What is it about this man that appeals to us? And why do we transform the most unsuitable people into heroes?

''Would the real El Cid please stand up? Nora Berend''s fascinating new book covers nearly a thousand years of history and myth-making about this eleventh-century warrior . . . and presents all the delicious ironies of history''

Professor Marc David Baer, author of The Ottomans: Khans, Caliphs, and Caesars