Diaz, Jimena (fl. 1074–1100)

Spanish hero and wife of El Cid. Name variations: Ximena. Daughter of the count of Oviedo; niece of Jimena Munoz (c. 1065–1128) and Alphonso VI, king of Castile; married Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar (c. 1043–1099), also known as El Cid Campeador, in 1074; children: twins Maria de Vivar (who married Peter of Aragon); Cristina de Vivar (mother of Garcia IV the Restorer, king of Navarre); son Diego.

The 1074 marriage between Jimena Diaz and Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar was a turning point for Rodrigo. Jimena was the daughter of the count of Oviedo and the niece of Jimena Munoz and Alphonso VI, king of Castile. The wedding, probably arranged by the king, bound Rodrigo to Jimena's prominent family from Asturias with blood ties to the royal dynasty.

As a Castilian military commander, Rodrigo led Christian forces against invading Muslims and in 1094 captured the important coastal city of Valencia. For his efforts, he would be celebrated as a national hero of Spain, popularly known as El Cid.

When Rodrigo died in his bed on July 10, 1099, in Valencia, control of the town fell to Jimena, who struggled to defend what Rodrigo had fought so hard to possess. Three years later on the advice of Alphonso VI, Jimena evacuated Valencia and sought refuge in Castile. Many of the treasures, spoils, and possessions accumulated by Rodrigo were taken to the ancestral lands near Vivar. The most important item transported was the body of Rodrigo which Jimena reinterred near Burgos, in the Benedictine monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña.

sources:

Fletcher, Richard. The Quest for the Cid. Knopf, 1989.

Pidal, Ramón Menéndez. La España del Cid. Espasa-Calpe, 1964 (English translation. The Cid and His Spain. John Murray, 1934).

suggested reading:

de Chasca, Edmund. The Poem of the Cid. Twayne, 1976.

O'Callaghan, Joseph F. A History of Medieval Spain. Cornell University Press, 1975.