The Cid (1043-1099), or Cid Campeador, was the greatest Spanish medieval warrior and remains one of Spain's national heroes. At a time when Berber invaders threatened Castile, the Cid alone was able to rally his countrymen and emerge victorious.

Rodrigo Diaz, later called the Cid was born in Vivar, a village north of Burgos. Vivar was the fief of his father, Diego Lainez, a minor nobleman. About 1058 his father died, and Rodrigo went to live in the household of Prince Sancho. When the prince became King Sancho II in 1065, he gave Rodrigo the highest position at court, that of standard bearer or head of the royal armies. Soon after, in order to settle a jurisdictional dispute between Navarre and Castile, Rodrigo defeated a Navarrese knight in single combat, gaining thereby the epithet of Campeador (from the Latin campidoctoris, "one who captures fields").

In 1067 Sancho and Rodrigo besieged the...