Samuel Ibn Naghrilah

Samuel Ibn Naghrilah (called in Hebrew שמואל הלבי, Shmuel haLevi, and in Arabic إسماعيل بن النغريلة, Isma’il ibn anNaghrilah)¹ was a Sephardi statesman, poet, and commander of the army and leader of the Jewish community of Granada. He died between 1055 and 1056 in Granada².

Life

Samuel was born in Córdoba in 993 to a high-class, wealthy and educated family in Córdoba, the capital of the Caliphate¹. After the 1013 sacking of Córdoba by the Amazigh/Berbers, Samuel and his family fled to Málaga, a port city subordinate to the Kingdom of Granada². However, he did not stay in Malaga for too long. He soon moved to the capital of the taifa, or state, Granada, where we worked anonymously³ as a scribe and secretary to the then vizier of the kingdom. Before his death, the vizier presented Samuel to the court of the king. There, he quickly climbed the ladder to the highest positions in the court. The death of the king in 1037 saw his son, Badis, succeed him². However, despite being just the vizier, in other words, the second in charge, and being the commander of the army of the taifa⁴, Samuel was in fact the de facto king due to the fact that he personally managed the political and military affairs of Granada².

Military Accomplishments

1038: Battle against Almería – death of the king of Almería and the capture of his vizier⁵;

1039: Battle against Seville – victory against one of Granada’s main rivals⁶;

1041: Battle of Arjona – his third battle where he defeated king Badis’ cousin who attempted to steal the throne⁵.

Legacy

Samuel became a statesman, and Jewish at that, in the highest ranks of Granadian politics, and consequently, in the rest of the taifas of Al-Andalus. However, given his title as the nagid (He. נגיד – prince, governor) of Granada’s Jewish community, he also led the Talmudic Academy. Under that role, it is believed that he penned the Introduction to the Talmud (Mevo haTalmud) as well as a Biblical concordance².

Nevertheless, his bigger legacy was his influence on and through poetry. He is known as the father of the new Hebrew poetry⁷. Because of the collapse of the Caliphate of Códoba, many people emigrated from their cities of origin; these mass migrations within the ruins of the caliphate opened the way for many cultural exchanges that blended the diverse idiosyncrasies of the different parts of the Caliphate, especially cultural expressions such as music, poetry, and philosophy⁸. In Samuel Ibn Naghrilah’s case, his contribution came in the form of poetry. Although he was not the first to do it, Samuel incorporated motifs and modes from Arabic poetry (considered the most developed) into poetry in Hebrew⁹. This new poetry, which could deal with war, religion, lovers and homoerotic encounters without much restriction¹⁰, managed to make Hebrew be seen by the general population as a language that was more than just liturgic or religious. It helped them see Hebrew as a language that was just as useful and as living as Arabic¹¹.

Sources

1
pg. 103. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
2
Encyclopaedia Britannica. Samuel ha-Nagid. https://www.britannica.com/biography/Samuel-ha-Nagid.
3
pg. 104. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
4
pág. 101. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
5
pg. 101-102. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
6
pg. 101. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
7
pg. 106. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
8
pg. 106 – 107. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
9
pg. 107. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
10
pg. 107 – 108. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8
11
pág. 109. Menocal, María Rosa. The Ornament of the World. ISBN 0-316-56688-8