Moses Zarzal (fl. 1400) was a converso Spanish Jewish writer and physician to Henry III of Castile.[1] He was the dedicatee of Profiat Duran's Hebrew almanac The girdle of the Ephod (1395).[2] Poems in Castillian were attributed to him, including one for the birth of Henry's son, later John II of Castile, though his authorship is not certain.[3]
References
edit- ^ Gustav Karpeles (2009). Jewish Literature and Other Essays, page 93: "Among the converts were many poets, notably Juan Alfonso de Bæna, who, in the fifteenth century, collected the oldest troubadour poetry, including his own poems and satires, and the writings of the Jewish physician Don Moses Zarzal, "
- Raphael Finckenstein (1864), Dichter und Aerzte: ein Beitrag zur Geschichte der Literatur, page 20: "Ein solcher Mann z. B. ist Don Moses Zarzal, Leibarzt Petro's von Castilien. Die poetischen Producte solcher Autoren bestehen wohl aber meist nur in ..." - ^ Isidore Singer, Cyrus Adler (1964), The Jewish Encyclopedia: "In 1395 Duran compiled an almanac in twentynine sections entitled “Hesheb ha-Efod," and dedicated to Moses Zarzal, physician to Henry III King of Castile"
- ^ Jassuda Bédarride (1859), Les juifs en France, en Italie et en Espagne, page 576: "C'est d'abord don Mosés Zarzal, médecin du roi Henri III. Parmi ses poésies, l'auteur du Sephardim cite des vers sur la naissance du roi Jean II. Uni strella es nascida, En Castilla reluciente, Con plaser tota lagente, Roguemos por la.