Benveniste de Porta

Beneviste de Porta (in Catalan Vidal Benvenist Saporta) (d. 1268), Jewish Bailie ("batlle") of Barcelona, Catalonia, and brother of Nahmanides (whose secular name was Bonastruc ça Porta or Bonastruc de Porta; see Grätz, "Gesch. der Juden," vii.38; "Jewish Quarterly Review," viii.492, 710).

Benveniste was an important capitalist of Barcelona and advanced money to King Jaume I of Aragon, mainly on the security of the municipal dues owed to the king. Thus on 17 December 1257, he advanced 3,863 "sous" on the dues of his bailiwick (Jacobs, "Sources," No. 134); and on the 15th of the following month he received the right to sell the dues of Barcelona and Girona for two years (ib. No. 142). The total indebtedness of the king was no less than 199,483 "sous" (ib. No. 144), which Benveniste was allowed to recover by taking the dues of Lleida and other places of his bailiwick (ib. 162). Part of the payment was made by the Jews of Barcelona themselves, who were ordered to hand over 12,000 "sous" to Benveniste (ib. No. 168a).

Meanwhile the king continued his applications to Benveniste for funds, drawing a check on him for 5,000 "sous" on June 12 1260 (ib. No. 170a); while two years later the king acknowledged his indebtedness to Benveniste of 15,221 "sous" for payment made on account of the "Infanta" Donna Joanna, on May 21 1262. In return for the advance, the dues of Vilafranca (ib. No. 205), as well as twenty squares of land there (ib. No. 232), and the dues of the Balearic Islands (ib. No. 257) and of Perpinyà (ib. No. 239), were granted to Benveniste. The latter continued to act as banker for the king, since a record is found of acknowledgment of a debt of 15,000 "sous", paid by Benveniste to the bishop of Barcelona when proceeding on an embassy to France on 1 January 1254 (ib. No. 355); and as late as 1 February 1268, the dues of the Jews of Girona were assigned to Benveniste (ib. No. 681).

Altogether Benveniste stood high in favor with King Jaume-no doubt for value received-and when on May 29 1264, his brother Nahmanides was pardoned, two-thirds of the fine he had incurred for the alleged crime of vituperating Jesus in the celebrated controversy of 1263 was remitted, the king expressly stating that the pardon was given "amore Benveniste de Porta, fratris tui" ("Sources," Appendix, No. 4, p. 130).

Bibliography: Jacobs, "Inquiry into the Sources of Spanish-Jewish History".

References

*JewishEncyclopedia