Hasdai ibn Shaprut

Hasdai ibn Shaprut (Hebrew Hebrew חסדאי אבן שפרוט, Arabic حسداي بن شبروط Hasday ibn Schabrūt, DMG Hasday b Šabrūṭ; . Well Chisdai; * to 915 in Jaén; † around 970 in Córdoba) was a Jewish diplomat in medieval Spain. He is the first Jewish dignitaries in the service of Spanish rulers over which information received.

Life

His family came from Jaén in eastern Andalusia. From there moved Chasdais father, a wealthy man, to Córdoba, the capital of the Caliphate of Córdoba. Here Chasdai mainly studied medicine and entered the service of the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Rahman III. He practiced as a physician and also undertook medical research. Arrived towards the end of the 940er 's, when a diplomatic delegation from Byzantium in Córdoba and as a gift brought a manuscript of the famous pharmacological work of Dioscorides, Hasdai was a member of the group, which translated the manuscript from Greek into Arabic. According to the custom of the Muslim rulers, who wore their doctors about administrative and political tasks, Abd ar -Rahman Chasdai appointed to head the customs department, one of the most important places in the then state administration. In addition, he was entrusted with numerous diplomatic missions. When Abbot John of staying Gorze 953 as an emissary of Emperor Otto I in Cordoba, ran the negotiations on Chasdai. 956 he was sent together with a Muslim envoy to the court of the king of León, to lead him peace negotiations. Height of his diplomatic activities was his mission to the royal court of Navarre. His first job was in there, the Prince to heal Sancho ( 935-966 ), who had been crowned as Sancho I, King of León and then violated. Chasdai to convince the Christian King of traveling with his grandmother Toda to Cordoba to complete with the Caliph a peace treaty succeeded. The arrival of the two Christian rulers in the Muslim Cordoba was considered an important diplomatic success.

After Hasdai had taken over as dignitaries tasks at the court of the Caliph, he also took over management functions on behalf of the Jewish population in Spain. He appointed the refugee Moses ben Chanoch, who had probably arrived from southern Italy, a rabbi of Córdoba. This appointment had far-reaching consequences for the development of the Jewish community in Spain. In this way, Spanish Jewry from the tour of the Babylonian Geonim solved. Chasdai is mainly known for his letter to Joseph, the king of the Khazars, and the king's reply to this letter. These letters contain a description of the Umayyad Caliphate, the position of Hasdai at the royal court and the circumstances of the conversion of Chasarenkönigs to Judaism. The authenticity of these two letters is disputed. Chasdais grandson Abu al -Fadl ibn Hasdai was vizier at the court of the emirs of Zaragoza.