When a work of popularization about a historical figure who has been extensively studied appears in the paradigm, it is cause for celebration that such a work becomes part of the reference studies to study the character. But it is even more so when, at the same time, it is a work of popularization that, following the scientific method -in historical methodology we refer to a revised use of what is already known, an archival use and support in archaeological results-, reaches a public that through reading can get closer to the figure of the character they want to study. This duality, present in the book The Cid: History and Myth of a Warlord, written by David Porrinas González with a preface by Francisco García Fitz, is what has made me choose this work as worthy of a review that places it where it deserves.
The author of the work, David Porrinas González, is a historian and associate professor at the University of Extremadura. He obtained his doctorate in History from this university with his thesis War and Chivalry in High Medieval Times. Constraints and Attitudes towards War, Castile and León, 11th-13th Centuries. His work focuses on medieval warfare and chivalry in the Iberian Peninsula, and more recently on the figure of El Cid Campeador. This book emerges as an imperative need to write about a character so overworked by historiography. This work, the culmination of his efforts, was published by Ediciones Despertaferro in 2019, and it totals 404 pages including bibliography, analytical index, and document annex.
The Cid Campeador was a historical figure of the eleventh century Castilian who suffered mythification over time with studies made about his figure. Romanticism and Nationalism, emerging in the nineteenth century, saw in Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar the living embodiment of what Spain represented. They saw him as a warrior embodying the virtues of a good knight, loyal to the monarchy, and above all, a servant of God and of Spain. Against this historiography, which became entrenched especially with the franquismo, there has been a need, particularly in recent years, to seek out the historical Cid, the true character hidden behind that image created by nineteenth-century historical novels. Under this idea, David Porrinas proposes a serious and objective study in which one seeks to know the truth about a character who, as he himself affirms, was a warlord with his clear and dark sides, a knight of war in his time who had a brilliant military and political career but is by no means comparable to the myth created by previous historiography.
In the work, the life of El Cid is explored within a specific temporal and spatial context such as the peninsula in the eleventh century, accompanied by bibliographic notes of scientific character that confirm the arguments David proposes. At the same time, what he says is supported by primary sources, either in text or illustration form, as well as maps and diagrams, which help to understand the ideas the author wants to convey while allowing for deeper exploration into aspects previously unknown.
The book is divided into nine chapters, each ranging from thirty to forty pages. The first chapter contextualizes the eleventh century, providing a general summary very illustrative for the novice reader about the characteristics of high medieval times as well as the figure of the knight and the political situation in the Iberian Peninsula, since it is impossible to understand Rodrigo without considering the context of taifas and feudal kingdoms in which he lived. It continues with the life of El Cid, divided into six chapters, following this structure: it begins with his genealogical origins, his passage through the royal court, and his early actions as a knight; it then discusses his first exile and his feats as a mercenary for Muslims; it later shows his transformation from feudal knight to warlord with virtual control of Valencia that would end in its conquest; and finally, his attempt to govern the city moments before his death. The book concludes with a final chapter where it takes an historical journey through the representations made of El Cid during subsequent centuries, touching not only on literature, but also on cinema or video games.
The idea that the author aims to show is that Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was a knight and warlord who had been an expert in military matters, a good player of the feudal game, whose actions both militarily and politically turned him into an independent feudal lord who differed from kings only by not wearing a crown. But he remained a man like any other, far removed from the mythic hero that would be used from Alfonso X to Franco as a portrait of the great Spanish and Christian hero.
It is thus a demystifying narrative formulated with exquisite methodology where the author accurately accompanies his narratives with primary sources. It becomes a reference work for any medieval historian in that it provides a version that can be definitive about the true figure of El Cid, while delving into topics as necessary to study as war and feudal chivalry.
The work thus becomes a future manual of reference for students who want to initiate themselves in Spanish medieval studies. It also becomes a work of deepening knowledge for those familiar with Castilian feudalism, who through this study have a new perspective from which to focus their work. Lastly, the book turns into an entertaining popularizing book that narrates the feats of one of the best knights feudalism had while allowing readers to have an objective and realistic image of what his figure was and enabling them to combat myths that continue to exist in today's political discourse.
Bibliography
Porrinas González, D. (2019). The Cid: History and Myth of a Warlord. Desperta Ferro Ediciones.
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