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statman's review
2.0
Written more for the historian than for a general audience. The author recognizes the limitations in trying to write about someone from the 11th century given the paucity of original sources about the Cid. He tries to separate the man from the myth and seems to do a good job of that. He does take the whole first half of the book to talk about his contemporaries and set the stage before he even begins to talk about Rodrigo Diaz (The Cid) so it took a while to get to the main subject and even then, there's not much to go on.
paul_cornelius's review
4.0
First, this is a good book. Informative, trenchant, and convincing, despite the author's occasional awkward syntax or frustrated word choices. It reminds me of an era of historical study not so long ago that avoided sentimental assurances meant to assuage contemporary feelings or, alternatively, settle for psychologically driven needs to reinforce disintegrating national mythoses.
Instead, the Spain that Fletcher describes emerges from the Visigothic remnants of the sixth century to the disintegrating Islamic caliphate of the 11th century. This is the world into which El Cid was born, a fissile society prone to intrigue, opportunity, and violence.
Finally, Fletcher notes that his is not a work meant to "stand up to academic scrutiny". And, indeed, it does not. Little ground is given to a review of the literature or the historiograhy of the period. Neither is his source material as helpful as it could be, although in all honesty this sort of intellectual breeziness is a hallmark of much contemporary British scholarship--at least as it compares with its American contemporaries. Nevertheless, this slim volume remains a valuable read, an important, even, survey of the time and the persons involved.
Instead, the Spain that Fletcher describes emerges from the Visigothic remnants of the sixth century to the disintegrating Islamic caliphate of the 11th century. This is the world into which El Cid was born, a fissile society prone to intrigue, opportunity, and violence.
Finally, Fletcher notes that his is not a work meant to "stand up to academic scrutiny". And, indeed, it does not. Little ground is given to a review of the literature or the historiograhy of the period. Neither is his source material as helpful as it could be, although in all honesty this sort of intellectual breeziness is a hallmark of much contemporary British scholarship--at least as it compares with its American contemporaries. Nevertheless, this slim volume remains a valuable read, an important, even, survey of the time and the persons involved.
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