Download or read book The Quest for El Cid written by Richard A. Fletcher and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1991 with total page 246 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rodrigo Díaz, the legendary warrior-knight of eleventh-century Castile known as El Cid, is still honored in Spain as a national hero for liberating the fatherland from the occupying Moors. Yet, as this book reveals, there are many contradictions between eleventh-century reality and the mythology that developed later. By placing El Cid in a fresh, historical context, Fletcher shows us an adventurous soldier of fortune who was of a type, one of a number of "cids," or "bosses," who flourished in eleventh-century Spain. But the El Cid of legend--the national hero -- was unique in stature even in his lifetime. Before his death El Cid was already celebrated in a poem; posthumously he was immortalized in the great epic Poema de Mío Cid. When he died in Valencia in 1099, he was ruler of an independent principality he had carved for himself in Eastern Spain. Rather than the zealous Christian leader many believe him to have been, Rodrigo emerges in Fletcher's study as a mercenary equally at home in the feudal kingdoms of northern Spain and the exotic Moorish lands of the south, selling his martial skills to Christian and Muslim alike. Indeed, his very title derives from the Arabic word sayyid, meaning 'lord' or 'master.' And as there was little if any sense of Spanish nationhood in the eleventh century, he can hardly be credited for uniting a medieval Spanish nation. This ground-breaking inquiry into the life and times of El Cid disentangles fact from myth to create a striking portrait of an extraordinary man, clearly showing how and why legend transformed him into something he was not during his lifetime.--From publisher description.
Download or read book El Cid written by Geraldine McCaughrean and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1997-03 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the story of Don Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, chief marshal of the royal army, who was exiled from his native Castile by the weak King Alfonso in 1089. Banished from his two little daughters and his lovely wife, he rode out of Castile at midnight, between the teeth of a wild and snarling mountain range, and journeyed into the South, where Moorish invaders had ruled for centuries.
Download or read book The world of El Cid written by Simon Barton and published by Manchester University Press. This book was released on 2013-01-01 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Makes available, for the first time in English translation, four of the principal narrative sources for the history of the Spanish kingdom of León-Castile during the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Three chronicles focus primarily upon the activities of the kings of León-Castile as leaders of the Reconquest of Spain from the forces of Islam, and especially upon Fernando I (1037-65), his son Alfonso VI (1065-1109) and the latter's grandson Alfonso VII (1126-57). The fourth chronicle is a biography of the hero Rodrigo Díaz, better remembered as El Cid, and is the main source of information about his extraordinary career as a mercenary soldier who fought for Christian and Muslim alike. Covers the fascinating interaction of the Muslim and Christian worlds, each at the height of their power. Each text is prefaced by its own introduction and accompanied by explanatory notes.
Download or read book Quest for El Cid written by Richard Fletcher and published by . This book was released on 2002 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book El Cid written by M. J. Trow and published by Sutton Pub Limited. This book was released on 2007 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: And so the Cid rode out of the gates of history - and into legend. Viewed at one level, Rodrigo Diaz, from the little town of Burgos in Castile, was just another warlord, like countless others. That he fought for Muslim as well as Christian sent a shudder of outrage through the whole of Christendom; the man was a traitor to his God as well as his king. Why, then, was an epic film starring Charlton Heston made about the man known as El Cid? Why is he the national hero of Spain and why is there a statue to him in his native Burgos, and in New York City, three thousand miles and a thousand years away from the man and his times? Acclaimed author M.J. Trow peals back the layers of legend. He reveals the facts of the Cid's life and places his life in the context of the times, looks at how the Cid became the hero of the Reconquista in his own time and in later centuries, examines the way Spain's politicians and ruling elite have used the icon of the Cid, and discusses why the man and his story have fascinated numerous writers, from the 16th century to modern times.
Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to the Literature of the Crusades written by Anthony Bale and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2019-01-03 with total page 307 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume offers a literary and cultural history of the idea of crusading over the last millennium.
Download or read book El Cid and the Reconquista 1050 1492 written by David Nicolle and published by Osprey Publishing. This book was released on 1988-07-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The very name El Cid sums up much of the special character of medieval Spanish warfare. It comes from the Arabic al sayyid, master or chieftain, and seems to have been given to Rodrigo de Vivar by his Muslim foes. But was it given in recognition of El Cid's victories against Islam in the 'Reconquista' – or because this Castilian nobleman was as content to serve beside the Muslims as to fight them? The story of the Christian conquest of the Iberian peninsula which gave rise to the legend of El Cid, is here examined by David Nicolle, who outlines the history, tactics, arms and armour of the period.
Download or read book El Cid God s Own Champion written by James Fitzhenry and published by . This book was released on 2008-01-01 with total page 186 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is an inspiring biography about an extraordinary Catholic knight chosen by God to save his nation from Islamic aggression. Known by the honorary title of El Cid, Rodrigo Diaz is an epic hero who is relevant to our time. Exiled by his king, insulted and maligned by those who should have supported him, he selflessly fought against seemingly insurmountable odds to save Christian Spain. Commanding the respect even of his enemies, upon his death a Muslim historian acclaimed him a "miracle among the great miracles of the Almighty." The Cid is an example of what can be achieved through devotion to duty, prayer, and trust in God.
Download or read book Warriors of Christendom written by John Matthews and published by Brockhampton Press. This book was released on 1998 with total page 212 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume tells in exciting detail the story of four great warlords from the early medieval era.
Download or read book The Conversion of Europe TEXT ONLY written by Richard Fletcher and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 1917 with total page 682 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The story of how Europe was converted to Christianity from 300AD until the barbarian Lithuanians finally capitulated at the astonishingly late date of 1386. It is an epic tale from one of the most gifted historians of today. This remarkable book examines the conversion of Europe to the Christian faith in the period following the collapse of the Roman Empire to approximately 1300 when the hegemony of the Holy Roman Empire was firmly established. One of the book’s great strengths is the degree to which it shows how little was inevitable about this process, how surrounded by uncertainties. What was the origin of the missionary impulse? Who were the activists who engaged in this work – the toilsome, often unrewarding, sometimes dangerous work of evangelisation, and how did they set about putting over this faith? How did a structure of ecclesiastical government come into being? Above all, at what point can one say that an individual or a society has become Christian? Fletcher’s range, lucidity and mastery of his sources brings the answers to these and many other questions as far within our grasp as they probably ever can be. Like Alan Bullock and Simon Schama, Fletcher is a historian with the true gift of a storyteller and a wide general readership ahead of him. Fletcher’s previous book, The Quest for El Cid won both the Wolfson History Prize and the Los Angeles Times Book Award for History. This book is even better – the most impressive achievement so far of this strikingly gifted historian.
Download or read book The Shadow of the Wind written by Carlos Ruiz Zafon and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2005-01-25 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The New York Times bestseller “The Shadow of the Wind is ultimately a love letter to literature, intended for readers as passionate about storytelling as its young hero.” —Entertainment Weekly (Editor's Choice) “One gorgeous read.” —Stephen King Barcelona, 1945: A city slowly heals in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War, and Daniel, an antiquarian book dealer’s son who mourns the loss of his mother, finds solace in a mysterious book entitled The Shadow of the Wind, by one Julián Carax. But when he sets out to find the author’s other works, he makes a shocking discovery: someone has been systematically destroying every copy of every book Carax has written. In fact, Daniel may have the last of Carax’s books in existence. Soon Daniel’s seemingly innocent quest opens a door into one of Barcelona’s darkest secrets--an epic story of murder, madness, and doomed love.
Download or read book The Lara Family written by Simon R. DOUBLEDAY and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2009-06-30 with total page 209 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For much of the Middle Ages, the Lara family was among the most powerful aristocratic lineages in Spain. Proteges of the monarchy at the time of El Cid, their influence reached extraordinary heights during the struggle against the Moors. Hand-in-glove with successive kings, they gathered an impressive array of military and political positions across the Iberian Peninsula. But cooperation gave way to confrontation, as the family was pitted against the crown in a series of civil wars. This book, the first modern study of the Laras, explores the causes of change in the dynamics of power, and narrates the dramatic story of the events that overtook the family. The Laras' militant quest for territorial strength and the conflict with the monarchy led toward a fatal end, but anticipated a form of aristocratic power that long outlived the family. The noble elite would come to dominate Spanish society in the coming centuries, and the Lara family provides important lessons for students of the history of nobility, monarchy, and power in the medieval and early modern world.
Download or read book A Time of Gifts written by Patrick Leigh Fermor and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2011-09-14 with total page 340 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This beloved account about an intrepid young Englishman on the first leg of his walk from London to Constantinople is simply one of the best works of travel literature ever written. At the age of eighteen, Patrick Leigh Fermor set off from the heart of London on an epic journey—to walk to Constantinople. A Time of Gifts is the rich account of his adventures as far as Hungary, after which Between the Woods and the Water continues the story to the Iron Gates that divide the Carpathian and Balkan mountains. Acclaimed for its sweep and intelligence, Leigh Fermor’s book explores a remarkable moment in time. Hitler has just come to power but war is still ahead, as he walks through a Europe soon to be forever changed—through the Lowlands to Mitteleuropa, to Teutonic and Slav heartlands, through the baroque remains of the Holy Roman Empire; up the Rhine, and down to the Danube. At once a memoir of coming-of-age, an account of a journey, and a dazzling exposition of the English language, A Time of Gifts is also a portrait of a continent already showing ominous signs of the holocaust to come.
Download or read book The Epic of The Cid written by and published by Hackett Publishing. This book was released on 2011-03-15 with total page 251 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Epic of the Cid records the deeds of Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the Cid of history and legend. A powerful warrior in the Christian reconquest of medieval Spain, a formidable strategist, and a charismatic leader, the Cid deeply impressed his contemporaries, both Christian and Muslim. Already, in his lifetime, songs, stories, and chronicles were devoted to his exploits. In offering both a highly readable, colloquial prose translation of El Cantar de Mio Cid and selections from a wide variety of those contemporary accounts, this volume brings the historical figure back to life for modern readers. Harney's substantial Introduction and annotation provide the historical, military, and literary background necessary for an informed reading of the texts; also included are maps, a compendium of proper names, a bibliography, and an index.
Download or read book Bloodfeud written by Richard Fletcher and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2004-09 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a gusty March day in 1016, Earl Uhtred of Northumbria, the most powerful lord in northern England, arrived at a place called Wiheal, probably near Tadcaster in Yorkshire. Uhtred had come with forty men to submit formally to King Canute, an act that completed the Danish subjugation of England and the defeat of Ethelred the Unready, to whom Uhtred had been a loyal ally and subject. But, as Richard Fletcher recounts in the electrifying opening to Bloodfeud, "Treachery was afoot."
Download or read book The quest for El Cid written by Richard Fletcher and published by . This book was released on 1997 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book The Templar Code For Dummies written by Christopher Hodapp and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2011-02-14 with total page 384 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A captivating look into the society of the Knights Templar Brought to you by the author of Freemasons For Dummies, The Templar Code is more than an intriguing cipher or a mysterious symbol – it is the Code by which the Knights Templar lived and died, the Code that bound them together in secrecy, and the Code that inspired them to nearly superhuman feats of courage and endurance. The Templar Code for Dummies reveals the meaning behind the cryptic codes and secret rituals of the medieval brotherhood of warrior monks known as the Knights Templar. This intriguing guide will cover such topics as who the Knights Templar were, how they rose so high and fell so far, and most importantly why there is so much interest in them today. The Templar Code For Dummies will explore myths and theories of Christian history that appear in the Da Vinci Code such as the quest for the Holy Grail, the Catholic Church's relationship with women that are hotly debated now with special emphasis on the Templar connection. It also explores the surprising part the Templars have played in some of the most important historic events of these past seven centuries, including the French Revolution, the birth of groups such as the Freemasons, and even the American Civil War.
