On August 6, 953, Muslim forces killed 200 monks at San Pedro de Cardea in Burgos, Spain. From then until the 15th century, their martyrdom site’s floor became crimson every year.
The amazing incident was repeated until a few years before the Reconquista (Reconquest) in 1492, when the last Muslims in Granada surrendered and King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella consolidated Spanish control.
Some academics say the monastery goes back to the fifth century, while present inhabitants say there is no historical proof until the ninth century.
San Pedro de Cardea was an important Christian centre for centuries, and saints’ relics were worshipped there.
For decades, the monastery’s environs were disputed frontiers where Christian and Muslim rulers fought. Saracens attacked as kings and Christian feudal lords fought.
Abderramán III, the first Umayyad caliph of Córdoba, took advantage of Ordoo III, king of León, and Fernán González, count of Castile, to conduct the expedition that resulted to the execution of 200 Benedictine monks of San Pedro de Cardea.
The robbing and death of monks because of their beliefs was documented in the General Chronicle of Alfonso X the Wise, the first large-format chronicle of Spain published in Castilian Spanish towards the end of the 13th century.
Garca Fernández, Fernán González’s son, refurbished the monastery.
The blood of the martyrs flowed annually in the cloister where the monks were executed until the reign of Henry IV, who died towards the end of the 15th century.
Queen Isabella of Castile was a famous traveller to San Pedro de Cardea to memorialise the martyrs, as were Felipe II, Felipe III, and Carlos II.
Pope Clement VIII approved the worship in 1603 by pontifical brief.
Monastery of El Cid
The monastery of San Pedro de Cardea’s link to a famous Reconquista figure adds to its mystique.
According to El Cid’s epic ballad, Cantar de Mio Cid, he left his wife Doa Jimena and daughters in the San Pedro de Cardea monastery when he went into exile in the 11th century. St. Sisebuto was abbot.
1099 was El Cid’s last year. His wife ruled the city, until the Muslims forced her to escape in 1102. She transferred the fabled warrior’s body from Valencia to San Pedro de Cardea.
Napoleon’s army desecrated El Cid’s grave in 1808, so General Thiébault moved his bones to a mausoleum in Burgos. The remains returned in 1826.
El Cid’s bones were moved to the Burgos Town Hall chapel in 1842 when the Spanish government confiscated the religious orders’ estates, including the convents.
El Cid’s bones were not interred beside his wife until 1921.
At the monastery, history claims Babieca, El Cid’s trusty horse, was buried.
Monastic revival
San Pedro de Cardea remained without monks for 106 years after the confiscation. The Benedictine Order sought to revive monastic life at the end of the 19th century but couldn’t acquire land.
Between 1888 and 1901, the Piarist Fathers lived there. Four years later, Toulouse-expelled Capuchin friars came and stayed until 1921.
In 1933, a Cistercian community from Palencia came. The Spanish Civil War prevented their permanent residence there until 1942, when it became a prison camp. The abbey gained ownership in 1948.
In the monastery, Trappist monks memorialise their ancestors’ martyrdom every August.