Charles Morris
speaker
7,961 appearances
2 recordings
1 series
first heard Jul 2026
last heard 18 Aug
Charles Morris’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
Trend
recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 2 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 1.
Appearances
In ten eighty one Alfonso captured Toledo and made that city his capital, from which he prepared to push his way still deeper into the Moorish dominions.
He now needed the Cid, whom he had banished five years before.
But it was easier to ask than to get.
The seed had grown too great to be at any king's beck and call.
He would fight for Alfonso, but in his own way, holding himself free to attack whom he pleased and when he pleased, and to capture the cities of the Muslims and rule them as their lord.
He had become a freelance, fighting for his own hand, while armies sprang, as it were, from the ground at his call to arms.
In those days of turmoil, Valor rarely had long to wait for opportunity.
Ramon Berenger, Lord of Barcelona, had laid siege to Valencia, an important city on the Mediterranean coast.
Thither marched the Cid with all speed, seven thousand men in his train, and forced Ramond to raise the siege.
The Cid became governor of Valencia under tribute to King Alfonso, and under honor to hold it against the Moors.
The famous champion was not done with his troubles with Alfonso.
In the years that followed he was once more banished by the faithless king, and his wife and children were seized and imprisoned.
At a later date he came to the king's aid in his wars, but found him again false to his word, and was obliged to flee for safety from the camp.
Valencia had passed from his control and had more than once since changed hands.
At length the Moorish power grew so strong that the city refused to pay tribute to Spain and declared its independence.
Here was work for the Cid.
Not for the benefit of Alfonso, but for his own honor and profit.
He was weary of being made the football of a jealous and faithless monarch, and craved a kingdom of his own.
Against Valencia he marched with an army of free swords at his back.
He was fighting now for the Cid, not for Moorish Emir or Spanish monarch.
Showing 1061–1080 of 7,961 · page 54 of 399
← Previous
Next →