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Case file s641 · Medieval Europe · 1099
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1099
El Cid: Estatua del Cid (Burgos)
El Cid. photographer: ElCaminodeSantiago09 2006. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
10 July 1099
Place
Valencia and Burgos, Spain
Field
a conquered city; a hero's remains · Royalty and nobility on the timeline
Legal tradition
Castilian royal grant and burial custom · Civil law · Royal and church law
Historical event
The Almoravid reconquest of Valencia
Religion
El Cid: Catholic (recorded as 11th-century Roman Catholics, Spanish Roman Catholics on Wikipedia)
Medieval EuropeBodies, bones and burialsMedievalEuropeSpain

El Cid's widow carried his body out of Valencia, and his bones were moved five times between 1102 and 1921

Rodrigo Díaz, El Cid, took Valencia from its Muslim rulers in June 1094 and governed it. He died there on 10 July 1099, aged about 56, and was buried in Valencia cathedral. His widow, Jimena Díaz, held the city after his death. On 5 May 1102 the Almoravid general Mazdali took Valencia. Jimena left for Castile with her household and her husband's body, and he was reburied at the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña near Burgos. In 1808 French soldiers in the Peninsular War desecrated the tomb. In 1809 the French general Paul Thiébault had the remains placed in a monument on the Espolón promenade in Burgos. In 1826 they went back to Cardeña. After the state confiscated church property, they were moved in 1842 to the chapel of the Burgos town hall. In 1921 they were buried with Jimena's under the crossing of Burgos Cathedral, where they are now. His family did not keep Valencia, but it married into royalty. His daughter Cristina's son, García Ramírez, became king of Navarre. His daughter María married Ramon Berenguer III, count of Barcelona.

What the law took from it

El Cid's city was a personal conquest with no title that outlasted him; his widow held it three years.

Sources
  1. encyclopedia.comPress
  2. catholic.orgPress
  3. terranostrum.esPress
  4. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia
  5. Wikipedia (Spanish)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “El Cid's widow carried his body out of Valencia, and his bones were moved five times between 1102 and 1921,” story s641, https://www.celebrity.estate/el-cid-1099, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Medieval EuropeBodies, bones and burialsMedievalEuropeCivil lawRoyal and church lawSpain