‘Major Monsoon’ and the Tizona of Béjar: the provenance of a late medieval sword in the British Royal Collection

Abstract

Listen

Translate article

In a letter of Robert Southey, the first English translator of the Cantar de Mio Cid, appears a curious anecdote concerning the theft of the eponymous hero’s sword Tizona from the castle of Béjar during the Peninsular War. Contemporary memoirs identify the alleged culprit as Colonel William Mayne of the Loyal Lusitanian Legion, while suggesting a more benign interpretation of the episode. The actual weapon in question can be traced in records of the duchy of Béjar, and now belongs to the British Royal Collection. Though traditionally attributed to Diego López de Zúñiga, hero of Las Navas de Tolosa, the sword can be properly identified as having belonged to Rodrigo de Vivar y Mendoza, 1st marquis of Cenete and count of Cid.