Chasdai ibn Shaprut

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Chasdai ibn Schaprut monument in Jaen

Chasdai ibn Shaprut ( Hebrew חסדאי אבן שפרוט, Arabic حسداي بن شبروط Hasdāy ibn Schabrūt , DMG Ḥasdāy b. Šabrūṭ ; also chisdai; * at 915 in Jaén ; † around 970 in Córdoba ) was a Jewish diplomat in medieval Spain . He is the first Jewish dignitary in the service of Spanish rulers about whom information has been obtained.

Life

His family came from Jaén in Eastern Andalusia . From there, Chasdai's father, a wealthy man, moved to Córdoba, the capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba . Here Chasdai mainly studied medicine and entered the service of the Umayyad caliph Abd ar-Rahman III. He practiced as a doctor and also did medical research. Towards the end of the 940s, when a diplomatic delegation from Byzantium arrived in Cordoba and brought the manuscript De Materia Medicina of Dioscurides' famous pharmacological work as a gift , Chasdai was a member of the group that translated the manuscript from Greek into Arabic. According to the custom of the Muslim rulers, who entrusted their doctors with administrative and political tasks, Abd al-Rahman appointed Chasdai as head of the customs department, one of the most important positions in the state administration at that time. He was also entrusted with numerous diplomatic missions. When Abbot Johannes von Gorze was in Córdoba as emissary of King Otto I in 953 , negotiations about Chasdai were underway. In 956 he was sent to the court of the King of León with a Muslim envoy to negotiate peace with him. The high point of his diplomatic activities was his mission to the royal court of Navarre . His first task there was to heal Prince Sancho (935–966), who had been crowned King of León as Sancho I and was then cast out. Chasdai managed to convince the Christian king to travel to Cordoba with his grandmother Toda to sign a peace treaty with the caliph. The arrival of the two Christian rulers in Muslim Cordoba was seen as an important diplomatic achievement.

After Chasdai had taken on duties as a dignitary at the court of the caliph, he also took on leading positions on behalf of the Jewish population in Spain. He appointed the refugee Moses ben Chanoch, who had probably arrived from southern Italy, as rabbi of Cordoba. This appointment had far-reaching consequences for the development of the Jewish community in Spain. In this way, Spanish Judaism broke away from the leadership of the Babylonian Geonim . Chasdai is best known for his letter to Joseph, king of the Khazars , and the king's response to this letter. These letters contain a description of the Umayyad caliphate, the position of Chasdai at the royal court and the circumstances surrounding the conversion of the Khazar king to Judaism. However, the authenticity of these two letters is disputed. Chasdai's grandson Abu l-Fadl ibn Hasdai became a vizier at the court of the emirs of Saragossa .

See also

literature

  • Encyclopedia Judaica , Vol. 8, pp. 533-534.
  • Angel Sáenz-Badillos, Judit Targarona Borrás: Ḥasday ibn Šapruṭ '. In: Diccionario de autores judios (Sefarad. Siglos X-XV). El Almendro, Córdoba 1988, ISBN 84-86077-69-9 (Estudios de Cultura Hebrea, Volume 10), pp. 50-51.
  • Ḥayim Hilel Ben-Śaśon: History of the Jewish People - From the Beginnings to the Present , CH Beck, 5th edition, 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-55918-1 , pp. 555 ff.
  • Kurt Schubert: Jüdische Geschichte , CH Beck, 6th edition, 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-44918-5 , pp. 65 ff.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kurt Schubert: Jüdische Geschichte , CH Beck, 6th edition, 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-44918-5 , p. 65

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Chasdai ibn Shaprut
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Chisdai ibn Shaprut
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Jewish diplomat
DATE OF BIRTH at 915
PLACE OF BIRTH Jaén
DATE OF DEATH around 970
Place of death Cordoba