El Cid

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Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1040, Vivar, near Burgos – July 10, 1099, Valencia), known as El Cid Campeador, was a Castilian nobleman, a gifted military leader and diplomat who, after being exiled, conquered and governed the city of Valencia. Rodrigo Díaz was educated in the royal court of Castile and became the alférez, or chief general, of Alfonso VI, and his most valuable asset in the fight against the Moors.

The name "El Cid" comes from the Spanish article El, and the dialectal Arab word sïdi or sayyid, which means "Lord". The title Campeador comes from campidoctor, a vulgar Latin word roughly meaning "master of military arts", so El Cid Campeador translates as "The lord, master of military arts". He is considered the national hero of Spain.

A weapon traditionally identified as El Cid's sword, Tizona, can still be seen in the Army Museum (Museo del Ejército) in Madrid.

In 1999, a small sample of the blade underwent metallurgical analysis which confirmed that the blade was made in Moorish Córdoba in the eleventh century and contained amounts of Damascus steel.

In 2007 the Autonomous Community of Castile and León bought the sword for 1.6 million Euros, and it is currently on display at the Museum of Burgos. El Cid also had a sword called Colada.

The "Tizona" sword, is the sword than many times have been replied in all history for all the manufacturers all over the world.

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