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El C.I.D. is an ITV television crime drama comedy that ran for three seasons from 7 February 1990 until 2 March 1992. The series starred Alfred Molina as Bernard Blake, a C.I.D. officer who takes early retirement and moves to Spain where he and his work partner, Douglas Bromley (), a retired records officer, keep an eye on the ex-pat community of British gangsters.
- 7 February 1990 –, 2 March 1992
- 19 (list of episodes)
- Mike Moran
- ITV
- Overview
- Early life
- Service to the Muslims
El Cid, who lived in the 11th century, is known as the national hero of Spain. He is remembered as a fierce champion of Christian Spain against Muslim and particularly Almoravid forces during the early years of the Reconquista and as the embodiment of knightly honour.
What made El Cid famous?
The 12th-century epic poemCantar de mío Cid (“Song of My Cid”) is the primary source of the legend of El Cid. The play Le Cid by Pierre Corneille, first published and performed in 1637, further burnished the legend.
What were El Cid’s accomplishments?
El Cid was a formidable military leader who won several famous battles. He was also an astute politician. His most significant accomplishment was his conquest of Muslim-ruled Valencia in spite of strong Almoravid resistance. He ruled Valencia from 1094 until his death in 1099.
Was El Cid the champion that he was portrayed as?
Rodrigo Díaz’s father, Diego Laínez, was a member of the minor nobility (infanzones) of Castile. But the Cid’s social background was less unprivileged than later popular tradition liked to suppose, for he was directly connected on his mother’s side to the great landed aristocracy, and he was brought up at the court of Ferdinand I in the household of that king’s eldest son, the future Sancho II of Castile. When Sancho succeeded to the Castilian throne (1065), he nominated the 22-year-old Cid as his standard-bearer (armiger regis), or commander of the royal troops. This early promotion to important office suggests that the young Cid had already won a reputation for military prowess. In 1067 he accompanied Sancho on a campaign against the important Moorish kingdom of Zaragoza (Saragossa) and played a leading role in the negotiations that made its king, al-Muqtadir, a tributary of the Castilian crown.
Ferdinand I, on his death, had partitioned his kingdoms among his various children, leaving Leon to his second son, Alfonso VI. Sancho began (1067) to make war on the latter with the aim of annexing Leon. Later legend was to make the Cid a reluctant supporter of Sancho’s aggression, but it is unlikely the real Cid had any such scruples. He played a prominent part in Sancho’s successful campaigns against Alfonso and so found himself in an awkward situation in 1072, when the childless Sancho was killed while besieging Zamora, leaving the dethroned Alfonso as his only possible heir. The new king appears to have done his best to win the allegiance of Sancho’s most powerful supporter. Though the Cid now lost his post as armiger regis to a great magnate, Count García Ordóñez (whose bitter enemy he became), and his former influence at court naturally declined, he was allowed to remain there; and, in July 1074, probably at Alfonso’s instigation, he married the king’s niece Jimena, daughter of the count of Oviedo. He thus became allied by marriage to the ancient royal dynasty of Leon. Very little is known about Jimena. The couple had one son and two daughters. The son, Diego Rodríguez, was killed in battle against the Muslim Almoravid invaders from North Africa, at Consuegra (1097).
The Cid in exile offered his services to the Muslim dynasty that ruled Zaragoza and with which he had first made contact in 1065. The king of Zaragoza, in northeastern Spain, al-Muʿtamin, welcomed the chance of having his vulnerable kingdom defended by so prestigious a Christian warrior. The Cid now loyally served al-Muʿtamin and his successor, al-Mustaʿīn II, for nearly a decade. As a result of his experience he gained that understanding of the complexities of Hispano-Arabic politics and of Islamic law and custom that would later help him to conquer and hold Valencia. Meanwhile, he steadily added to his reputation as a general who had never been defeated in battle. In 1082, on behalf of al-Muʿtamin, he inflicted a decisive defeat on the Moorish king of Lérida and the latter’s Christian allies, among them the count of Barcelona. In 1084 he defeated a large Christian army under King Sancho Ramírez of Aragon. He was richly rewarded for these victories by his grateful Muslim masters.
In 1086 there began the great Almoravid invasion of Spain from North Africa. Alfonso VI, crushingly defeated by the invaders at Sagrajas (October 23, 1086), suppressed his antagonism to the Cid and recalled from exile the Christians’ best general. The Cid’s presence at Alfonso’s court in July 1087 is documented. But shortly afterward, he was back in Zaragoza, and he was not a participant in the subsequent desperate battles against the Almoravids in the strategic regions where their attacks threatened the whole existence of Christian Spain. The Cid, for his part, now embarked on the lengthy and immensely complicated political maneuvering that was aimed at making him master of the rich Moorish kingdom of Valencia.
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Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1043 – 10 July 1099) was a Castilian knight and ruler in medieval Spain.Fighting both with Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific as-Sayyid ("the Lord" or "the Master"), which would evolve into El Çid (Spanish: [el ˈθið], Old Spanish: [el ˈts̻id]), and the Spanish honorific El Campeador ("the Champion").
- Diego Laínez
- Jimena Díaz
- 1094 – 1099
- Jimena Díaz
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El Cid is a Spanish historical action drama television series about Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar "El Cid", the 11th-century Castilian knight and warlord. Created by José Velasco and Luiz Arranz for Amazon Prime Video, the series stars Jaime Lorente alongside José Luis García Pérez, Elia Galera, Carlos Bardem, Alicia Sanz and Jaime Olías, among others.
No. OverallNo. In SeasonTitle61"Promises and Temptations" ( Promesas y ...72"The Burden of Duty" ( La carga del ...83"Wind of War" ( Viento de guerra)94"Ambush" ( Emboscada)- 10
- December 18, 2020 –, August 15, 2021
El Cid: Directed by Anthony Mann. With Charlton Heston, Sophia Loren, Raf Vallone, Geneviève Page. The fabled Spanish hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (a.k.a. El Cid) overcomes a family vendetta and court intrigue to defend Christian Spain against the Moors.
El C.I.D. is an ITV television crime drama comedy that ran for three seasons from 7 February 1990 until 2 March 1992. The series starred Alfred Molina as Bernard Blake, a C.I.D. officer who takes early retirement and moves to Spain where he and his work partner, Douglas Bromley, a retired records officer, keep an eye on the ex-pat community of British gangsters.
