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

[Jim McDougall]

Thank you for the kind note on my thread! It has been some years since (2009) but my fascination for this topic, and of course TIZONA has never waned.
This a magnificent paper and brings in so many dynamics which illustrate the machinations and misperceptions which often surround items that are held in the highest esteem as historic regalia.
However, too often the pedigree given them can be spuriously applied whether intentional or not. This paper perfectly illustrates how these jealously guarded stories applied to chronologically incorrect items can occur through a kind of 'perfect storm' of events or situations.

My interest has again become mercilessly piqued by this magnificently written paper!!!
Hopefully others who have studied this subject matter and in these areas of history might enter here with us.

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

This a magnificent paper and brings in so many dynamics which illustrate the machinations and misperceptions which often surround items that are held in the highest esteem as historic regalia.
However, too often the pedigree given them can be spuriously applied whether intentional or not. This paper perfectly illustrates how these jealously guarded stories applied to chronologically incorrect items can occur through a kind of 'perfect storm' of events or situations.

My interest has again become mercilessly piqued by this magnificently written paper!!!

Thank you for the kind words, Jim!

[Jim McDougall]

Very welcome, and well deserved for such a well research and well written paper which goes into the depths of how legends can often be compounded and alter the true understanding of many historical topics.

While there is of course a great deal of material and analysis regarding El Cid in the study of Iberian history, notably absent is any specific attention in kind toward his fabled sword TIZONA. As I read this amazing paper, I turned to a book I have long had titled "The Quest for El Cid" by Richard Fletcher (1989), in which there is of course no mention of Tizona, or any sword or weapon.
This is in my view, characteristic of much academic material, which avoids subject matter which is surrounded with subjective or any apocryphal detail.
This is unfortunate, as these details often offer important perspective in the review of the subject at hand.

El Cid was a real figure who reached legendary status in the history of Spain, who I would compare in essence to the literally legendary figure of King Arthur, who did not gain notable popularity until the 12th c. writing of Geoffrey of Monmouth. While much of this had basis in Welsh mythology and Celtic folklore, it was embellished enough to have questionable historicity. Interestingly virtually all of the material on King Arthur which began with popular study in the late 18th through 19th centuries, emphatically refers to EXCALIBUR, which has conflicting identity as the 'sword in the stone' as well as the sword from 'the lady in the lake'.

As a note toward the interesting background of Tizona, I found a clipping in the pages of my copy of Fletchers 1989 book (I often place such items in books in my library),
Titled "Sword of El Cid at the Heart of a Battle", (Judith Kane, "Renaissance" , #24; Vol.8, "6....discussing the sword Tizona in a legal battle between the family of the Marquis de Falces who had owned it since the 15th c.
They had loaned it to the Army Museum in Madrid for 60 years, but the family had offered to sell it for 5 million dollars.
The Spanish government questioned the swords authenticity but still offered $660,000, which was declined.
They then used 'heritage laws' to prevent the Marquis from selling it outside Spain.
There seems to have been other legal disputes concerning ownership which were concurrent.
While not relevant necessarily it just seemed interesting in accord with the subject matter in this fascinating paper.

[Reventlov]

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

I turned to a book I have long had titled "The Quest for El Cid" by Richard Fletcher (1989), in which there is of course no mention of Tizona, or any sword or weapon.
This is in my view, characteristic of much academic material, which avoids subject matter which is surrounded with subjective or any apocryphal detail.
This is unfortunate, as these details often offer important perspective in the review of the subject at hand.

An excellent book, which I have on my shelf as well - probably still the best in English on the "real" El Cid. The problem with the historicity of his swords Tizona and Colada is that they are first attributed to him in the heavily fictionalized Cantar de Mio Cid, composed long after its hero's death. There is a very interesting paper by Helmut Nickel, "About the Knight with Two Swords and the Maiden under a Tree", that traces many recurring motifs in medieval romances, and many details of the Cantar seem clearly to be tropes of this genre rather than historical fact.

However, there is a document from the 1020s (meaning before Rodrigo Diaz' birth c. 1043) showing that the count of Barcelona owned a valuable sword called "Tizonem". This had led to the theory that Rodrigo claimed this sword after the battle of Tébar in 1090, when he captured the old count's grandson, Berenguer Ramon II. It is in the Cantar's version of this battle that El Cid wins Colada from "Count Ramon".

The problem is that the word "tizon" in old Spanish (derived from Latin titio) plays much the same role as the Northern European "brand": literally a firebrand, metaphorically a sword, and in practice a personal name as well. There was a Pedro Tizón who was lord of Monzón, a castle to which Tizona was later linked in various legends, but does it follow that Tizona must have been his? Must it be the same weapon as King Jaime of Aragon's lucky sword Tiso? Not every "brand" must have belonged to a man named "Brand" after all!

Originally Posted by Jim McDougall

As a note toward the interesting background of Tizona, I found a clipping in the pages of my copy of Fletchers 1989 book (I often place such items in books in my library),
Titled "Sword of El Cid at the Heart of a Battle", (Judith Kane, "Renaissance" , #24; Vol.8, "6....discussing the sword Tizona in a legal battle between the family of the Marquis de Falces who had owned it since the 15th c.
They had loaned it to the Army Museum in Madrid for 60 years, but the family had offered to sell it for 5 million dollars.
The Spanish government questioned the swords authenticity but still offered $660,000, which was declined.
They then used 'heritage laws' to prevent the Marquis from selling it outside Spain.
There seems to have been other legal disputes concerning ownership which were concurrent.

This is another very interesting story in its own right. The Falces Tizona was eventually purchased by the Spanish government for a very inflated price, and is now on display in Burgos. Leading up to its purchase, arguments were produced that the blade at least dated to the 11th century and so could potentially be the genuine sword of El Cid. Hardly credible, in my mind, and the conclusions have been contested by archaeometallurgist Alan Williams.

Pardon the self-promotion, but many of the points are touched on by my article available here: https://www.academia.edu/35847672/Th...act_and_legend