El Cid

... captured Valencia from the Moors in 1094, after a two–year siege. He ruled it as his personal fiefdom for five years, until it was besieged by the Almoravids (a Berber Muslim dynasty, centred on Morocco), when he died – probably as a result of the deprivations caused by the siege.

According to legend (promulgated in the 1961 film, in which he was played by Charlton Heston), the besieging Almoravids were scared off following his death when his corpse was lashed to his horse and sent out to face the battle lines.