| Hieronymo |
The bishop's initial mission on arrival in Spain in 1096 was to oversee the Cluniac reform of Benedictine monasteries. He was named bishop of Valencia in 1098, four years after the Cid had seized it.
Berndard de Sedirac, the first archbishop of Toledo, brought Jerome de Perigord to Spain from France in 1096. His original mission was to assist in enforcing the Cluniac reform, a stricter, more authoritarian form of organization, on the Benedictine monasteries of Spain. Jerome was named bishop of Valencia in 1098, four years after the Cid had captured it. He replaced the mozarabic bishop of Valencia who had been in that position under the Moors prior to the Cid's conquest, Alat Almarian. Hieonymo converted the Great Mosque of Valencia to the Catedral de Santa Maria. He evacuated the town with the rest of the Christians in May 1102. Thereafter he served as archbishop of Zamora and Salamanca until his death in 1125.
In the poem, Jerome is a French Priest, described as “...a crowned one from the parts of the East, that is to say, one who was shaven and shorn. He was a full learned man and a wise, and one who was mighty both on horseback and afoot. He came enquiring for the Cid, wishing that he might see himself with the Moors in the field, for if he could once have his fill of smiting and slaying them...” In the poem, he was made Bishop of Valencia at the instigation of the Cid and the grace of the Pope; and he fought at the Cid’s side until the evacuation of Valencia to the Moors after the Cid’s death.
At this time there came a crowned one from the parts of the East, that is to say, one who was shaven and shorn; his name was the Bishop Don Hieronymo, a full learned man and a wise, and one who was mighty both on horseback and afoot: and he came enquiring for the Cid, wishing that he might see himself with the Moors in the field, for if he could once have his fill of smiting and slaying them, Christians should never lament him.
Five pitched battles hath he won since that time, some with Moors and some with bad Christians; and he hath taken Xerica, and Ondra, and Almenar, and Monviedro which is a bigger place, and Cebola also, and Castrejon, and Pena Cadiella which is a strong eminence, and with all the right noble city of Valencia, for the honour of the faith of Jesus Christ, and of you our Lord and King; and he hath made it a Bishopric, and made the Honourable Don Hieronymo Bishop thereof with his own hand.
And he called for Muno Gustios, and Pero Bermudez, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and bade them take a hundred knights lest there should be need to fight, and go to Molina, to Abencano, who was his friend and vassal, and bid him take another hundred knights, and go with them to Medina Celi as fast as they could go.
They made no tarriance in doing this, for they had it at heart; one tarried with them, and the other returned, and said it was the host of the Campeador with Pero Bermudez, and Muno Gustios, and the Bishop Hieronymo, and the Alcayaz Abencano.
That good Christian the Bishop Don Hieronymo, night and day he guarded the ladies; on a goodly horse he rode, and they went between him and Alvar Fanez.
The Bishop Don Hieronymo, he pricked forward and entered the city.
While they were thus rejoicing the Bishop Don Hieronymo came with the procession.
Before fifteen days are over, if it please God, those tambours shall be laid before you, and shall be sounded for your pleasure, and then they shall be given to the Bishop Don Hieronymo, that he may hang them up in the Church of St. Mary, Mother of God.
Great liking had the Bishop Don Hieronymo to see how bravely they fought.
Be you all armed and ready in the dark of the morning; mass shall be said, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo will give us absolution, and then we will to horse, and out and smite them in the name of the Creator and of the Apostle Santiago.
At cock-crow they all assembled together in the Church of St. Pedro, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo sung mass, and they were shriven and assoyled, and houselled.
Then the Cid bade his banner move on, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo pricked forward with his company, and laid on with such guise, that the hosts were soon mingled together.
The Bishop Don Hieronymo, that perfect one with the shaven crown, he had his fill in that battle, fighting with both hands; no one could tell how many he slew.
Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Bermudez, and Martin Munoz, and Martin Antolinez that worthy Burgalese, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo that good one with the shaven crown, and Alvar Alvarez, and Alvar Salvadores, and Muno Gustios that knight of prowess, and Galind Garcia of Aragon; all these and all the others made ready to go with the Cid.
On the morrow as soon as it was day, the Bishop Don Hieronymo sung mass before the King, in the oratory of the Cid; and when it was over, the King said before all who were there assembled, Counts and Infanzones and knights, hear what I shall say unto the Cid.
And the Infantes took each his bride by the hand, and went to the Cid and kissed his hand, and the same did they to their mother Dona Ximena Gomez: and the Bishop Don Hieronymo espoused them, and they exchanged rings.
And when they had solaced themselves awhile, the Cid said that now they would go eat, and that the marriage should be performed on the morrow, and he besought and commanded the Bishop Don Hieronymo to perform it in such a manner that no cost should be spared, but that every thing should be done so compleatly, that they who came from Castille to this wedding might always have something to tell of.
On the morrow they went to the Church of St. Mary, and there the Bishop Don Hieronymo sate awaiting them, and he blest them all four at the altar.
In the right wing was that honourable one with the shaven crown, Don Hieronymo the Bishop, with the like number both of horse and foot; and in the left Martin Antolinez of Burgos and Alvar Salvadores, with as many more.
Then the Bishop Don Hieronymo came to the Cid and said, This day have I said the mass of the Holy Trinity before you.
The Bishop Don Hieronymo he pricked forward; two Moors he slew with the two first thrusts of the lance; the haft broke, and he laid hand on his sword.
Who can tell how marvellously the Bishop Don Hieronymo behaved himself in this battle, and how well all the rest behaved, each in his way, and above all, the Cid Campeador, as the greatest and best of all! nevertheless the power of the Moors was so great that they could not drive them to flight, and the business was upon the balance even till the hour of nones.
My Cid the Campeador made ready to appear at the Cortes in Toledo, and he left the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Martin Pelaez the Asturian, to command in Valencia, and five hundred knights with them, all hidalgos.
And the Bishop Don Hieronymo came out to meet them with a procession, full honourably.
When eight days were overpast the Bishop Don Hieronymo married the Infantes of Aragon and Navarre to the daughters of the Cid in this manner: the Infante Don Ramiro of Navarre to Dona Elvira, and the Infante Don Sancho of Aragon to Dona Sol.
And on the morrow the Bishop Don Hieronymo baptized him, and they gave him the name of Gil Diaz: and his godfathers were Don Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez, and Martin Antolinez of Burgos; and Dona Ximena, with other honourable dames, were his godmothers.
And the day before his weakness waxed great, he ordered the gates of the town to be shut, and went to the Church of St. Peter; and there the Bishop Don Hieronymo being present, and all the clergy who were in Valencia, and the knights and honourable men and honourable dames, as many as the Church could hold, the Cid Ruydiez stood up, and made a full noble preaching, showing that no man whatsoever, however honourable or fortunate they may be in this world, can escape death; to which, said he, I am now full near; and since ye know that this body of mine hath never yet been conquered, nor put to shame, I beseech ye let not this befall it at the end, for the good fortune of man is only accomplished at his end.
How this is be done, and what ye all have to do, I will leave in the hands of the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez.
On the twenty-ninth day, being the day before he departed, he called for Dona Ximena, and for the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Don Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Bermudez, and his trusty Gil Diaz; and when they were all five before him, he began to direct them what they should do after his death; and he said to them, Ye know that King Bucar will presently be here to besiege this city, with seven and thirty Kings whom he bringeth with him, and with a mighty power of Moors.
And let the Bishop Don Hieronymo go on one side of me, and my trusty Gil Diaz on the other, and he shall lead my horse.
Early on the morrow the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez, and Martin Antolinez, came to the Cid.
And he left it in charge to the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Dona Ximena his wife, and Don Alvar Fanez, and Pero Bermudez, and Felez Munoz, his nephews, that they should see all this fulfilled.
Then the Cid Ruydiez, the Campeador of Bivar, bade the Bishop Don Hieronymo give him the body of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, and he received it with great devotion, on his knees, and weeping before them all.
And the Bishop Don Hieronymo went on one side of him, and the trusty Gil Diaz on the other, and he led the horse Bavieca, as the Cid had commanded him.
Now Alvar Fanez Minaya had set the host in order, and while the Bishop Don Hieronymo and Gil Diaz led away the body of the Cid, and Dona Ximena, and the baggage, he fell upon the Moors.
And they loaded camels and horses with the noblest things which they found, and went after the Bishop Don Hieronymo and Gil Diaz, who, with the body of the Cid, and Dona Ximena, and the baggage, had gone on till they were clear of the host, and then waited for those who were gone against the Moors.
And when they reached Salvacanete, the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Dona Ximena, and Alvar Fanez, and the other honourable men, sent their letters to all the kinsmen and friends of the Cid Ruydiez, bidding them come and do honour 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 he himself, and the King of Navarre and the Infante of Aragon, and the Bishop Don Hieronymo, to do honour to the Cid, helped to take his body from between the two boards, in which it had been fastened at Valencia.
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 the Bishop Don Hieronymo, and Alvar Fanez Minaya, and Pero Bermudez, remained there also till they had fulfilled all that the Cid Ruydiez had commanded in his testament to be done.
And in that time the Bishop Don Hieronymo arrived, who abode with King Don Alfonso, and he came to do honour to the body of Dona Ximena; for so soon as he heard that she was departed, he set off taking long journies every day.