Nora Berend is Professor of European History at the University of Cambridge. She has published extensively on medieval history and has written for History Today among others.

A fascinating study of historical mythmaking. Nora Berend shows what can be pieced together about the eleventh-century mercenary known as El Cid, as well as the complicated legendary "afterlife" built on his career. How did this opportunistic knight, who served Christian kings, Arab rulers and most of all his own interests, became a symbol of Spanish unity and Castilian-dominated national identity? Concisely and absorbingly, Berend supplies the answers.

Nora Berend is Professor of European History at the University of Cambridge. She has published extensively on medieval history and has written for History Today among others.

A fascinating study of historical mythmaking. Nora Berend shows what can be pieced together about the eleventh-century mercenary known as El Cid, as well as the complicated legendary "afterlife" built on his career. How did this opportunistic knight, who served Christian kings, Arab rulers and most of all his own interests, became a symbol of Spanish unity and Castilian-dominated national identity? Concisely and absorbingly, Berend supplies the answers.

Nora Berend is Professor of European History at the University of Cambridge. She has published extensively on medieval history and has written for History Today among others.

A fascinating study of historical mythmaking. Nora Berend shows what can be pieced together about the eleventh-century mercenary known as El Cid, as well as the complicated legendary "afterlife" built on his career. How did this opportunistic knight, who served Christian kings, Arab rulers and most of all his own interests, became a symbol of Spanish unity and Castilian-dominated national identity? Concisely and absorbingly, Berend supplies the answers.