El Cid

Rodrigo (or Ruy) D?az de Vivar (c. 1044–July 1099), nicknamed El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian military and political leader in medieval Spain. Born of the Spanish nobility, El Cid was educated in the royal Castilian court and became an important general and administrator, fighting against the Moors in the early Reconquista. Later exiled by King Alfonso VI, El Cid left service in Castile and worked as a mercenary-general for other rulers, both Moor and Christian. Late in life, El Cid captured the Mediterranean coastal city of Valencia, ruling it until his death in 1099.

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"El Cid Campeador" is a compound of two separate sobriquets. The "El Cid" is derived from the word al-sidi in the Andalusi Arabic dialect (from the Arabic sayyid—"sir" or "lord", a title of respect) while the title el campeador (the champion) was granted by his Christian admirers. These titles reflected the great esteem El Cid had among both Moors and Christians, as well as his fighting ability; Henry Edwards Watts wrote that el campeador "eans in Spanish something more special than "champion" ... A campeador was a man who had fought and beaten the select fighting-man of the opposite side in the presence of the two armies."

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"El Cid" was pronounced /el tsi?/ (IPA) in medieval Castilian, but /el ?i?/ in modern standard Spanish (the c like the th in "thin" and the d like the th in "then".)

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1099: 1099 also refers to a United States tax form used for independent contractors. The ubiquity of the form has also lead to use of the phrase '1099' to refer to contractors themselves....

Nickname: A nickname is a short, clever, cute, derogatory, or otherwise substitute name for a person or thing's real name (for example, Tom is short for Thomas). As a concept, it is distinct from both pseudonym and stage name, although there may be overlap in these concepts....

Castilian: Castilian is a noun and adjective that refers to the region and former kingdom of Castile in Spain; in particular, it refers to the language of this region, and is therefore considered by many to be a synonym of Spanish, though with different nuances. The following articles provide further informati...

El Cid related Images and Photos (experimental)

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