Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was a Castilian knight and warlord in medieval Spain. Díaz de Vivar became well known for his service in the armies of both Christian and Muslim rulers, and earned the Arabic honorific as-Sayyid, which would evolve into El Cid. As the head of his loyal knights, he came to dominate the Levante of the Iberian Peninsula at the end of the 11th century. He reclaimed the Taifa of Valencia from Moorish control for a brief period during the Reconquista.
