PROSECUTION FOR BETRAYAL

ACT 1º
SCENE I

The process to History has started. Once the assizes are called, the Court's President has requested all of us to be the jury who shall determine whether the name of betrayer assigned to Bellido Dolfos is fair or not, and to resolve that by means of our vote. To such end, a number of characters duly informed by literature and history assume the role of the characters who lived almost a thousand years ago. The first Accusation's witness has been King Sancho II of Castile. Questioned about why he did not comply with the partition of the kingdom made by his father Fernando I, he answers that he did so because the Goths had established that the Empire of Spain was never to be split. He recognised that due to such reason he snatched the Kingdom of Galicia from his brother Garcia, the Kingdom of Leon from his brother Alfonso and Toro from Doña Elvira. He only lacked Zamora and that is why he laid siege to it. Defence has proved that King Sancho committed betrayal and traitorousness towards his brothers. Thus, to snatch Galicia from Garcia he simulated to go in Pilgrimage and when his brother came out to welcome him, he caught him. Similarly regarding Alfonso, who had sheltered in the Church of Carrion.

Defender.- Why did you transgress the right of asylum?
King Sancho.- The peace of the kingdoms was more important
Defender.- (Ironical) At least for you who were precisely who had broken the peace.
Accuser.- I PROTEST !

Afterwards, the Defence's question regarding whether he had participated at the siege of Graus provoked an impassioned protest from the Accusation. It seems to be that during the reign of Ramiro I King of Aragon, he laid siege to Graus and the conflict finished with the death of the king under similar circumstances to the events happened nine years later with King Don Sancho of Castile. Don Sancho boasted about this death. The Defence stresses that Ramiro, even if he died traitorously, it did not deserve the scandal produced by the death of Don Sancho. The questioning finished as follows:

Defender.- When Sancho or the knight Sadada killed King Ramiro of Aragon, was somebody accused for betrayal?
Accuser.- I protest! A King and a knight are not the same. A King never commits betrayal.
Defender.- I must remind the Accuser that we had agreed that the responsible for the death of Ramiro could be the knight Sadada, who was not a King; but even if Sancho would, he was not King then, but Prince, and he did not even have a designate kingdom since facts happened one year before the split of the kingdom.
President.- Incident is finished. Answer Sancho whether somebody was accused for betrayal due to Graus events?
King Sancho.- I don't know.
Defender.- Graus was not Zamora. This is all Mr. President

SCENE II

(Bellido Dolfos appears)
Questioned by the Accuser about whether he had followed someone's advise to kill King Don Sancho, he said:

Bellido.- I already said I was not from Zamora, and if I was there after Sancho had occupied Galicia and Leon, it was because I was ready to confront with Don Sancho, and if I was ready to confront with him, I needed no one to advise me with an idea I already had.
Accuser.- Answer this: Did you kill King Don Sancho?
Bellido.- No. I killed an enemy.
Accuser.- But he was the King of Castile.
Bellido.- Fatal coincidence.

(Afterwards, the Defender questions Bellido)
Defender.- Which was the motive that driven you to do what you did?
Bellido.- My action had an immediate consequence: To raise the siege to Zamora. If this is what I obtained, why could not it be the motive?.
Defender.- What happened to you afterwards?
Bellido.- People of Zamora put me in jail and then they tore me apart tied to the tail of four colts.
Defender.- And what is your opinion about this Sir?
Bellido.- That it would have been better if El Cid reaches me. Defender.- How do you judge your action, good or bad?
Bellido.- Bad to me; little harm I made to others. Don Alfonso was expatriated in Toledo and came to occupy the throne of Castile; Doña Urraca had her city of Zamora free; I saved victims to both parties and anticipated history.
Defender.- Why do they call you betrayer?
Bellido.- Because they did not want to call me hero.
Defender.- And why they did not want you to be a hero?
Bellido.- The Castilian nights lost their King and were afraid of the preponderance of the Leonese ones; so I could not be likeable for them. El Cid lost the position of lieutenant, which passed on to Pedro Ansurez, the exilemate of don Alfonso; and for Don Alfonso my liquidation was a good business since he congratulated himself with the Castilian and he saved a County.
Defender.- Do you thus believe the King owed you a County?
Bellido.- No; he owed me a whole kingdom.

SCENE III

(Queen Doña Urraca appears)
Accuser.- Why do you link your name to the treatment of Queen of Zamora?
Queen Urraca.- Don Alfonso, who was King, gave me such treatment and it is so stated on many written documents; there is no reason not to use it now
Accuser.- Would not be enough for you the title of Princess?
Queen Urraca.- I defended a fortified city as a Queen not as a Princess.
Defender.- How do you explain that the door was open to Bellido Dolfos when he arrived being chased by El Cid?
Queen Urraca.- Quite easily. Bellido Dolfos was one of the knights who defended Zamora, does it seem so strange that the people at the door open it for him to get into, since they knew him and he was being chased by a Castilian?
Defender.- Do you consider that Bellido was a betrayer?
Queen Urraca.- He tried to raise the siege and he succeeded. Defender.- Why was he put into jail then?
Queen Urraca.- He was after all the killer of my brother.
Defender.- But he has benefited you.
Queen Urraca.- As a Queen, not as a sister.

ACT 2º
SCENE I

(Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid Campeador appears)
Accuser.- Why your ballad states that you chased Bellido Dolfos after the death of the King?
Rodrigo.- My ballad states that, after killing Don Sancho, Bellido passed by my side astride for which reason I supposed a betrayal and chased him till he entered the city.
Accuser.- Why did you not reach him?
Rodrigo.- Because I was not able, it seems that I had not my spurs.
Defender.- You have just told that Don Sancho did not die immediately and that he blamed Bellido.
Rodrigo.-Yes.
Defender.- Would you please tell us how?
Rodrigo.- As per my ballad, he said: "Bellido, that villain, has hurt me, being my vassal"
Defender.- According to this, Bellido was vassal of Don Sancho?
Rodrigo.- That is what the King said.
Defender.- Consequently, was Bellido Castilian?
Rodrigo.- The King said so.
Defender.- Why did you questioned Don Alfonso under oath at Santa Gadea whether he had participated or not in the death of his brother Sancho?
Rodrigo.- In order to be sure about it.
Defender.- Is it true that King Alfonso banished you?
Rodrigo.- Yes.
Defender.- Although you do not slander the King, could you tell, according to history, the unique reason of your banishment?.
Rodrigo.- Envy; but I did not accuse him.

SCENE II

(The Monk of Oña appears)
Accuser.- Were you in charge of writing the epitaph of Don Sancho? Monk.- Yes.
Accuser.- Do you remember it?
Monk.- I have it here written.
Accuser.- Read it, but in Spanish language.
Monk.- (reading) Sancho, similar to Paris in beauty and brave as Hector at the fight, converted already in dust and shadow, in this shrine rests. Woman with a cruel soul was the sister who wrested his life, violating every right, and with no tears for the lost brother. Such a grand King was murdered due to the traitorous decision of his sister Urraca near the city of Numancia, by the great betrayer Bellido Dolfos. In the era 1.110 was wrested from life on 7th October.
Accuser.- As per your epitaph, Sancho was murdered by Bellido Dolfos following Doña Urraca's advice.
Monk.- Exactly.
Defender.- Were you present at the siege to Zamora?
Monk.- Monks did not go to war.
Defender.- So, how did you knowledge it?
Monk.- So the knights who carried the body said.
Defender.- Then your certainty depended on that what the ones who carried him said were true.
Monk.- I knew it, that is why I considered it true.
Defender.- Why you did you stated that Bellido Dolfos was a betrayer?.
Monk.- Because he was.
Defender.- He betrayed whom?
Monk.- King Sancho.
Defender.- Bellido Dolfos was fighting for whom?
Monk.- For Doña Urraca.
Defender.- Did he betray Doña Urraca?
Monk.- No. But he did betrayed Don Sancho.
Defender.- Bellido was a friend or an enemy of Don Sancho?
Monk.- Enemy.
Defender.- That is to say, he was a betrayer to an enemy
Monk.- Yes.

SCENE III

(King Alfonso appears)
Accuser.- What did you do with Bellido Dolfos?
Alfonso.- He was tore apart tied to the tail of four colts and scattered along the country.
Accuser.- Why did you do so?
Alfonso.- For having killed the King of Castile.
Defender.- Before being King of Castile, have you been King of Leon? Alfonso.- Yes.
Defender.- Who did wrest you the kingdom?.
Alfonso.- King Don Sancho.
Accuser.- Then, it was precisely due to the death of Sancho that you became again King of Castile and Leon inheritably.
Alfonso.- Sí.
Defender.- If Sancho had not died, would you come back to your kingdom and become King of Castile?
Alfonso.- No.
Defender.- Did Bellido Dolfos harm you in any way, Sir?
Alfonso.- He had killed the King of Castile
Defender.- If you thought brotherly, did you give back to your brother Garcia the Kingdom of Galicia which Sancho had wrested from him?
Alfonso.- That was different; it belonged already to Castile?
Defender.- Given that you did not give him back the kingdom, did you free him at least?.
Alfonso.- On the contrary, I imprisoned him.
Defender.- You have told us that you confirmed the Code of Castrogeriz, where it was stated that Don Sancho had died by the advise of Doña Urraca. Why did you do that?
Alfonso.- It was a Castilian code, and thus they believed.
Defender.- But when you came to Toledo, it is said you governed with the advise of Doña Urraca, to whom you gave the name of Queen, and signed the documents together with you.
Alfonso.- That was true.
Defender.- When was the Code of Castrogeriz promulgated?
Alfonso.- In 1.079
Defender.- When did Doña Urraca join the Convent?
Alfonso.- In 1.074
Defender.- So, when you signed the Code of Castrogeriz Doña Urraca had been at the Convent for two years and, consequently, she was not able to claim. If she had not been at the convent, would you have signed the code?
Alfonso.- As that was not the case, I do not know what I would have done.
Defender.- Would you please tell what happened to Don Garcia? Alfonso.- He died; he is buried in Leon.
Defender.- Do you remember his epitaph?
Alfonso.- Here lays Don Garcia, King of Galicia and Portugal, deceitfully imprisoned by his brother. He died chained in 1.090.
Defender.- To which brother is it referred to?
Alfonso.- To me. Afterwards, the expert who talked about the Prayers Book of Doña Urraca appeared.
Defender.- Yes. I request the appearance of the sons of Arias Gonzalo
Accuser.- The accusation opposes to this evidence.
President.- Why?
Accuser.- The sons of Arias Gonzalo are a fable, they have never existed...
Defender.- The defence insists on such petition. After the death of King Sancho by Bellido Dolfos, a Castilian knight named Diego Ordoñez de Lara, challenged the Zamora ones, saying they had no faith or word and calling them betrayers; and the ballad states these were his words: the Castilians have lost their Lord; betrayer Bellido killed him, being his vassal, and you, people in Zamora sheltered him into the city and since a betrayer is the one who brings with him a betrayer, I challenge the ones in Zamora, both the big one and the small one, and the one yet unborn, the dead and the children, the waters and the fishes, and the birds and the bread and the wine. Responding to this challenge, three sons of Arias Gonzalo fought in Judge of God to defend the honour of Zamora and died during the fight. I request their appearance.
Accuser.- The accusation still opposes; there are many historians who oppose to this legend. This accusation can not, consequently, admit that characters who never existed declare, since the defence grounded on something that never existed is not licit; we hope the Presidency thus recognises.
President.- Has the defence any historic text about this matter?.
Defender.- The ballads are also history.
President.- Bearing in mind the allegation of historic texts made by the accuser, I can not accept the appearance of the sons of Arias Gonzalo.

SCENE V

At this stage, Cecilio appears from the audience. We recommend this scene to be read completely. Cecilio is a lovely bricklayer who comes to state that "those who are not in history (the sons of Arias Gonzalo) are in Bamba (Valladolid)".

CONCLUSIONS

Accuser.- The scenic game has finished; I have nothing else to do but to question our jury Wasn't Bellido Dolfos condemned by the judgement of History? Didn't he killed King Sancho El Fuerte of Castile? Why did Bellido Dolfos return to the Fortress of Zamora after killing the King? Wasn't it betrayal the way he killed the King? Defender.- I have also to pose some questions to our jury: Who killed King Ramiro I of Aragon? If King Ramiro I of Aragon was killed treacherously, why his death did not deserved a reproach similar to the death of Don Sancho? Why Don Sancho did not complied with the partition of the kingdom made by his father?. Didn't he betrayed Don Garcia to seize Galicia?. Didn't he transgressed the right of asylum to capture his brother Don Alfonso? Wasn't Doña Urraca legitimately entitled to defend the fortress of Zamora? Why is Doña Urraca blamed as cruel to Don Sancho and Don Alfonso is not blamed as cruel with his brother Don Garcia? Why not to consider that Bellido Dolfos killed King Don Sancho with the unique aim of raising the siege of Zamora? Why did Don Sancho rely on Bellido knowing he was a deserter? Why did the Zamora people allow the sons of Arias Gonzalo fight under Judgement of God if they were aware of the betrayal? Why History denies the existence of the sons of Arias Gonzalo if they are buried in Valladolid, in the village of Bamba? Why is that gate still called Gate of Betrayal?. That is all.
President.- This has been the process of the Gate of Betrayal. Fulfil your duty as a Jury giving a verdict. The process is finished.