Mark D. Meyerson - A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain

A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain

JEWS, CHRISTIANS, AND MUSLIMS FROM THE ANCIENT TO THE MODERN WORLD

SERIES EDITORS R. STEPHEN HUMPHREYS, WILLIAM CHESTER JORDAN, AND PETER SCHFER

Imperialism and Jewish Society, 200 B.C.E. to 600 C.E., by Seth Schwartz

A Shared World: Christians and Muslims in the Early Modern Mediterranean, by Molly Greene

Beautiful Death: Jewish Poetry and Martyrdom in Medieval France, by Susan L. Einbinder

Power in the Potrayal: Representations of Jews and Muslims in Eleventh- and Twelfth-Century Islamic Spain, by Ross Brann

Mirror of His Beauty: Feminine Images of God from the Bible to the Early Kabbala, by Peter Schfer

In the Shadow of the Virgin: Inquisitors, Friars, and Conversos in Guadalupe, Spain, by Gretchen D. Starr-LeBeau

The Curse of Ham: Race and Slavery in Early Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, by David M. Goldenberg

Resisting History: Historicism and Its Discontents in German-Jewish Thought, by David N. Myers

Mothers and Children: Jewish Family Life in Medieval Europe, by Elisheva Baumgarten

A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain, by Mark D. Meyerson

A Jewish Renaissance in Fifteenth-Century Spain

Mark D.Meyerson

PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS

PRINCETON AND OXFORD

Copyright 2004 by Princeton University Press

Published by Princeton University Press,

41 William Street, Princeton, New Jersey 08540

In the United Kingdom: Princeton University Press,

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All Rights Reserved

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Meyerson, Mark D.

A Jewish renaissance in fifteenth-century Spain / Mark D. Meyerson

p. cm. (Jews, Christians, and Muslims from the ancient to the modern world)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-691-11749-7 (cl : alk. paper)

1. JewsSpainCivilization. 2. JewsSpainValencia (Region)Civilization. 3. SpainCivilization7111516.

4. SpainCivilizationJewish influences. 5. Spain

Ethnic relations. 6. Valencia (Spain : Region)Ethnic

relations. I. Title. II. Series.

DS135.S7M485 2004

946.004924dc21

2003056329

British Library Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available

This book has been composed in Electra

pup.princeton.edu

eISBN: 978-1-400-83258-3

R0

For Jill, Benjamin, and Samuel
my life

FIGURES AND MAPS

Figures

Maps

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book was a long time in the making. I have incurred many debts along the way. Yom Tov Assis of the Hebrew University first suggested the project to me, though it acquired dimensions neither of us had foreseen. Jos Ramon Magdalena Nom de Du of the Universitat de Barcelona offered helpful advice when the project was in its early stages. Stephen Humphreys, David Nirenberg, Jeff Paul, and Derek Penslar read the manuscript at various stages and made many useful suggestions, especially in helping me decide which parts of the archival iceberg to leave submerged. Larry Simon saved the day with the two-volume solution. The directors and staffs of the Arxiu de la Corona dArag, the Arxiu del Regne de Valncia, the Arxiu Municipal de Valncia, the Archivo de Protocolos del Patriarca de Valencia, and the Archivo Histrico Nacional were all kind and helpful. Through the years of archival research I have enjoyed the friendship and collegiality of many scholars: Larry Simon, David Nirenberg, Steph Bensch, Kathryn Miller, Debra Blumenthal, Elka Klein, Brian Catlos, Gemma Escrib Bonastre, Jos Ramon Magdalena Nom de Du, Manuel Snchez Martnez, Vicent Gimnez Chornet, Luisa Tolosa Robledo, Rafael Narbona Vizcano, Germano Navarro. I owe special thanks to my mudejarista friend Manuel Ruzafa Garca for his many insights and hospitality. None of this, I am sure, would have been possible without Llus To Figueras, Silvia Gassiotand now Emma and Enric. They have opened their home and hearts to me these many years and have become like family, an immeasurable boon when I was so far from my own.

Research for this book has been generously supported by the Institute for Scholarship in the Liberal Arts at the University of Notre Dame, the National Endowment for the Humanities, the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

My embarking on this study of Valencian Jewry was, I know, somehow bound up with what one might call identity issues. Though the exploration of Spains Jewish past has not resolved them, the home and life I have made with my wife, Jill, and my boys, Ben and Sam, have. Without Jill I could not have grappled with my own past, much less Spains. My sons were born while this project was in progress. Nothing matches the power and joy of simply being their father.

NOTE ON NAMES AND MONEY

Since the Jewish and Christian inhabitants of the kingdom of Valencia were Catalan-speaking, I have used the Catalan forms of their names whenever possible. I have done the same for toponyms (e.g., Morvedre instead of Murviedro, Xtiva rather than Jtiva). For Castilian or Aragonese persons or places, I have used the Castilian or Aragonese forms.

In order to enable readers to follow Valencian Jewish individuals and families over the course of many years or generations, I have regularized their surnames, using the forms that most commonly appear in the documents (e.g., Avincanes instead of Abencanyes or Hincanes, Asseyo rather than Asseu or Asseo). I have also regularized the spelling of their given names for the sake of consistency and identification (Jahud instead of Jaffuda, Isaac rather than Iach). Adhering to the inconsistent and variable orthography of the documents would only confuse readers.

Again, for the sake of clarity, I have used the Catalan names and numeration of the rulers of the kingdom of Valencia. Even Valencian scholars writing in Catalan use the Catalan rather than the Valencian numeration. Hence, I refer to Pere the Ceremonious as Pere III, not as the Aragonese Pedro IV or the Valencian Pere II. However, I have used the Castilian forms of the names of the kings of the Castilian Trastmara dynastythe names by which they were commonly recognized: Fernando I, Alfonso IV, Juan II, and Fernando II.

All monetary sums mentioned in this study are in the currency of the kingdom of Valencia, except when specifically indicated by sous b. for the sous of Barcelona, the currency of Catalonia. Throughout the Crown of Aragon, 1 lliura (or pound) 20 sous; and 1 sous 12 diners.