Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar was a Castilian knight and ruler in medieval Spain. Fighting with both Christian and Muslim armies during his lifetime, he earned the Arabic honorific as-Sayyid, which would evolve into El Çid, and the Spanish honorific El Campeador. He was born in Vivar, a village near the city of Burgos. 1043 – July 10, 1099; died at about 56. Alive at the same time as Omar Khayyám, Peter Abelard, Anselm of Canterbury, Solomon ibn Gabirol, and William the Conqueror. Wiki link