Yosef "Cidellus" ibn Ferruzi'el, Nasi of Toledo, Vizier, Lt of El Cid

We learn from "Chronica del Famoso Cavallero Cid Ruydiez Campeador" that his Father, Mar Shealtiel, was in Najera (Kingdom of Navarre) under the flag of "El Cid" commanding 50 knights. Mar Shealtiel rides under a Roman Catholic Christian Flag of Aragon while his peer rides under the same flag - both are Viziers of Alfonso VI.

But Mar Shealtiel, father of Yosef ibn Ferruzi'el, is not alone in his role as a Knight. A separate branch of Nasi'im has aligned itself with King Afonso Henriques...and he is a Captain in Afonso Henriques' army with 50 horse-mounted knights and a large number of foot soldiers. Sisnando (or Sesnando) Davides (also Davídez, Davídiz, or Davidiz, and sometimes just David; died 25 August 1091) was a Mozarab nobleman and military leader of the Reconquista, born in Tentúgal, near Coimbra. He was a contemporary and acquaintance of El Cid, but his sphere of activity was in Iberia's southwest.

Contemporary historians claim Sisnando Davidiz was captured during a raid by Abbad II al-Mu'tadid of Seville and taken into the service of the latter. However, relations between Jewish Exilarchs and Muslim Caliph's, In al-Andalus, were excellent in this region at that time. It was common for a Jewish Exilarch to send his son to live among a Caliph's Family in order to gain leverage over the Exilarch. To the Arabs he was known as Shishnando. He served al-Mutadid as an administrator and ambassador, but he left Seville and entered the service of Ferdinand I of León in an identical capacity.

In the following years the towns of Galicia from Guimarães down to Coimbra were captured from the Moors, the latter on Sisnando's advice in 1064 or 1069, with Sisnando leading the siege and being granted the countship of the region south of the Douro from Lamego to the sea after his success. He took the title aluazir (vizier) de Coimbra.

Sisnando accompanied Alfonso VI in his campaign around Seville and Granada (Garcõna Gomez and Menendez Pidal 1947: 34) - therefore he MUST have interacted with Yosef ibn Ferruziel at least twice since Ferruziel was personal Physician of King Alfonso VI. Sisnando was involved with Alfonso in the attacks on Granada in 1073, in an attempt to reconquer the main Muslim strongholds (Tibi 1986: 90). The pursuit of Seville was later called off in 1075 (Tibi 1986: 224, note 226). In the same year, Sisnando was with Alfonso VI in Oviedo twice, first assisting at Court, where the Cid was also present, and later acting as a judge in a dispute over a monastery (Garcõna Gomez and MeneÂndez Pidal 1947: 30). Between 1076 and 1080 Sisnando was in Zaragoza as an ambassador for the King, and was attached to Alfonso VI’s court during the siege of Toledo in 1085.

Sisnando, on three (3) separate occassions, (1076, 1080, and 1088) acted as an envoy from Alfonso VI to the taifa of Zaragoza, and on another occasion to Abd Allah, the last Zirid king of Granada. So herein, we see that two (2) branches of Exilarchs, are personal advisors and confidants of the Kings of Aragon, Castile and Portugal.

Josef ibn Ferruzi'el is Nasi of all the Jews in the kingdom of Alfonso VI - he is the wealthiest Jew in Aragon and Castile. He owns large estates in and around Toledo, which he acquired after 1085, that were confiscated by the crown upon his death.

The Chronicle of the Cid - "Chronica del Famoso Cavallero Cid Ruydiez Campeador" was first published in 1552. Southey based his translation on the edition published in Burgos in 1593.

Book IX Chapter I: "And the Cid departed from Valencia, and with him went Alvar Fanez Minaya with two hundred knights, and Pero Bermudez with one hundred, and Martin Antolinez with fifty, and Martin Ferrandez with other fifty, and Felez (Feliz) Ferruz [Ancestor of Nasi Joseph ben Solomon ibn Shoshan Al-Hajib ibn Amar a/k/a Yosef ibn Shoshan, Nasi] and Benito Sanchez with fifty each;...these were five hundred knights."

Thus begins this branch's affiliation with the name Cavallera - "Knight"

This family produced the leading tax lessees in the city, in the surrounding area, and in the whole kingdom, as well as other courtiers al- most throughout the community's existence. During the reign of Sancho in (1157-58), the position of almoxarife in Toledo was held by Judah Joseph ibn Ezra (referred to as Bonjuda in documents); the king granted him lands and exempted him from the payment of tithes on these estates and taxes. R. Judah is known for his energetic activity to remove Karaism from Castile. During the reign of Alfonso vin (1158-1214), when Toledo was again threatened by the *Almohads, the Christian soldiers maltreated the Jews, although these had actively participated in the defense of the town. Joseph Al-Fakhar and his son Abraham, originally from Granada, then acted as almoxarifes in Toledo, as did also members of the Ibn Ezra family and Joseph Abu Omar ibn Shoshan.

Bibliography

Ashtor, Eliyahu. The Jews of Muslim Spain, 3 vols. (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1973–84), vol. 3, pp. 210–211.

Baer, Yitzhak. A History of the Jews in Christian Spain (Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society, 1966), vol. 1, pp. 50–51, 65, 77.

Ibn Daʾud, Abraham. Sefer ha-Qabbalah: The Book of Tradition, ed. and trans. Gerson D. Cohen (Oxford: Littman Library, 2005), pp. xxii, xlviii, 95, 144.

Roth, Norman. “New Light on the Jews of Mozarabic Toledo,” AJS Review 11, no. 2 (1986): 189–220.

Sáenz-Badillos, Angel, and Judit Targarona Borrás. Yĕhudah ha-Levi. Poemas, intr., trad. y not. estudios literarios Aviva Doron (Madrid: Clásicos Alfaguara, 1994), pp. 174 ff.

GEDCOM Note

Meshulam Shlomo Yitzhak Perfet (1st); Solomon ibn Ferruziel, Nasi of Toledo