An India trader’s partnership in Almería (1139)

Abstract

This article contains an edition and analysis of the earliest known legal document from Almeria. This is a partnership deed written in Judeo-Arabic in 1139, preserved in the Cairo Geniza. The parties to the contract were Ḥalfon, an Egyptian-Jewish India trader and world traveler, famous for his association with Judah ha-Levi, and Ibn al-Naghira, a North African Jewish merchant. This two had already entered a partnership a year earlier in Fez, Morocco. Other documents from or concerning Almeria from this period are cited. The newly identified deed was executed prior to Ḥalfon’s departure from Almeria for Egypt. It clarifies aspects of Ḥalfon’s biography and helps in the reconstruction of data on Judah ha-Levi’s life. It provides confirmation or corrections of the interpretation of other items from Ḥalfon’s archive. Two pieces of the original contract have been identified, but it is still incomplete. Some of the witnesses who signed in Almeria were international traders who accompanied Ḥalfon, on his return trip to Egypt. Their signatures were validated by a court in Alexandria. Because of the death of his brother, Ḥalfon stayed in Alexandria for a year before traveling to Fustat (Old Cairo), where the local Jewish court, in turn, verified the signatures of members of the Alexandrian court. New information on the particulars of several of the signatories is provided. The document sheds light on the international trade routes and contacts between communities from al-Andalus to Egypt.