Cresques de Vivers

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CRESQUES DE VIVERS

CRESQUES DE VIVERS (d. 1391), Spanish astrologer. Cresques, who apparently came from Vivers in southern France, was invited in 1384 by John, the heir apparent to the throne of Aragon, to serve him as astrologer. Cresques arrived in Aragon in 1386. When John became king in the following year he assigned Cresques an annual income of 500 Barcelona sólidos to be defrayed by the Jewish community of Perpignan. In 1389 he granted Cresques and his household royal protection, and also appointed him tax administrator (procurador y gestor general) of the Jewish communities in Aragon. Cresques was killed during the anti-Jewish outbreaks in 1391. After his death, his wife and sons became converted to Christianity, and in 1392 the king ordered the community of Perpignan to continue to pay them the income formerly received by Cresques.

bibliography:

Baer, Urkunden, 1 (1929), 570; A. López de Meneses, in: Sefarad, 14 (1954), 99–115, 265–93.