But, as Nora Berend shows in her enthralling study, “El Cid: The Life and Afterlife of a Medieval Mercenary,” this hasn’t prevented an outlaw, freebooter and warlord — as differing ...

Elsewhere, Ms. Berend wrings her hands over the lack of “agency” accorded by the old poets and playwrights to Jimena, El Cid’s wife. The author complains of the portrayal of women in the sto ...