Jerome of Périgord

Jerome of Périgord (died 30 June 1120), in Spanish Jerónimo, was a French monk who became the bishop of several dioceses in Spain. He was a companion of Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar ("El Cid"), and in 1097 or 1098 became the bishop of Valencia after Rodrigo's conquest of the city. Forced to abandon it following Rodrigo's death, Jerome entered the service of Duke Raymond of Galicia in 1102 and became bishop over the churches in Salamanca, Ávila and Zamora.

Jerome has been posited as the author of both the anonymous verse history Historia Roderici, in which he is not mentioned, and of the anonymous epic poem Cantar de mio Cid, in which he figures as a warrior-priest.

Jerome's life before he came to Spain is obscure. According to Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, writing a little over a century later, he was originally from the region of Périgord in France. He was a black monk, possibly at the Cluniac abbey of Moissac further south. His obituary is not listed in the necrology of Moissac, although that of his contemporary and countryman, Bishop Gerald of Braga, is.

It is unclear when Jerome came to Spain, although he was certainly one of the "honest and learned" (honestos et litteratos) French monks recruited by Bernard of Sedirac, archbishop of Toledo, at the suggestion of Pope Urban II. According to Rodrigo Jiménez de Rada, Bernard went to Rome in 1096, where he tried to join the First Crusade only to be turned back by Urban. The pope, however, was travelling in southern France between the synod of Clermont (November 1095) and the synod of Nîmes (July 1096). Bernard was present at Nîmes, and he and Urban both attended the consecration of the Basilica of Saint-Sernin in Toulouse on 24 May 1096. Moreover, Urban visited Moissac on 13 May 1096. If Jerome was indeed a monk of that place, and Rodrigo de Rada's account is accurate, then it is probable that he was recruited during Urban's visit. Thus, it has traditionally been assumed that Jerome did not cross the Pyrenees until Bernard's return to Spain sometime after July 1096. However, Gerald of Braga had been installed in his see by earlier that year and the recruitment of French monks for Spanish work may have begun as early as 1088. Jerome probably entered the cathedral of Toledo as a canon before joining Rodrigo Díaz in Valencia in 1097 or 1098. A document from the Cid's rule in Valencia describes him as "coming from the North" (adueniente de Susana), which must refer to France, and suggests he may have arrived directly from there.

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