San Pedro de Cardeña: The monastery with 200 martyrs linked to the Cid Campeador

A raid of Muslim troops put to the sword 200 martyred monks of the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña (Burgos, Spain) on August 6, 953. Since then and for almost 500 years, the pavement of the place of martyrdom was stained with blood once a year.

This prodigy was uninterrupted until a few years before the Reconquista concluded in the year 1492, with the taking of the Kingdom of Granada by the Catholic Monarchs, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabel of Castile, Servant of God.

The origin of the monastery where the martyrdom and miracle occurred dates back to the 5th century according to some historians, although the current inhabitants of the convent confirm that there is no reliable evidence until the end of the 9th century.

In any case, San Pedro de Cardeña was established for centuries as an outstanding focus of Christianity. Relics of Saint Peter, Saint Paul and Saint John the Evangelist were venerated within its walls.

Like the entire Burgos area, for decades the surroundings of the monastery were border areas, where fights between the Christian and Muslim kingdoms took place. The Saracens also took advantage of the fights between monarchs and Christian feudal lords for their attacks.

This is what happened in the case of the raid that gave rise to the martyrdom of the 200 Benedictine monks of San Pedro de Cardeña. The first Umayyad caliph of Córdoba, Abderramán III took advantage of the disagreements between the King of León Ordoño III and the Count of Castile Fernán González.

The looting and murder out of hatred for the faith of the monks was recorded in the General Chronicle of Alfonso

After the looting, the Count of Castile García Fernández, son of Fernán González, restored the monastery. It was in the cloister where they were beheaded, known since then as the cloister of the martyrs, where the blood of the martyrs flowed every year until the reign of Henry IV, who died at the end of the 15th century.

His sister, Queen Isabella of Castile, the Catholic, was one of the most renowned pilgrims who went to San Pedro de Cardeña to honor the memory of the martyrs, as did the monarchs Felipe II, Felipe III and Carlos II.

The popular devotion was such that in 1603 Pope Clement VIII authorized the cult through a pontifical brief dated 1603.

The footprint of the Cid Campeador

The association of the Monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña with one of the legendary figures of the Spanish Reconquista also gives the place a special aura.

According to him Song of Mio Cid, it was in San Pedro de Cardeña where Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar left his wife, Doña Jimena, and his daughters when he had to go into exile in the second half of the 11th century. At that time, the abbot was San Sisebuto.

El Cid died in Valencia in 1099. His wife remained in command of the city, but the push of the Muslims made it necessary to flee in 1102. Thus, he decided to move the body of the mythical warrior from the Cathedral of Valencia to San Pedro de Cardeña.

The Cid’s tomb was desecrated in 1808 by Napoleonic troops, but General Thiébault decided to place the knight’s remains in a mausoleum located on a main avenue in the city of Burgos. The remains were brought back to the monastery in 1826.

After the process known as “Disentailment”, which took away their heritage from the religious orders in the 19th century, including the convents, the remains of El Cid were kept in the chapel of the Burgos City Council. It was the year 1842.

It was not until 1921 that the remains of El Cid found rest with his wife in the Cathedral of Burgos.

In the monastery, however, there remains a monolith alluding to the Babieca horse, the Cid’s faithful mount, where tradition says that the animal was buried.

Multiple refoundations

Due to the “Disentailment”, the monastery of San Pedro de Cardeña was deprived of its monks for 106 years. The Benedictine Order tried to recover monastic life in the place at the end of the 19th century without success, as they could not have land to support the community.

Briefly, the Piarist Fathers occupied the monastery between 1888 and 1901. Four years later, some French Capuchin friars expelled from Toulouse arrived. They were there until 1921.

Already in 1933, a Cistercian community arrived at the place from San Isidro de Dueñas, in Palencia. The outbreak of the Civil War prevented its definitive installation until 1942, since during the fratricidal war the site was converted into a prison camp. Already in 1948 it achieved the title of abbey.

Currently there lives in the monastery a community of Trappist monks who commemorate the martyrdom of their predecessors every August.

This story was originally published on August 5, 2022. It has been updated for republication.