Editing El Cid (section)

===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 Babieca is mentioned in several tales and historical documents about El Cid, including ''The Lay of El Cid''.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>