1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Ḥasdai ibn Shaprut

by Israel Abrahams

ḤASDAI IBN SHAPRUT, the founder of the new culture of the Jews in Moorish Spain in the 10th century. He was both physician and minister to Caliph Abd ar-Raḥman III. in Cordova. A man of wide learning and culture, he encouraged the settlement of Jewish scholars in Andalusia, and his patronage of literature, science and art promoted the Jewish renaissance in Europe. Poetry, philology, philosophy all flourished under his encouragement, and his name was handed down to posterity as the first of the many Spanish Jews who combined diplomatic skill with artistic culture. This type was the creation of the Moors in Andalusia, and the Jews ably seconded the Mahommedans in the effort to make life at once broad and deep.  (I. A.)