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MADRID - The fighting power of Spain's medieval hero El Cid was legendary and so it appears is the modern-day clash over his sword.
Authorities in the knight's home region snapped up La Tizona - a weapon that is as potent a national symbol as King Arthur's Excalibur - from a Spanish aristocrat for 1.6 million euros ($2.8 million), planning to put it on show next to El Cid's tomb in Burgos cathedral.
But the Government in Madrid has slashed their plans to ribbons, branding the sabre a stylish fake. The Culture Ministry said it had already been offered the so-called historic relic but after commissioning multiple scientific studies it was found to be a fraud, worth no more than 300,000 euros.
The Castilla-Leon regional authorities replied by saying the ministry was just jealous.
Spain's National Heritage, Madrid's Archaeological Museum and the Royal Academy of History have all given the sword the thumbs down, with one specialist medieval historian dating it from the 15th or 16th century.
The title El Cid - Andalus Arabic for chief or leader - was given to Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, the warrior knight or unscrupulous mercenary depending on your historical viewpoint, who lived between 1043 and 1099.
Every Spanish child learns of El Cid's bizarre final confrontation, when Catholic soldiers dragged the swordsman from his deathbed, propped him on his horse, strapped La Tizona to his side, and displayed him to the enemy.
The mere sight of the never-defeated, albeit moribund, conqueror is said to have prompted Moorish troops to flee in terror.
- INDEPENDENT
