeña; and they went, the King of Navarre on one side of the body, and the Infante of Aragon on the other. And when King Don Alfonso saw so great a company and in such goodly array, and the Cid Ruydiez so nobly clad and upon his horse Bavieca, he was greatly astonished. Then Alvar Fañez and the other good men kissed his hand in the name of the Cid. And the King beheld his countenance, and seeing it so fresh and comely, and his eyes so bright and fair, and so even and open that he seemed alive, he marvelled greatly. But when they told him that for seven days he had drank of the XI. BOOK myrrh and balsam, and had neither ate nor drank of aught else, and how he had afterwards been anointed and embalmed, he did not then hold it for so great a wonder, for he had heard that in the land of Egypt they were wont to do thus with their Kings. When they had all returned to the Monastery they took the Cid from off his horse, and set the body upon the frame, as they were wont to do, and placed it before the altar. Many were the honors which King Don Alfonso did to the Cid in masses and vigils, and other holy services, such as are fitting for the body and soul of one who is departed. Moreover he did great honor to the King of Navarre, and to the Infante of Aragon, ordering that all things which were needful should be given to them and their companies. Chr. del Cid. cap. 287. Chr. Gen. ff. 310. How the body of the Cid was placed in his ivory chair. XIII. On the third day after the coming of King Don Alfonso, they would have interred the body of the Cid, but when the King heard what Doña Ximena had said, that while it was so fair and comely it should not be laid in a coffin, he held that what she said was good. for the ivory chair which had been carried to And he sent the Cortes of Toledo, and gave order that it should be placed on the right of the altar of St. Peter; and he laid a cloth of gold upon it, and upon that placed a cushion covered with a right noble tartari, and he ordered a graven tabernacle to be made over the chair, richly wrought with azure and gold, having thereon the blazonry of the Kings of Castille and Leon, and the King of Navarre, and the Infante of Aragon, and of the Cid Ruydiez the Campeador. And he himself, and the King of Navarre and the Infante of Aragon, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo, to do honor to the Cid, helped to take his body from between the two boards, in which it had been fastened at Valencia. And when they had taken it out, the body was so firm that it bent not on either side, and the flesh so firm and comely, that it seemed as if he were yet alive. And the King thought that what they purported to do and had thus begun, might full well be effected. And they clad till it XI. Chr. del Cid. cap. And 288. Chr. Gen. company after this the body in full noble tartari, and in cloth of purple, which BOOK the Soldan of Persia had sent him, and put him on hose of the same, and set him in his ivory chair; and in his left hand they placed his sword Tizona in its scabbard, and the strings of his mantle in his right. And in this fashion the body of the Cid remained there ten years and more, was taken thence, as the history will relate anon. when his garments waxed old, other good ones were put on. ff. 311. XIV. King Don Alfonso, and the sons-in-law of the Cid, How the King Don Ramiro of Navarre, and the Infante Don Sancho brake up of Aragon, with all their companies, and all the other hon- was done. orable men, abode three weeks in St. Pedro de Cardeña, doing honor to the Cid. And the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and the other Bishops who came with King Don Alfonso, said every day their masses, and accompanied the body of the Cid there where it was placed, and sprinkled holy water upon it, and incensed it, as is the custom to do over a grave. And after three weeks they who were there assembled began to break up, and depart to their own houses. And of the company of the Cid, some went with the King of Navarre, and other some with the Infante of Aragon; but the greater number, and the most honorable among them, betook themselves to King Don Alfonso, whose natural subjects they were. And Doña Ximena and her companions abode in San Pedro de Cardeña, and Gil Diaz with her, as the Cid had commanded in his testament. And the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Alvar Fañez Minaya, and Chr. del Pero Bermudez, remained there also till they had fulfilled 288. all that the Cid Ruydiez had commanded in his testament to f. 311. be done. Cid. cap. Chr. Gen. Bavieca. XV. Gil Diaz did his best endeavor to fulfil all that his of the care which was Lord the Cid Ruydiez had commanded him, and to serve taken of Doña Ximena and her companions truly and faithfully; and this he did so well, that she was well pleased with his faithfulness. And Doña Ximena fulfilled all that the Cid had commanded her; and every day she had masses performed |