דין ודברים בין סוחרים במצרים על רקע פעילותו המסחרית של אבהרם אבן חיים במחצית הראשונה של המאה השש עשרה

Abstract

Abraham Ibn Hayyim, of Spanish origin and who probably was an exile from Spain, was a wealthy trader in Egypt in the first half of the 16th century. He was the father-in-law of the last Naggid in Egypt, Isaac Ha-Kohen Sholal (1502-1517, and is known from several Hebrew sources from that time. Several Cairo Genizah documents reveal information about him: in a document from 1525 we see that he and the Naggid were accused of hiding a sum of money owed to the local authorities; this might have been some form of tax evasion, and for this reason he was put in jail together with his son-in-law Isaac ha-Kohen Sholal. From three other Genizah documents published in this article we learn about Abraham’s personal activities in trade. These documents are connected to his conflict with other merchants. Two documents are Jewish court records regarding his claims against his commercial partners, and the third is a claim letter addressed to the Jewish court against another partner. These documents yield information about Abraham Ibn Hayyim's commercial activities in domestic and international trade, as well as about items of commerce: spices, perfumes, clothes, leathers and precious stones, such as rubies which were produced in the Far East.