As portrayed in El Cid
| San Pedro de Cardena As portrayed in El Cid |
Monastery where the Cid’s wife Dona Ximena and his daughters, lived from his exile until his conquest of Valencia. Later, the place where he was buried after the evacuation of Valencia two years after his death.
San Pedro de Cardena is located 9 km south-east of Burgos, and was a major Benedictine monastery from the ninth century on. According to historian-debunkers, his wife Ximena seems not to have been buried there, as the Chronicle indicates, but rather at San Juan de la Pena. Alfonso imprisoned Ximena and her children in December 1089, but the poem infers that the Cid had put them at San Pedro de Cardena for protection, and that they were well looked after there.
The time draws on, and you may be with your Lady Wife at St. Pedro de Cardena, before the cock crows.
The cocks were crowing amain, and the day began to break, when the good Campeador reached St. Pedro's.
Take you care of them and of my wife and of her ladies: when this money be gone, if it be not enough, supply them abundantly; for every mark which you expend upon them I will give the Monastery four.
A great feast did they make that day in the Monastery for the good Campeador, and the bells of St. Pedro's rung merrily.
A great feast did they make that day in the Monastery for the good Campeador, and the bells of St. Pedro's rung merrily.
And that day a hundred and fifteen knights assembled at the bridge of Arlanzon, all in quest of my Cid; and there Martin Antolinez joined them, and they rode on together to St. Pedro's.
Go then to St. Pedro's at Cardena, and salute my wife Dona Ximena, and my daughters, and tell them how well I go on, and that if I live I will make them rich women.
Now the Cid bethought him of Dona Ximena his wife, and of his daughters Dona Elvira and Dona Sol, whom he had left in the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena; and he called for Alvar Fanez and Martin Antolinez of Burgos, and spake with them, and besought them that they would go to Castille, to King Don Alfonso his Lord, and take him a present from the riches which God-had given them; and the present should be a hundred horses, saddled and bridled; and that they would kiss the King's hand for him, and beseech him to send him his wife Dona Ximena, and his daughters, and that they would tell the King all the mercy which God had shown him, and how he was at his service with Valencia and with all that he had.
Moreover he bade them take a thousand marks of silver to the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, and give them to the Abbot, and thirty marks of gold for his wife and daughters, that they might prepare themselves and come in honourable guise.
Then Alvar Fanez kissed the King's hand again, and said, Sir, the Cid beseecheth you of your bounty that he may have his wife Dona Ximena and his two daughters, that they may go to Valencia unto him, from the Monastery where he left them, for it is many days since he saw them, and if it please you this would rejoice him.
When they had done this, they went to the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, and the porter of the King went with them, and gave order everywhere that every thing which they wanted should be given them.
If they were well received, and if there was great joy in St. Pedro de Cardena over them, it is not a thing to ask, for Dona Ximena and her daughters were like people beside themselves with the great joy which they had, and they came running out on foot to meet them, weeping plenteously for great joy.
And he gave the Abbot the thousand marks of silver which the Cid had sent for the Monastery, with which to discharge all the debt that Dona Ximena and his daughters had contracted.
Great was the stir throughout all that land of the honour of the Cid, and of the licence which the King gave to as many as should chuse to join him; and for this reason full sixty knights came to St. Pedro de Cardena, and a great number of squires on foot.
This Monastery will never forget him, to pray for him every day in the year.
All this Jesus Christ vouchsafest thee for the love of me, and for the reverence which thou hast always shown to my Church in the Monastery of Cardena.
And the first thing which he directed, after commending his soul to God, was, that his body should be buried in the Church of St. Pedro de Cardena, where it now lies; and he bequeathed unto that Monastery many good inheritances, so that that place is at this day the richer and more honourable.
And he bade them, when they arrived at St. Pedro de Cardena, give clothing to four thousand poor, to each a skirt of escanforte and a mantle.
And he bequeathed to Dona Ximena all that he had in the world, that she might live honourably for the remainder of her days in the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena; and he commanded Gil Diaz to remain with her and serve her well all the days of her life.
And they moved on from Santesteban, towards San Pedro de Cardena.
At this time King Don Alfonso abode in Toledo, and when the letters came unto him saying how the Cid Campeador was departed, and after what manner he had discomfited King Bucar, and how they brought him in this goodly manner upon his horse Bavieca, he set out from Toledo, taking long journies till he came to San Pedro de Cardena to do honour to the Cid at his funeral.
The day when he drew nigh the Infante of Aragon and the King of Navarre went out to meet him, and they took the body of the Cid with them on horseback, as far as the Monastery of San Christoval de Ybeas, which is a league from Cardena; and they went, the King of Navarre on one side of the body, and the Infante of Aragon on the other.
And he sent for the ivory chair which had been carried to the Cortes of Toledo, and gave order that it should be placed on the right of the altar of St. Peter; and he laid a cloth of gold upon it, and upon that placed a cushion covered with a right noble tartari, and he ordered a graven tabernacle to be made over the chair, richly wrought with azure and gold, having thereon the blazonry of the Kings of Castille and Leon, and the King of Navarre, and the Infante of Aragon, and of the Cid Ruydiez the Campeador.
King Don Alfonso, and the sons-in-law of the Cid, King Don Ramiro of Navarre, and the Infante Don Sancho of Aragon, with all their companies, and all the other honourable men, abode three weeks in St. Pedro de Cardena, doing honour to the Cid.
And Dona Ximena and her companions abode in San Pedro de Cardena, and Gil Diaz with her, as the Cid had commanded in his testament.
And Gil Diaz buried him before the gate of the Monastery, in the public place, on the right hand; and he planted two elms upon the grave, the one at his head and the other at his feet, and these elms grew and became great trees, and are yet to be seen before the gate of the Monastery.
At that time Don Garcia Tellez was Abbot of the Monastery, a right noble monk, and a great hidalgo.
And when the seven days were over, King Don Ramiro and Queen Dona Elvira his wife, and her sister, Dona Sol, set apart rents for the soul of Dona Ximena, and they appointed that Gil Diaz should have them for his life, and that then they should go to the Monastery for ever: and they ordained certain anniversaries for the souls of the Cid and Of Dona Ximena.
After of the noble Cid Campeador had been honourably interred, Gil Diaz his trusty servant abode still in the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, doing service to the graves of the Cid and Dona Ximena, and making their anniversaries, and celebrating masses, and giving great alms to the poor both in food and clothing, for the good of their souls; and in this manner he lived while Don Garcia Tellez was Abbot, and two others after him, and then he died.
And his deportment had always been such in that Monastery, that all there were his friends, and lamented greatly at his death, because he had led so devout and good a life, and served so trustily at the graves of his master and mistress.
Now Don Diego was a person of great learning, and moreover, one of the descendants of the Cid; and being greatly desirous that this thing should be effected, he sent to the Monastery of St. Pedro de Cardena, and had papers and depositions sent from thence, and made a memorial of the virtues and miracles of the Campeador, showing cause why this blessed knight should be canonized.