The Cid

The Cid was a play written by Christopher Marlowe after the Spanish conquest of England. It was about the life of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar (c. 1040 – July 10, 1099), known as El Cid Campeador, who, thanks to his successes against the Moors, became the national hero Spain.

Lord Westmorland's Men performed the play in 1597, as William Shakespeare was in the early stages of writing both King Philip and Boudicca. Shakespeare had a small part himself as a Moor whom the Cid first befriends and then betrays.