ARIE SCHIPPERS
Nissim ibn Shahin (990-1062), Josef Ibn Zabbara (1131-1209),
Petrus
Alphonsi (1062-1121) and the medieval European narrative repertoire
by Arie Schippers [University of Amsterdam]
In this paper I want to deal with three Jewish collections
of stories and which place they occupy within the transmission of stories from
east to west and vice versa.
The Judeo-Arabic al-Faraj ba'da al-Shiddah [“Relief
after Adversity”] consisted in collections of stories in which God gives relief
to someone who finds himself in a difficult situation. The author, Rabbi Nissim
ben Yacob ben Nissim ibn Shahin (990-1062), born in Kayruwan (North Africa),
had a difficult life, troubled by unhappy events caused by the destructive
invasion of Hilâli Bedouins.
Around 1170 Joseph Ibn Zabara (1131-1209) wrote his Sefer Sha'ashu'im
[“Book of Delight”] in Barcelona. Although the language of the book is Hebrew –
a bookish language which was not spoken – and the author lives in Christian
territory, the culture to which he belongs is Arabic.
Much Arabic and Oriental influence is to be found in the Latin work Disciplina
Clericalis by Petrus Alphonsi (1076-1140), a name adopted by the Andalusian
Jew Moshe Sefardi when he was baptized into the Christian faith.
We shall sketch the purpose of these collections and their relations with
other story telling in the medieval Mediterranean.