The "Tizona" of Béjar

[Reventlov]

I think this forum is the only other place I have come across the story of how El Cid's legendary sword Tizona was reportedly stolen from the castle of Béjar. Hat-tip to Jim McDougall in his old thread here!

The full story, from a letter of the poet Robert Southey, runs like this:

In some of the correspondence from Spain and Portugal, which has passed through my hands, I have met with an anecdote of Maine, agreeing well enough with what we remember of him at Westminster. He stole that good sword Tizona from the Castle of Béjar, leaving another in its place, and afterwards presented a third to Beresford as the real Tizona, which he kept to himself, but which I find afterwards in Sir John Downie’s comical hands.

The truth behind this unlikely claim is that William Mayne, colonel of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion, did indeed acquire a sword in Béjar during the Peninsular War, but one belonging to the great hero's namesake, Rodrigo de Mendoza, the marquis of Cenete and count of Cid. Despite being etched with its owner's name, title, and coat-of-arms, the sword has lain unidentified in the British Royal Collection since 1810. The inscription was assumed to be a later forgery, and the arms misattributed to a heroic ancestor of dukes of Béjar, Diego López de Zúñiga, whose legend became attached to the sword during the centuries it was in their keeping.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrig...quis_of_Cenete
https://www.rct.uk/collection/61545/arming-sword

The complete story of the sword's provenance can be found in my new article, which will appear in the next issue of Arms & Armour. It is now available online, but not open-access. Please DM me if you need help accessing it.
https://doi.org/10.1080/17416124.2024.2429322

Mark