Yahia Ben Yahi III

Yahia Ben Yahi III, also known as Jahia Negro Ibn Ya'isch, was a Sephardi Jew born in Cordoba in 1115 to Yahia Ben Rabbi, also known as Yahya Ha-Nasi, Yahya Ibn Yaish or Don Yahia "El Negro", (known as Lord of the "Aldeia dos Negros", Portugal - _en. Village of the Blacks), the son of Yahia Ben Rabbi and said to be a direct descendent of the Exilarchs of Babylon.

King Afonso I of Portugal entrusted Yahia Ben Yahi III with the post of supervisor of tax collection and nominated him the first Chief-Rabbi of Portugal. King Sancho I of Portugal continued his father's policy, making Jose Ben Yahia, the grandson of Yahia Ben Rabbi, High Steward of the Realm. The clergy, however, invoking the restrictions of the Fourth Council of the Lateran, brought considerable pressure to bear against the Jews during the reign of King Dinis I of Portugal, but the monarch maintained a conciliatory position. Yahia ben Yahi III died in 1185 in Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal.

At some point, some of Yahia Ben Yahi III's descendants seem to have converted to Christianity. Amongs these, no longer Jews, but Mozarabs (Iberian Christians living under Muslim domination), would be Yahia Ben Bakr, Bakr Ben Yahia and Aloandro Ben Bekar, all Governors of the city of Faro, in the Algarve. The latter would become father to Madragana, who would become a mistress to king Afonso III of Portugal, and ancestor, amongst many other, of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (daughter of Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen), queen consort of George III of the United Kingdom (and grandmother of Queen Victoria, and the great-great-great-great grandmother of the current Queen of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II).

Yahia Ben Yahi III's family tree

External links

* [http://www.davidicdynasty.org/ Dedicated to uniting the Jewish descendants of King David]
* [http://www.heymannfamily.com/web/HeymannGed4Web/f_1297.html Genealogy of Yahia Ben Rabbi]
* [http://www.angelfire.com/ego/et_deo/davidicdynasty.wps.htm Genealogy of the Davidic Dynasty] or mirror site [http://www.members.aol.com/rdavidh218/davidicdynasty.html Genealogy of the Davidic Dynasty]