Torrecid

El Cantar relates that El Cid passed Ateca on the sixteenth day of exile and camped on a hillock, out of the fortified city of Alcocer, which is now a vacant lot situated 3kms away from Ateca. El Cid and his men built camp and settled there while they laid siege to the castle of Alcocer (105 days). When he saw that Alcolcer would not yield, he planned a stratagem and put it promptly into effect.

Scholars argue that the hillock where the poet says that El Cid set his camp coincides with the site that is now home to Torrecid or Otero del Cid. As a matter of fact, remains from a temporary fortified encampment have been found in the area, where there is also a small tower. The hillock was strategically located to control Alcocer, which was situated on the other side of the river Jalón.

There are almost no remains of the fortress. The only remains that are still standing are some parts of the stone masonry walls bound with mud. They reach a height of half metre and allow making out the layout of this small fortified enclosure, which most likely included also a 10-metre tall sentry tower. According to the literary account related in El Cantar, El Cid set the tents in the area surrounding this fortified enclosure.

Archeologists have found numerous 11th-century pottery remains. This site is strategically relevant in terms of the narrative’s logic, since from this point it is possible to control Alcocer: Terrer, to the right, and Ateca to the left.

Rev. PAB: 28.12.18