Samuel ben Meir Ha-Levi Abulafia (

Úbeda Úbeda (; from Iberian ''Ibiut'') is a town in the province of Jaén in Spain's autonomous community of Andalusia, with 34,733 (data 2017) inhabitants. Both this city and the neighbouring city of Baeza benefited from extensive patronage in the ...

, approx. 1320 -

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Penins ...

, 1360), was the treasurer of king Pedro I "the Cruel" of Castile and founder of the Synagogue of El Transito in

Toledo, Spain Toledo ( , ) is a city and municipality of Spain, capital of the province of Toledo and the ''de jure'' seat of the government and parliament of the autonomous community of Castilla–La Mancha. Toledo was declared a World Heritage Site by UN ...

. He was a member of the powerful Abulafia family, which had provided leadership to the Jewish community of Toledo and Castile more generally since around 1200. His parents died of plague shortly after arriving in Toledo. First he worked as administrator to the Portuguese knight Juan Alfonso de Alburquerque and became recognized enough to achieve employment at the court of Pedro I of Castile, first as ''camarero mayor'' (chamberlain) and later as ''almojarife'' (treasurer) and as ''oídor'' (judge). His employment ended when the enemies of Pedro I led by

Henry of Trastámara Henry II (13 January 1334 – 29 May 1379), called Henry of Trastámara or the Fratricidal (''el Fratricida''), was the first King of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara. He became king in 1369 by defeating his half-brother Peter the ...

organized a pogrom against the Toledan Jewry, which enabled them to assume possession of the royal treasures. The king marched to Toro to demand the return of his belongings, and Samuel Ha-Levi accompanied him, and later supported the King in reclaiming Toledo for the crown, and in the establishment of a peace treaty with the Portuguese at

Évora Évora ( , ) is a city and a municipality in Portugal. It has 53,591 inhabitants (2021), in an area of 1307.08 km2. It is the historic capital of the Alentejo and serves as the seat of the Évora District. Due to its well-preserved old ...

in 1358.Clara Estow. 1995. Pedro the Cruel of Castile: 1350-1369. BRILL, 1995 - History In Toledo he lived in the palace that is today the

Museo de El Greco Museo may refer to: * Museo, 2018 Mexican drama heist film *Museo (Naples Metro) Museo is a station on line 1 of the Naples Metro. It was opened on 5 April 2001 as the eastern terminus of the section of the line between Vanvitelli and Museo. O ...

, and with the considerable riches bestowed upon him by his employer he founded the Synagogue of El Transito between 1355 and 1357. The building was one of ten synagogues serving Toledo's large Jewish population, and still survives; it is architecturally exquisite and has features in common with the Muslim architecture of King Pedro's palace in Seville and the Alhambra palaces in Granada, even including inscriptions in Arabic as well as Hebrew. Its construction was opposed vociferously by the Catholic church, but King Pedro permitted it. Constantly criticized by his rivals for his permissive stance towards Jews, eventually the King turned against Samuel and had him incarcerated and tortured on suspicion of embezzlement in 1360. David Biale. 2012. Cultures of the Jews: A New History. Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group p. 411 He died under duress of torture. The prominence of Samuel Ha-Levi Abulafia at Pedro's court has often been cited as evidence of his supposed pro-Jewish sentiment, but Don Samuel's success did not necessarily reflect the general experience of the Spanish Jewry in this period which was often marked by discrimination and pogroms. And even Samuel's career shows that the opportunities for Jews were restricted to certain offices and positions whereas other forms of advancement were denied to them.

References

{{reflist 1360 deaths 14th-century Castilian Jews People from Toledo, Spain Year of birth uncertain People from Úbeda