XIIIth century CE

French poet

Provençal philosopher and translator, born in Arles in 1286 and died after 1328, from a distinguished family which, like him, bore the title of « Nasi ». Trained in philosophy in Salonika, he settled…

Provençal liturgical poet, active in Beaucaire in the mid-13th century, author of a poem for the Sabbath preceding Passover (« Shabbat ha-Gadol »), which sets out the ritual laws of the festival in…

Jewish Andalusian poetess, active in the 12th or 13th century, who wrote in Arabic; al-Maqqari ranks her among the Arab poets of Spain. Her father, Ismaël, a poet himself, oversaw her education and…

13th-century scribe, known for having copied in March 1243 a manuscript of « Yad ha-Ḥazaḳah » by Maimonides now preserved at the British Museum, where an « azharah » with an acrostic of his name is…

Spanish compiler commissioned by the son of Alfonso X the Wise to assemble, for the use of his student the infant Alfonso Fernandez, a collection with an ethical aim: the « Flores de Derecho », a…

Kabbalist writer, author or redactor of the Zohar, born in León (Spain) around 1250, died in Arévalo in 1305. He composes in rapid succession several mystical works signed with his name—« Sefer…

Roman rabbi, died in 1216. He sent, on behalf of the Rome community, a halakhic decision to Juda ben Kalonymos of Spire for approval. The manuscript of the Roman Maḥzor preserves eleven seliḥot…

13th-century French rabbi and encyclopedist

French exegete, born in Lyre, near Évreux, in Normandy, around 1270, and died in Paris on October 23, 1340. Entered the Franciscans at Verneuil in 1291, he studies and teaches at the Sorbonne until…

Karaite scholar, active in Cairo in the 13th and 14th centuries, master of the Karaite physician and writer Japhet ibn Ẓaghir. He wrote in Arabic a work on precepts, of which only sections, dealing…

Moroccan poet and Hebraist translator of the thirteenth century, whose poems are preserved only in Moroccan anthologies. He translated from Arabic into Hebrew several major works, including the…

Author of the Yalḳuṭ ha-Makiri, whose country and era are not known with certainty — Steinschneider supposes he lived in Provence, but the question remains debated. His work, comparable to Yalḳuṭ…

Grand tax collector (« Almoxarif mayor ») of King Ferdinand III of Castile, whose favor he won through his honesty and zeal. Versed in the Talmud and highly esteemed by his coreligionists, he is…

French Talmudist, active in Lunel in the second half of the 13th century. After a brief stay in Narbonne, where he studied under Meïr b. Simon and Reuben b. Ḥayyim, he returned to Lunel and wrote, as…

Rabbi of Narbonne and Lunel, author of the commentary Sefer ha-Menuha on the Mishné Torah.

German halakist of the 13th century, died a martyr in Nuremberg on 1 August 1298, from a family of German scholars. His wife Selda and his five children perished with him; established around 1291 in…

Spanish Christian theologian, born in the first half of the thirteenth century in Subirats (Catalonia), died after 1284. Commissioned in 1250 to study oriental languages in a Dominican school in…

French scholar of the late 13th century, disciple of R. Peretz of Corbeil and contemporary of Mordecai ben Hillel, martyred in Nuremberg in 1298. He is sometimes wrongly confused with another…

Rabbi and talmudist of Toledo, he opposed the rationalist tendencies of Maimonides. His controversy with the followers of Maimonides (the "Maimonidean controversy") illustrates the creative tension…

Grammarian of the last third of the thirteenth century, author of a critique of the "Kitab al-Mustalḥaḳ" of ibn Janāḥ entitled "Hassagat ha-Hassagah", known only through the citations made by Profiat…

Grammarian of the late 13th century, grandson, according to his own preface, of the author of the « Petaḥ Debarai ». In a short treatise preserved today at the Montefiore Library, he summarizes in…

French liturgical poet of the first half of the 13th century, also called Meïr Lombard or ha-Darshan. He composed poems for the seventh evening of Passover, an acrostic elegy signed « Meïr Ḥazaḳ »,…

English poet, active around 1260 in Norwich. A long elegiac poem and fifteen shorter pieces from his hand, preserved in a Vatican manuscript, were published by A. Berliner (London, 1887); he may have…

Talmudist and controversialist, active in Narbonne in the second half of the 13th century, disciple of Nathan ben Meïr of Trinquetaille and scientific correspondent of Nahmanide. Renowned as a…

Greatest Ashkenazi decisor of his time, he led the communities of Germany. Imprisoned by the emperor Rudolf I, he refused to allow his ransom to be paid.

German Rabbi

French Talmudist of the first half of the 13th century, cited as a biblical commentator in the "Pa'neaḥ Raza". According to Gross, he would be identical to Meïr ben Baroukh, who emigrated to…

German liturgical poet, died in Worms on April 16, 1203, from an ancient family of Jewish scholars in the city — his great-grandfather Simson, called « Ha-Darshan », lived in Worms during the First…

Liturgical compiler, active in Troyes in the thirteenth century, where he succeeds his father, Joseph Ḥazzan ben Juda, as hazzan. He is responsible for the collection of the order of prayers in use…

Italian rabbi

Tosafist and French liturgist, died in Dreux in 1224. The name « Vardimas », borrowed from the Babylonian Talmud as a nickname of Menahem bar Yossé, would have served him to distinguish himself from…

German Tosafist of the twelfth century or the first half of the thirteenth, son of the Tosafist and liturgist David ben Kalonymos of Münzenberg. He corresponds with R. Baruch, Simḥa of Spire and…

Physician and translator of the thirteenth century, active in southern France, who never practiced medicine, interested in it only theoretically. At the request of a friend named Ḥafeẓ or Shalem, he…

French scholar of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, nassi of Narbonne. He sides with Juda al-Fakhkhar in his attacks on the works of Maimonides and the philosophers, while reproaching him for…

Poet active in the early thirteenth century, probably originally from Spain despite his classification among Provençal poets by Jedaïa Bedersi. Defender of orthodoxy against the philosophers, he…

Physician and Provençal philosopher, born in Marseille in 1294, also known under the name « Bongodos ». Trained in astronomy in Salon under Abba Mari Senior Astruc de Noves, he was taken prisoner at…

Spanish poet, born in Catalonia, perhaps identical to Moses Açan who, when King Alphonse X stayed in Cuenca in 1271, revealed to him the conspiracy of Infante Philip. He composed in Catalan a poem on…

Liturgical poet and rabbinical authority, active in the 13th century. Only one liturgical poem survives from him, which remained in use in the German ritual, the sole known trace of his work.

Italian tosafist of the 13th century, whose tossafot were used by the compiler of « Haggahot Maimuniyyot ». He used himself the tossafot of Juda Sir Leon of Paris, without it being certain that he…

Tosafist and French codifier, active in the first half of the 13th century, from a family of scholars and maternal grandson of Ḥayyim ben Hananel ha-Cohen of Paris. Trained in Paris under the great…

Moses ben Joshua of Narbonne, also called Maestro Vidal Blasom, is a French philosopher and physician born in Perpignan in the late thirteenth century and died after 1362. Trained from the age of…

Spanish Kabbalist of the thirteenth century, disciple of Jacob ha-Cohen of Provence. A Hebrew manuscript of the Bodleian preserves from him a response to a friend on the Sacred Name, a small…

Italian philosopher and commentator of the thirteenth century. Between 1240 and 1250, he wrote a commentary on the « Moreh Nebukim » of Maimonides, partially revised and known only through a fragment…

French Tosafist, author of the Sefer Mitzvot Gadol (Semag), an enumeration of the 613 commandments. He preached the return to observance in the communities of Spain and France.

Castilian kabbalist, author or compiler of the Zohar (Book of Splendor), the fundamental work of the Kabbalah. Attributed to Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai (2nd c.), the Zohar became the third pillar of…

Sicilian translator from Arabic into Latin, active in the second half of the 13th century. Charles of Anjou entrusts in 1277 Maestro Matteo Siciliaco to teach him Latin so that he can translate…

Jewish philosopher

Tosafist, author of Ketav Tamim against philosophy.

Liturgical poet of the thirteenth century, originating from Italy or Greece. His penitential prayers (seliḥot), remarkable for their form and clear language, were incorporated into the German, Roman…

Provençal Talmudist, active in the middle of the 13th century, contemporary of the Dominican Pablo Christiani, whose attacks he particularly suffered, being the most prominent Jew in Provence.…

French commentator, active in Corbeil toward the end of the 13th century. He is the author of a commentary on the "Sefer Miẓwot ha-Ḳaṭon" (SeMaḲ), published in the Constantinople edition.

German talmudist, author of the Mordekhai, a halakhic compendium appended to the printed Talmud. He was killed with his family during the Rindfleisch massacres.

Masorete and English grammarian, known as "Moses ben Yom-Ṭob of London", cited as a master by Moses ben Isaac. His work on the rules of Masoretic punctuation and accentuation, "Darke ha-Niḳḳud…

Rabbi of Fès, active in the 1st century of the Hebrew era (1240–1339). Recorded in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 93-3.

Spanish rabbi

Rabbi, kabbalist, and physician of Girona, he took part in the Disputation of Barcelona (1263) against the convert Pablo Christiani. His commentary on the Torah integrates the mystical dimension into…

Spanish physician of the second half of the thirteenth century, perhaps identical to Nathan of Montpellier, master of the anonymous author of the « Sefer ha-Yashar ». Son of a physician, he devoted…

French rabbi and controversialist, he lived in Sens in the second half of the thirteenth century and was one of the most renowned rabbis of medieval France, called by his son Joseph the Zealous « the…

French Tosafist active around 1220, disciple of Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre. After 1224, he directed the yeshiva of Chinon and corresponded with the most renowned scholars of his time, including…

Jew converted to Christianity, protagonist of the Talmud trial

Talmudist in Barcelona, commentator on Alfasi, major halakhic authority.

King of Aragon (1276-85), who protects Jews against persecutions by the clergy — particularly against the Bishop of Castellnou — but out of interest rather than humanity, subjecting them to crushing…

Chaplain of Pope Alexander IV, grand master of the Dominican order until 1240 and confessor of James I of Aragon, active in Barcelona. He obtained from the king the organization of a public…

Tosafist of the second half of the thirteenth century, author of novellae on several Talmudic tractates, some of which were reprinted by Mas'oud Ḥaï Roqéaḥ in his « Ma'aseh Roqéaḥ » (Venice, 1752).…

Talmudist and kabbalist

Author of the Tosafot of Rabbeinu Peretz, last great French tosafist.

Kabbalist known by the name « Gerondi », a designation that Jellinek wrongly attributed to him; this Pérets, active towards the end of the thirteenth century, is mentioned as the author of the…

French Tosafist, active in Corbeil in the second half of the thirteenth century, died before 1298, probably in 1295, son of the talmudist Elijah of Tours. Trained by R. Jehiel of Paris and Samuel of…

Catalan moralist and talmudist, author of the Shaarei Teshuvah (Gates of Repentance). He at first opposed the writings of Maimonides before repenting publicly.

Chief rabbi of Germany who emigrated to Toledo, he achieved the synthesis between the Ashkenazi and Sephardic talmudic traditions. His halakhic code (Piskei ha-Rosh) is one of the three sources of…

In 1285 he left the Draa for Barcelona (Spain). This fact attests to the link maintained between the Draa and Spain at that time, a link going back to the eleventh and twelfth centuries.

English Dominican friar, converted to Judaism around 1275 after learning Hebrew. Married to a Jew, he was circumcised and took the name Hagin; informed of the matter, King Edward I brought it before…

German Meistersinger of the late 13th century, blacksmith by trade in Mainz, known for his virulent hatred of Jews whom he sought to convert by weaving Christian dogmas into his poems, where…

Provençal talmudist active in the mid-thirteenth century, brother of the liturgical poet Abraham ben Ḥayyim. Established in Narbonne, disciple of Isaac ha-Cohen and master of Menahem Meïri, who…

German nobleman of Röttingen, in Franconia, persecutor of Jews in the 13th century. During the civil war between Adolf of Nassau and Albert of Austria for the imperial crown, he claims to be…

Italian scholar born in Rome in 1292 and died in that city after 1350, accomplished Latinist and versed in scholastic philosophy. He endeavored to make Christian scientific literature accessible to…

Jewish physician and statesman

Jewish physician and statesman, grand vizier from 1289 to 1291 under the Mongol sovereign of Persia Argoun Khan, assassinated on March 5, 1291, son of Hibbat Allah b. Muḥasib of Ebher. First employed…

Jew converted to Islam, having lived in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. He is the author of an apologetic work aimed at demonstrating, from Scripture, the authenticity of Muhammad's mission,…

Physician and Samaritan philosopher died near Damascus in 1223. Physician to the court of Al-Malik al-Adil, an Ayyubid prince reigning in Damascus, he is the author of several treatises, including a…

Spanish scholar and Hebrew poet of the thirteenth century, born in 1244, perhaps in Guadalajara. According to Abraham Zacuto, he died in 1268; he himself indicates having begun, at the age of…

Solomon ben Abraham ben Samuel, a French Talmudist of the first half of the 13th century, was rabbi in Montpellier and leader of the movement opposed to Maimonides when Ibn Tibbon's translation of…

Solomon ben Joseph, French liturgist of Avallon, lived apparently in the 13th century. He composed several piyyoutim, including a seliḥa commemorating the massacre of Anjou of 1236 and naming several…

Salomon ben Joseph ibn Ayyoub of Grenade, Spanish physician, lived in Béziers in the mid-13th century. At the request of notables of the city, he translated from Arabic into Hebrew Maimonides' «…

Solomon ben Judah of Châteaulandon, French Talmudist of the late thirteenth century, conducts a learned discussion with Samson of Chinon and Eliezer ben Joseph of Chinon regarding a backdated…

Solomon ben Judah of Dreux, called « the Holy », tosafist and biblical commentator of the 12th and 13th centuries, is a disciple of Isaac ben Samuel the Elder of Dampierre and presides over the…

Salomon ben Moïse ben Jekoutiel de Rossi, writer and composer of synagogal hymns, distinguishes himself in Rome in the thirteenth century and dies after 1284, still in the prime of life — the first…

Salomon ben Moïse ben Joseph, Italian liturgist of the thirteenth century, identified by some with Yehiel b. Yekoutiel Anaw and by others with Salomon b. Yedidia, is said to be a descendant of…

Salomon ben Moses of Melgueil, French philosophical writer and translator of the thirteenth century, owes his name to the surname « Melgueiri », probably linked to the locality of Melgueil (today…

Salomon Nasi ben Isaac Nasi Cayl, liturgical poet, lived in Marseille around 1285 — Cayl being a family name derived from Caylus, locality in Tarn-et-Garonne. He composed a piyyut preserved in the…

Author of Sefer Keritout, talmudic methodology.

French Tosafist who lived in the late twelfth century and in the first half of the thirteenth, descendant of Joseph b. Samuel Bonfils, nephew of the Tosafist Juda of Corbeil and brother-in-law of…

French rabbi

French Talmudist of the first half of the thirteenth century, descendant of Rashi. In his youth, he addressed a circular letter, probably of Kabbalistic nature, to the Provençal Asher ben David, who…

Jewish Italian translator active in Capua in the late 13th century. He translated from Arabic into Hebrew a pharmacological treatise by Mesue the Elder (« Iṣlaḥ al-Adwiyah al-Mushilah ») under the…

Physician and French translator born in Marseille in 1294, also known by the Provençal name Meles Benjudas. Drawn from his youth toward science and philosophy, he studied astronomy at Salon around…

Tosafist of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, known in French as Sire Morel, student of Juda Sire Léon of Paris and Isaac b. Abraham of Sens. He participated in 1240 in the famous controversy…

French scholar of the thirteenth century, author of a commentary on « Moré Nevoukhim », preserved in manuscript at the Library of Neophytes in Rome. Gross identifies him with Samuel Sekili, presented…

One of the « Grands d'Évreux », author of Tosafot on Sota.

German tosafist, student of Juda the Pious.

Spanish writer

Rabbi and scholar, active in Rome in the second half of the 13th century. In the controversy over the study of philosophy and Maimonides' Moreh Nevoukhim, which opposed Hillel b. Samuel of Verona to…

Spanish rabbi

Spanish scholar and physician of the 13th century, born in Tortosa in 1196. First a merchant travelling widely by sea and land, he abandoned commerce in 1226 to devote himself to rabbinical studies…

Italian philosopher

Shlomo ben Abraham ibn Aderet (1235–1310), known as the Rashba, was rabbi of the great synagogue of Barcelona for fifty years and the major halakhic authority of his time (nicknamed « El Rab d'España…

Simeon ben Samuel of Joinville, French tosafist and biblical commentator of the 13th century, is sometimes wrongly designated by the names of Samson b. Samuel or Chemaya. Disciple of Isaac b. Samuel…

Decisor and Rhineland tosafist, master of Or Zaroua.

Simḥa b. Samuel of Speyer, a German tosafist of the thirteenth century whose birth and death dates are unknown, participated in the rabbinical synod held in Mainz in Tammuz (July) 1223, where he…

Simḥa of Rome, scholar and rabbi of the Roman community in the last quarter of the thirteenth century, is charged by his community with finding the commentary of Maimonides on the Mishna. After a…

German troubadour (minnesinger) from Trimberg, in Franconia near Würzburg, active according to sources in the second half of the 13th century, or around 1200 according to Graetz; it is believed he…

Author, in the Codex Manesse, of six poems (Spruchdichtung); if historically authentic, he would be the first documented Jewish poet writing in German. The portrait preceding his poems in the Codex…

Wealthy resident of Frankfurt-am-Main, settled in Worms in the second half of the 13th century, he dies on the day of Yom Kippur in 1307. He devoted most of his fortune to ransoming the remains of…

Philologist and Oriental exegete of the 13th century, one of the last representatives of the rationalist school of biblical exegesis in the Orient, nicknamed by moderns "the Ibn Ezra of the Orient".…

French Tosafist of the thirteenth century, perhaps the younger contemporary and possibly student of Isaac ben Abraham of Dampierre, whom he attends the funeral of in 1210. Reputed master of the Law,…

Talmudist active in Italy or southern France in the late 13th and early 14th centuries, author of novellae, preserved in manuscript, on the Talmudic tractate Nazir, which he says he composed in 1322,…

(1225 – c. 1285) (Hebrew: טודרוס בן יוסף אבולעפא) was a nephew of Meir Abulafia and chief rabbi of Castille, (Not to be confused with Todros ben Judah Halevi Abulafia.)

German scholar and liturgical poet of the second half of the thirteenth century, active in Cologne and Mainz, related to Meïr of Rothenburg and disciple of R. Yehiel of Paris. Author of several…

French philosopher

Son of the Rosh, rabbi of Toledo, author of responsa (Zikhron Yehouda).

Jewish poet whose name is preserved, having lived probably in the 13th century or at the beginning of the 14th century.

Rabbi of Marrakech, active in the 1st century of the Hebrew era (1240–1339). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 52-1.

French Orthodox Rabbi

Exilarch of Damascus from the late thirteenth century, ardent defender of the writings of Maimonides against their detractors. Informed of the agitation by the mystic Salomon Petit against the «…

Jewish kabbalist

Rabbi of Fès, active in the 1st century of the Hebrew era (1240–1339). Listed in Malkhei Rabbanan (Yosef Ben Naim, 1931), f. 59-2.

Italian Talmudist of the 13th century established in Rome, trained in part in Germany (pupil of Jacob de Wurtzbourg, perhaps also of Meir de Rothenburg). Author of the Shibbolei ha-Leket, considered…

Rabbi of Rome, author of the Shibbolei ha-Leket, compilation of ritual laws.

Talmudist and liturgist Italian active in Rome in the thirteenth century, died after 1280, elder cousin of Sedecias ben Abraham Anav. Student of Meïr ben Moïse in Rome, he then went to Germany to…

Spanish Jewish scholar settled in Rome around 1277. Prolific translator from Arabic into Hebrew: Aristotle (Physics, Metaphysics, On the Soul), Averroès, Al-Farabi, medical treatises of Galen and…

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