Schlomo de Piera

Schlomo (ben Meschullam) de Piera ( Hebrew שלמה בן משולם דיפיארה) (approx. 1340/50 until after 1417) was a Hebrew poet from Spain.

Life

De Piera came from a family resident in Catalonia and was a direct descendant of the poet Meschullam ben Schlomo de Piera from Girona (2nd half of the 13th century). Little is known about his youth; most of the self-testimonies that have been preserved come from his old age. There is evidence that de Piera survived a wave of plague that claimed numerous victims in his vicinity. In Saragossa de Piera came into contact with the Ibn Lavi family. She was one of the most respected and richest Jewish families in Aragon and had contacts with the royal court and the Knights Templar . This earned her the Spanish name de la Caballería . Don Schlomo ben Lavi became de Piera's first patron. He left some seals himself. Like his son Benveniste ben Lavi after his death , he was regarded as a promoter of Jewish culture, especially the Hebrew language. The family court was the spiritual center of Judaism in Aragon. De Piera was also on good terms with Benveniste ben Lavi. In particular, he taught his son (Vidal) Joseph ben Lavi , on whom he had considerable influence. De Piera, who was regarded as the leading authority of his time on questions of Hebrew poetry, saw his legacy secured in his pupil.

The pogroms of 1391 brought about a reversal. The flourishing Jewish culture in Christian Spain experienced a severe setback from which it never recovered. Numerous communities were wiped out and many Jews converted. Among the christianos nuevos there were particular zealots like Paulus von Burgos or Yehoshua ha-Lorci , to whom the next, devastating blow goes back: the disputation of Tortosa 1413/14. As a result of the events, numerous grandees of the Jewish community converted again, including de Piera's patron and former student Joseph ben Lavi as well as de Piera himself. De Piera's last sign of life is a small humorous poem about the bad wine of 1417. Shortly afterwards, de Piera must have passed away.

Works

De Piera was considered the most important poet of his time in the Hebrew language. Numerous letters that he wrote on behalf of his patrons have survived , as well as extensive correspondence with other poets and scholars such as Chisdai Crescas , Meir Alguades and Astruc Rimoch . Poems are often woven into these letters. Initially, de Piera v. a. Secular poetry, only in old age did he turn to religious poetry. His style is full of elusive expressions and mannerisms that seem to reflect the tastes of the time. His often contrived word games sometimes seem involuntarily funny.

De Piera's main work is the book Imre No'asch (Proverbs of a Desperate Man ), which should contain four parts after the preface: a rhyming dictionary (I), a compilation of synonyms (II) and their discussion (III) and finally a textbook on poetry (IV). However, only the foreword and the first two parts are known from manuscripts, and it stands to reason that the last two were never written.

expenditure

• S. Bernstein: The Diwan. Solomon b. Meshullam Dapiera. New York 1942.
• S. Bernstein: דיואן שירי הקדש של שלמה בן משלם דאפיירה. In: Hebrew Union College Annual 19 (1945/46), * 1- * 74.

literature

• H. Brody: Contributions to Solomon da-Piera's life and works with excerpts from his divan. Frankfurt am Main 1893.
• A. Sáenz-Badillos: Hebrew poetry in Christian Spain. Poets and their intentions. In: Judaica 57 (2001), p. 86ff.
• A. Sáenz-Badillos; J. Targarona Borrás: Diccionario de autores judios (Sefarad. Siglos X-XV). Estudios de Cultura Hebrea 10. Córdoba 1988, pp. 96-97.
• S. Samuel: The poet Solomon ben Meschullam Dapiera and the question of his change of faith. In: MGWJ 81 (1937), pp. 481-496.
• Ch. [J.] Schirmann : תולדות השירה העברית בספרד הנוצרית ובדרום צרפת [ The History of Hebrew Poetry in Christian Spain and Southern France]. [Hebr.] Jerusalem 1997, pp. 580-600.
• J. Targarona: El Diwan de Š ^e lomoh de Piera. Estado de la cuestión. In: J. Targarona; A. Sáenz-Badillos (Ed.): Jewish Studies at the Turn of the 20th Century I: Biblical, Rabbinical and Medieval Studies. Leiden 1999, pp. 541-551.

Remarks

1. ↑ See Schirmann, History p. 588ff., Against Samuel, Dichter .
2. ↑ See Schirmann, History, pp. 595f.
3. ↑ This part was edited by M. Tama under the title Maskijoth Keseph (Amsterdam 1765).

Web links

• Entry in the Jewish Encyclopedia . Funk and Wagnalls, New York 1901-1906.
• Schlomo de Piera. In: Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa (Spanish)