Jehudà Cresques (, 1360-1410), also known as Jafudà Cresques, Jaume Riba, and Cresques lo Juheu ("Cresques the Jew"),"Cresques lo Juheu"
/ref> was a

converso A ''converso'' (; ; feminine form ''conversa''), "convert", () was a Jew who converted to Catholicism in Spain or Portugal, particularly during the 14th and 15th centuries, or one of his or her descendants. To safeguard the Old Christian p ...

cartographer Cartography (; from grc, χάρτης , "papyrus, sheet of paper, map"; and , "write") is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an ...

in the early 15th century. Son of

Abraham Cresques Abraham Cresques (, 1325–1387), whose real name was Cresques (son of) Abraham, was a 14th-century Jewish cartographer from Palma, Majorca (then part of the Crown of Aragon). In collaboration with his son, Jehuda Cresques, Cresques is credit ...

, a famous

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

cartographer, he was born in a Jewish family in

Majorca Mallorca, or Majorca, is the largest island in the Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain and located in the Mediterranean. The capital of the island, Palma, is also the capital of the autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. The Bale ...

, in the Majorcan-Catalan speaking part of

Crown of Aragon The Crown of Aragon ( , ) an, Corona d'Aragón ; ca, Corona d'Aragó, , , ; es, Corona de Aragón ; la, Corona Aragonum . was a composite monarchy ruled by one king, originated by the dynastic union of the Kingdom of Aragon and the County of ...

, in present-day

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Together he and his father were the probable authors of the famous

Catalan Atlas The Catalan Atlas ( ca, Atles català, ) is a medieval world map, or mappamundi, created in 1375 that has been described as the most important map of the Middle Ages in the Catalan language, and as "the zenith of medieval map-work". It was p ...

of 1375. Cresques' work was highly sought after; in 1390

John I of Aragon John I (27 December 1350 – 19 May 1396), called by posterity the Hunter or the Lover of Elegance, but the Abandoned in his lifetime, was the King of Aragon from 1387 until his death. Biography John was the eldest son of Peter IV and his third ...

paid 60

livres The (; ; abbreviation: ₶.) was one of numerous currencies used in medieval France, and a unit of account (i.e., a monetary unit used in accounting) used in Early Modern France. The 1262 monetary reform established the as 20 , or 80.88 g ...

and 8

sous The Sous region (also spelt Sus, Suss, Souss or Sousse) ( ar, سوس, sūs, shi, ⵙⵓⵙ, sus) is an area in mid-southern Morocco. Geologically, it is the alluvial basin of the Sous River (''Asif n Sus''), separated from the Sahara desert b ...

for one of his maps. After the

Aragon Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to s ...

ese persecutions of 1391 he was forcibly converted to Christianity, at which time he took the name Jaume Riba, Jacobus Ribus, in

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

. He appears to have remained in Majorca for a considerable time and to have become known to the people there as "''lo jueu buscoler''", the map Jew, or "''el jueu de les bruixoles''", the compass Jew. It has long been believed that Jehuda Cresques is the same person as 'Mestre Jacome', a Majorcan cartographer induced by the Portuguese prince

Henry the Navigator ''Dom'' Henrique of Portugal, Duke of Viseu (4 March 1394 – 13 November 1460), better known as Prince Henry the Navigator ( pt, Infante Dom Henrique, o Navegador), was a central figure in the early days of the Portuguese Empire and in the 15t ...

to move to Portugal in the 1420s to train Portuguese map-makers in Majorcan-style cartography. 'Jacome of Majorca' was described as the head of Henry's legendary observatory and "school" at Sagres by

Samuel Purchas Samuel Purchas ( – 1626) was an English Anglican cleric who published several volumes of reports by travellers to foreign countries. Career Purchas was born at Thaxted, Essex son of an English yeoman. He graduated from St John's College, Cam ...

, though the existence of the alleged school has long been discounted. The identification of "Mestre Jacome" with Jehuda Cresques" is principally due to the Catalan historian Gonzalo de Reparaz (1930). However, more recent research argues that Jehuda Cresques was already dead by 1410,e.g. Jaume Riera i Sans, 1977 and "Mestre Jacome" must have been someone else, identity still indeterminate; Majorca had many skilled Jewish cartographers.

References

Bibliography

* Quadrado, in ''Boletin de la Real Academia de la Historia,'' xix.299, 309; * Hamy, in ''Bulletin de Géographie,'' 1891, pp. 218–222; * Meyer Kayserling, ''Christopher Columbus'', pp. 5–8; * Jacobs, ''Story of Geographical Discovery,'' pp. 60–62. * Reparaz, Gonzalo de (1930) ''Mestre Jácome de Mallorca: Cartógrafo do Infante'' Coimbra (offprint from ''Biblias'' journal of the Faculty of Letters of Coimbra). * Rey Pastor and García Camarero, ''

La Cartografía Mallorquina ''La Cartografía Mallorquina'' ('' Majorcan Cartography '') is a book of essays on the Majorcan portolans written by Professor Julio Rey Pastor with the collaboration of Ernesto García Camarero. It is a scholarly essay, a key element in the stud ...

,'' 1960, pp. 56–61. * Riera i Sans, Jaume, "Jafudà Cresques, jueu de Mallorca", in ''Randa'' n. 5 (1977) 51-66. (English translatio
online
* Riera i Sans, Jaume - Gabriel Llompart, "Jafudà Cresques i Samuel Corcós. Més documents sobre els jueus pintors de cartes de navegar (Mallorca, s. XIV)", in ''Bolletí de la Societat Arqueològica Lul·liana'' n. 40 (1984) 341-350. (English translatio
online

www.cresquesproject.net
��Translation in English of the works of Riera i Sans and Gabriel Llompart on the Jewish Majorcan mapmakers of the Late Middle Ages. They include very complete biographies of Jafudà Cresques and his father Cresques Abraham. {{DEFAULTSORT:Cresques, Jehuda 1350 births 1427 deaths Medieval Majorcan Jews Majorcan cartographers Spanish Roman Catholics Spanish Jews Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism Conversos 15th-century cartographers