Samuel Ibn Naghrela
July 13, 2011, filed under: Characters,El Cid, by LexThe characters keep coming in Kid Beowulf vs. El Cid, today we meet Samuel Ibn Naghrela, a Jewish poet, scholar and short-order cook. During Rodrigo’s exile, wandering the wastes of La Frontera (the “no-man’s land” between the Christian and Moorish empires), he comes across Samuel being bullied by some goons. Rodrigo steps in and saves Samuel, who then pledges his service to Rodrigo.
Samuel serves two purposes in the book. The first is to show that Spain was a country populated by all three major religions: Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. The Jews at that time did not have centralized power the way the Christians and Muslims did, but instead inserted themselves in the day to day lives of both camps as scholars, poets, political advisors, etc. Samuel Ibn Naghrela was one of these important players and an actual historical figure. He was around 50 years or so before Rodrigo, but for my purposes I’ve made them contemporaries. The second purpose for Samuel is to help with exposition, as a poet he takes up the task to chronicle Rodrigo’s exploits, which can help move the story along and keep me from getting long-winded. Samuel also makes a mean BLT. (click to enlarge)
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