Editing El Cid (section)

==Warrior and general==

===Battle tactics===
During his campaigns, El Cid often ordered that books by classic [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] and [[Greek literature|Greek]] authors on military themes be read aloud to him and his troops, for both entertainment and inspiration before battle. El Cid's army had a novel approach to planning strategy as well, holding what might be called "[[brainstorming]]" sessions before each battle to discuss tactics. They frequently used unexpected strategies, engaging in what modern generals would call [[psychological warfare]]—waiting for the enemy to be paralyzed with terror and then attacking them suddenly; distracting the enemy with a small group of soldiers, etc. (El Cid used this distraction in capturing the town of Castejón as depicted in ''[[Cantar de mio Cid]]'' (''The Song of my Cid'').) El Cid accepted or included suggestions from his troops. In ''The Song'' the man who served him as his closest adviser was his vassal and kinsman [[Álvar Fáñez]] "''Minaya''" (meaning ''"My brother"'', a compound word of Spanish possessive ''Mi'' (My) and ''Anaia'', the basque word for ''brother''), although the historical Álvar Fáñez remained in Castile with Alfonso VI.{{Citation needed|date=April 2022}}

===Babieca===
[[File:Cardeña tumba babieca 03320.jpg|thumb|Tomb of Babieca at the monastery of [[San Pedro de Cardeña]]]]

'''Babieca''', or '''Bavieca''', was El Cid's [[warhorse]]. Several stories exist about El Cid and Babieca. One well-known legend about El Cid describes how he acquired the [[stallion]]. According to this story, Rodrigo's godfather, Pedro El Grande, was a monk at a [[Carthusian]] [[monastery]]. Pedro's coming-of-age gift to El Cid was his pick of a horse from an [[Andalusian horse|Andalusian]] herd. El Cid picked a horse that his godfather thought was a weak, poor choice, causing the monk to exclaim "''Babieca!''" (stupid!). Hence, it became the name of El Cid's horse. Another legend states that in a competition of battle to become King Sancho's "Campeador", or champion, a knight on horseback wished to challenge El Cid. The King wished a fair fight and gave El Cid his finest horse, Babieca, or Bavieca. This version says Babieca was raised in the royal stables of Seville and was a highly trained and loyal war horse, not a foolish stallion. The name in this instance could suggest that the horse came from the Babia region in [[León (historical region)|León, Spain]]. In the poem ''[[Carmen Campidoctoris]]'', Babieca appears as a gift from "a barbarian" to El Cid, so its name could also be derived from "Barbieca", or "horse of the barbarian".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bergen |first=Ard van |title=Rodrigo 'el Cid' "El Cid" Díaz de Vivar príncipe de Valencia (± 1043–1099) » maximum test » Genealogy Online |url=https://www.genealogieonline.nl/en/maximum-test/I5666856869970026974.php |access-date=2022-06-24 |website=Genealogy Online |language=en}}</ref>

Regardless, Babieca became a great warhorse, famous to the Christians, feared by El Cid's enemies, and loved by El Cid, who allegedly requested that Babieca be buried with him in the monastery of [[San Pedro de Cardeña]].<ref name="Quest"/> Babieca is mentioned in several tales and historical documents about El Cid, including ''The Lay of El Cid''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Project Gutenberg's "The Lay of the Cid" |url=https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6088/6088-h/6088-h.htm |access-date=2022-06-26 |website=www.gutenberg.org}}</ref>

===Swords===
A weapon traditionally identified as El Cid's [[sword]], [[Tizona]], used to be displayed in the Army Museum (Museo del Ejército) in Toledo. In 1999, a small sample of the blade underwent metallurgical analysis which confirmed that the blade was made in Moorish [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]] in the eleventh century and contained amounts of [[Damascus steel]].<ref name="John Wiley & Sons, Ltd">{{cite journal |last1=Alonso |first1=J. I. Garcia |last2=Martinez |first2=J. A. |last3=Criado |first3=A. J. |year=1999 |title=Origin of El Cid's sword revealed by ICP-MS metal analysis |journal=Spectroscopy Europe |volume=11 |issue=4 |publisher=John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.}}</ref>

In 2007, the Autonomous Community of [[Castile and León]] bought the sword for €1.6 million,<ref name="Hill2014">{{cite book|author=Tom Hill|title=Swords of El Cid: "Rodrigo! May God curse him!"|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RhG_BAAAQBAJ&pg=PT330|date= 2014|publisher=Andrews UK Limited|isbn=978-1-78333-651-7|page=330}}</ref> and it is currently on display at the Museum of [[Burgos]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Handbook of Medieval Culture|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LR5pCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA1739|date=31 August 2015|publisher=De Gruyter|isbn=978-3-11-037761-3|page=1739}}</ref>

El Cid also had a sword called [[Colada]].<ref name="HamiltonMichael1984">{{cite book|author1=Rita Hamilton|author2=Ian Michael|title=Cantar de mio Cid|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dYPWN2RMcFoC&pg=PA187|year=1984|publisher=Penguin|isbn=978-0-14-044446-9|page=187}}</ref>