I. his mercy to set him free, saying that he would give him a BOOK daughter he had, the which was right fair; and the Cid did as he besought him, and the daughter was given to him, and he set the Count free. And by this woman King Don Fer- Chr. del Cid.cap.22. rando had his son the Cardinal Ferrando, who was so hon- Chr. Gen. ff. 202. orable a man. Pope and So their de mand. XXIV. After this the Cid had another battle with all How the the power of France, and discomfited them, and at neither the Emperor yielded of these battles did the King and his main army arrive. the news went sounding before them to the council, of the fierceness of the Cid; and as they all knew that he was the conqueror of battles, they knew not what to advise; and they besought the Pope that he would send to them, begging them to turn back, and saying that they did not require tribute. These letters came to the King when he had past Tolosa, and he took counsel with the Cid and with his good men, and they advised that he should send two of his good men to the Pope, who should tell him to send a Cardinal with power to make a covenant, that this demand should never again be made upon Spain; and that persons from the Emperor and from the other Kings also should come to ratify this, and meanwhile he would abide where he was. But if they did not come he would go on to them. Count Don Rodrigo, and Alvah Fañez Minaya, and certain learned men, were sent with this bidding. And when they came to the Pope and gave him their letters, he was much dismayed, and he assembled the good and honorable men of the council, and asked of them what he should do. And they made answer that he must do as the King willed him, for none was so hardy as to fight against the good fortune of his vassal the Cid. Then the Pope sent Master Roberto, the Cardinal of St. Sabina, with full powers, and the representatives of the Emperor and of the other Kings came also and signed the covenant, that this demand should never again be made upon the King of Spain. And the writings which Chr. del Cid.cap.22. they made were confirmed by the Pope and by the Em- Chr. Gen. peror and the other Kings, and sealed with their seals. ff. 202. BOOK How the his own land. XXV. While this was doing the King abode where he was, beyond Tolosa; six months did he abide there. And the Pope sent to ask of him the daughter of Count Remon; turned into and she was then five months gone with child; and by the advice of his vassal the Cid the King sent her, and sent to tell the Pope the whole truth, requesting that he would see she was taken care of; and the Pope ordered that she should be taken care of till the event should be. And she was delivered of the Abbot Don Ferrando; the Pope was his godfather, and brought him up right honorably, and dispensed with his bastardry that he might hold any sacred dignity; and in process of time he was made an honorable Cardinal. So the King' returned with great honor into his own land, and from that time he was called Don Ferrando the Great, the Emperor's Peer; and it was Cid.cap.22. said of him in songs that he had passed the passes of Aspa Chr. Gen. in despite of the Frenchmen. Chr. del ff. 203. How the King divided his XXVI. Many other things did King Don Ferrando, which are written in the book of the Chronicles of the Kings dominions. of Spain, enriching churches and monasteries, and honoring the saints and martyrs, and making war upon the misbelievers. And it came to pass when he was waxed old, that as he was one day saying his prayers, the confessor St. Isidro appeared unto him, and told him the day and hour when he should die, to the intent that he might make ready and confess his sins, and make atonement for them, and take thought for his soul, that so he might appear 1 Berganza believes everything in the history of this expedition, except the episode of the Lord of Savoy's daughter, which he attributes with good reason to the Joculars. That Ferrando had no bastard son of that name, or that dignity, is certain; and to suppose, as the Chronicle does, that this son was old enough at the King's death to have his brethren confided to his care, is a manifest absurdity. Berganza guesses that there was such a Cardinal Abbot, but that he was the King's nephew; this is a mere guess, for there is no other intimation of the existence of any such person than in this story, which is so evidently false in all its parts. I. clean from offence before the face of God. From that day BOOK he, being certain that his end was at hand, began to discharge his soul. And he devised within himself how to dispose of the kingdoms which God had given him, that there might be no contention between his sons after his death; and he thought it best to divide his lands among them; but this which he thought best proved to be the worst, and great evil came thereof, for better had it been. that he had left all to the eldest. Howbeit it was his pleasure to divide them he had three sons, Don Sancho who was the eldest, and Don Alfonso who was the second born, and Don Garcia who was the youngest; and two daughters, Doña Urraca and Doña Elvira. The manner in which he divided his lands was this; he gave to Don Sancho the kingdom of Castille as far as to the river Pisuerga, on the side of Leon, with the border," which included the dioceses of Osma, and Segovia, and Avila, and on the side of Navarre as far as the Ebro, as he had won it from his nephew Don Sancho Garcia, King of Navarre. To Don Alfonso he gave the kingdom of Leon, and in Asturias as far as the river Deva, which runs by Oviedo, and part of Campos as far as Carrion, and the river Pisuerga, with the border, which contained the dioceses of Zamora, Salamanca, and Ciudad Rodrigo, and the city of Astorga, and other lands in Galicia, with the town of Zebreros. To Don Garcia he gave the kingdom of Galicia, and all the lands which he had won in Portugal, with the title of King of Galicia, which country had had no King of its own since the kingdom of the Suevi had been overthrown by King Leovegildo. Cid.cap.27. And to Doña Urraca he gave the city of Zamora, with all ff. 204. Chr. del Chr. Gen. 1 Estremadura is the word which I have rendered Border. It is now the name of two provinces, one in Spain, the other in Portugal. Border was its original meaning, as the word implies; and the country designated by that name varied, as the Christians extended their conquests. I. BOOK its dependencies, and with half the Infantazgo; and the other half, with the city of Toro and its dependencies, to Doña Elvira. Sandoval. Sancho XXVII. When the Infante Don Sancho knew that the How the King his father had made this allotment, it displeased him, Infante D. for he was the eldest son; and he said to his father that he complained neither could nor ought to make this division; for the wrong Gothic Kings had in old times made a constitution for themdone him. selves, that the kingdom and empire of Spain should never of the which was be divided, but remain one dominion under one Lord. But the King replied that he wonld not for this forbear to do as he had resolved, for he had won the kingdom: then the Infante made answer, Do as you will, being my father and Lord; but I do not consent unto it. So the King made this division against the right of the Infante Don Sancho, and it displeased many in the kingdom, and many it pleased; Cid.cap.23. but they who were of good understanding perceived the evil which would arise. Chr. del Chr. Gen. ff. 205. Of the death of the King. XXVIII. After this the King fell sick with the malady whereof he died. And he made himself be carried to Leon, and there on his knees before the bodies of the saints he besought mercy of them. And putting his crown upon his head before the holy body of St. Isidro, he called upon God, saying, O Lord Jesus Christ, thine is the power over all, and thine is the kingdom, for thou art King of all kingdoms, and of all Kings, and of all nations, and all are at thy command. And now Lord I return unto thee the kingdom which thou hast given me, but I beseech thee of thy mercy that my soul may be brought to the light which hath no end. Having said thus, he stript himself of the royal robes adorned with gold in which he was arrayed, and took the crown from his head and placed it upon the altar; and he put sackcloth' 'In this instance I have rendered cilicio by sackcloth, a familiar word in this sense, and here sufficiently accurate. CILICIUM, a cilicibus populis dictum, apud quos (ut inquit VARRO de re rusticâ, cap. 11.) Cilicia pri I. upon the carrion of his body, and prayed to God, confessing BOOK all the sins which he had committed against him, and took his acquittal from the bishops, for they absolved him from his sins; and forthwith he there received extreme unction, and strewed ashes upon himself. After this by his own order he was carried to St. Mary of Almazan in pilgrimage, and there he remained thrice nine days, beseeching St. Mary that she would have mercy upon him and intercede with her blessed Son for his soul. From thence they carried him to Cabezon, and there the Abbot Don Ferrando came to him, an honorable man, and many other honorable men of his realms, and the Cid Ruydiez, whom the King commended to the Infante Don Sancho, his son. And after he had put all his affairs in order he remained three days lamenting in pain, and on the fourth, being the day of St John the Evangelist, he called for the Cardinal Abbot, and commended Spain and his other sons to him, and gave him his blessing, and then at the hour of sexts' he rendered up his soul mum confecta sunt. Cilicia Arabes nuncupant velamenta pellibus caprarum contexta, ex quibus sibi tentoria faciunt. ISID. Est autem vestis e pilis hircorum et caprarum tonsilibus texta, quâ monachi et eremicolæ dum pænitentiam agebant uti consueverunt. Gr. xlixiov, a Lat. ut alia plura græca vocabula a latinis eodem modo formantur. Minshew. The cilicio was however sometimes made of such materials that to call it either haircloth or sackcloth would be a contradiction in terms. In a future work therefore, wherein it will frequently be necessary to mention it, I shall venture to anglicize the original word, which in all probability has already been done by some of our Catholic writers. I believe there are few words in any European language for which a precise term may not be found in our own; but our Dictionaries are miserably imperfect. The Reviews have more than once censured me for having introduced new words, when not my English but their own ignorance was in fault. Our word in the Bible is literally from the Hebrew p sak, a word which is said to be the same in almost every known language. 1 Berganza (5. 12. § 155.) in examining this account of the King's death, admits as beyond all doubt, that St. Isidro warned him of it; shews by good proof that he might receive extreme unction before the Viaticum, and says that Cabezon has been wrongly understood to mean A. D. 1065. |