On Heresy and Polemics in Two Proverbs

in Meshal Haqadmoni

Abstract

In 1281, the Castilian Jewish scribe Isaac Ibn Sahula, wrote an illuminated book of Hebrew fables called Meshal Haqadmoni. The fables, largely featuring animal characters, are divided into five main chapters and accompanied by illuminations captioned by Ibn Sahula. The author writes that his purpose is to attract the mind of the audience and direct its attention to the book’s message by artistic means. Ibn Sahula declares that he is combatting the tendency to follow foreign literature and calls upon his nation to repent. The earliest existing manuscripts of this work are from fifteenth-century Germany and Italy. At the time that Meshal HaQadmoni was written, King Alfonso X of Castile also wrote a book of stories and songs, accompanied by illuminations, entitled the Cantigas de Santa Maria. Alfonso’s book portrayed the miracles of the Virgin Mary and was dedicated to her. Such a book, written by (or under the supervision of) the king, may have been familiar to Ibn Sahula. Two of the main characters in Ibn Sahula’s fables are a lion and an eagle, which scholars have thought to be allegorical figures of King Alfonso X. therefore we find a direct connection between Meshal HaQadmoni and Alfonso's book. This paper examines these two collections of fables and the possible connection between them against the background of contemporary textual and artistic evidence, and within the context of the contemporary discourse around heresy.