Autobiography - The Galindo Group

Ram Galindo THE MAKING OF AN AMERICAN Page 202
New Spain. Therefore, unless some of their descendants did, they may not be in my
chain. But obviously some of their relatives are.
The task for future research is to find the Galindo bloodline that crossed the Ocean Sea
to the new continent and connect it to my known ancestor Gen. Leon Galindo, about
whom I speak in Freedom Fighters (Chapter 2). The time distance that separates me
(1938-?) from Galindo Aznarez II (863-922), the last person with my surname I have
tracked down before it disappears, is 1,016 years. Allowing twenty-five years per
generation, the human distance is 41 generations. My siblings have researched from
the present backwards and know of only six generations preceding me, covering
scarcely more than two hundred years. There remains a 24 to 35 generation gap to be
closed before my Galindo roots can be accurately pinpointed in the Pyrenees.
One of Old Spain’s most famous epics is told in the masterpiece of early Spanish
language called “The Poem of My Cid.” Hollywood made it into an impressive movie just
at the time of my son’s birth in 1963, whence his name. When I saw the movie and
chose my son’s name, I did not realize that there was a real historic root connecting my
name to my son’s name. My elation was long lasting when I established the living
connection.
The poem relates the impossible deeds and highest virtues of a historical figure who
was one of the greatest heroes of the Spanish Reconquista. His highest glory was to
accomplish so much in favor of an ungrateful Christian king while at the same time
remaining a loved and respected figure by other Christians and many Moslem factions
who fought on his side, and even by those that he defeated. The poem portrays the Cid
as the epitome of chivalry, loyalty, strength, leadership and organizational talents.
Medieval knights pursued these virtues as an end. Possessing and displaying them was
the culmination and purpose of their transit through life. Although scholars reveal that
the real Cid’s trajectory through life was not as romantic as the ancient poet claimed, his
tracks on history were indelible enough to reach my own family 864 years later.
In Ferdinand’s I court at Burgos, a main city in Castile, as it was in every other Hispanic
court, it was customary for the king to gather the children of the leading nobles in his
realm to train them in letters, administration, riding, hunting and warfare. At his court,
Ferdinand’s eldest son, Sancho, became the friend and sponsor of Rodrigo Diaz de
Vivar, later to be known as El Cid. Alfonso (later king of Leon), Garcia (later king of
Galicia) and Urraca (later ruler of Zamora), Ferdinand’s other children, also grew up
with Rodrigo. Upon reaching maturity and being duly invested as a knight in 1063,
Rodrigo began his meteoric rise to fame. Sancho, as his sponsor, had Rodrigo’s loyalty.
As I indicated above, Ramiro I of Aragon was trying to expand his frontiers to the
southwest by attacking territory held by the Moslem Emir Moctadir based in Zaragoza.
Ferdinand I was in alliance with Moctadir and sent El Cid to assist him in his defensive
battle. As Ramiro prepared to take Graus in March 1064 as a prelude to Zaragoza, he
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