ABSTRACT
In opposition to Gonzalo Salvadorez, Count of Lara, and the other Castilian opportunists who had hastened to pay homage to the new King at Zamora, there was a party in Castile that eyed the return of Alphonso with profound misgiving. The leader of this party, the jongleurs tell us, was the Cid. Antipathy to Alphonso was rife in Castile, where the majority openly attributed Sancho’s death to the King’s official counsellor, Urraca; and some even went the length of accusing Alphonso, declaring that he had gone to Zamora and helped to plot the regicide himself. It was but natural that this party of extremists should require the new King to affirm his innocence on oath. Throughout the Middle Ages it was the recognized procedure for anyone suspected of a crime to exculpate himself on oath; and the Fuero Juzgo not only outlawed anyone attempting the life of the king or instigating such an attempt, but made it incumbent on his successor to avenge the murder if he would clear himself of all participation in the crime.
