Llibre de paraules e dits de savis e filòsofs: A paremiological portrait of the Catalan-Aragonese Jewry under James II (r. 1291‒1327)

Abstract

Abstract Llibre de paraules e dits de savis e filòsofs, by Barcelona-born Jewish translator and physician Jafudà Bonsenyor, is one of the most representative European thirteenth-century proverbial compilations from the Greco-Eastern tradition. The text, written in Catalan at the request of King James II, coincides with a period of socioeconomic upheavals endured by the Jewish communities of that time. This article seeks to examine Jafudà’s book from a perspective other than as it was originally conceived, i.e., as a manual of human conduct. I argue that embedded in the work is an implicit message beyond the parameters of the text itself. The thematic division and the aphorisms selection in the Llibre convey a subtext that mirrors economic constraints, the decline of Jewish courtiers, religious coercion, and communal frictions borne by the Jewish communities of Catalonia-Aragon. The confluence of these factors acted to redefine the relationship between the Crown and the Jews throughout the rest of the century.