104 Benjamin ben Jonah of Tudela
decline and collapse of central authority in the Carolin-
gian Empire. This culminated in 875 in an official deci-
sion to permit vassals to bequeath benefices to heirs.
Thus, the term benefice,still used in the charters, became
synonymous with FIEF. The term then gradually disap-
peared from feudal documents. From the 12th century, it
was used exclusively by the church to designate income
received by clergy while in office and fulfilling their
duties and after they had retired.
Further reading:Geoffrey Barraclough, Papal Provi-
sions: Aspects of Church History, Constitutional, Legal and
Administrative in the Later Middle Ages(1935; reprint,
Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1971); Marc Bloch,
Feudal Society,2 vols., trans. L. A. Manyon (1939; reprint,
Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1961); Jean-
Loup Lemaître, “Benefices, Ecclesiastical,” EMA,1.169.
Benjamin ben Jonah of Tudela (Ben Jonah)(d.
1173)Jewish rabbi from Spain
In the second half of the 12th century, Benjamin, perhaps
a rabbi, from the Spanish town of Tudela, on the Ebro
River in the northern region of NAVARRE, made an exten-
sive journey over years throughout the Mediterranean,
PALESTINE, and the city of BAGHDAD. Nothing is known
about him, except what is found in his travel account. On
his return, he wrote a valuable record of his travels in
Hebrew, the Seter Massaotor Book of Travels. One of his
main motives was to report on the status of Jewish com-
munities throughout the Mediterranean and Middle East,
perhaps to evaluate them as places of refuge, if the JEWS
were forced to leave the Iberian Peninsula.
Without giving a reason, Benjamin started his travels
around the year 1159 from the port city of BARCELONA.
He traveled north from there into PROVENCEto the cities
of MONTPELLIERand Marseille, where he remarked upon
the presence of large Jewish communities and the begin-
nings of the ALBIGENSIANheresy. He took a ship from
Marseille to GENOAand from there to PISA. He found
almost no Jews in either of these cities but did find
some in prominent positions once he reached the city of
ROME.
He headed south through NAPLESand into SICILY,
which was then ruled by the NORMANS. In GREECEBen-
jamin found a large Jewish colony in Thebes, where there
were 2,000 Jewish dyers and silk workers. In December
1161, he reached the city of CONSTANTINOPLE, where he
viewed the festivities surrounding the marriage of the
emperor Manuel I Komnenos (r. 1143–80). He also
described the church of HAGIASOPHIA, the largest in the
world. For all its size and wealth, Constantinople was
ill-regarded by Benjamin because it confined its Jewish
community in a distant suburb, forbade them to ride
horses, and at times persecuted them.
From Constantinople Benjamin voyaged through the
islands of the AEGEAN SEA to CYPRUS, where he was
shocked to find a heretical Jewish sect that did not even
observe the SABBATH. Sometime in the year 1163 Ben-
jamin reached the great city of ANTIOCHin SYRIA. He trav-
eled south through LEBANON and reported on the
ASSASSINS, a nonorthodox Muslim sect. From there, he
entered Palestine, where he found many nationalities liv-
ing in JERUSALEM, including about 200 Jews. He visited
Hebron, where he found the Samaritans, the remnants of
an early Jewish sect. Returning north to DAMASCUSBen-
jamin estimated that there were 3,000 Jews there and a
continuing tradition of Jewish education. He was over-
whelmed by the beauty of that city’s chief MOSQUE.From
Damascus, Benjamin visited the ruins of Baalbek in what
is now LEBANON. From northern SYRIAhe crossed over
into Mesopotamia and in 1164 eventually reached Bagh-
dad, probably the largest city in the world at that time.
He reported on the high status of the Jews of the city and
the respect enjoyed by a Jewish leader called “the Prince
of the Captivity.”
Benjamin visited the ruins of the ancient city of
Babylon and then proceeded into western IRANand as far
north as the Caspian Sea. Along the way he found numer-
ous Jewish settlements. He then sailed around the Arabia
Peninsula and reached EGYPTsometime during 1171,
describing ALEXANDRIAand the Greek monasteries in the
SINAIDesert. He embarked from the port of Damietta to
Messina in Sicily and then made his way through central
Europe and back to Spain. Many of his observations
have been verified by other contemporary sources. He
died probably in 1173. His observations often have been
corroborated by other sources, and the book was soon
translated into other languages.
Further reading: Elkan Nathan Adler, ed., Jewish
Travelers: A Treasury of Travelogues from Nine Centuries
(New York: Hermon Press, 1966); Sandra Benjamin, The
World of Benjamin of Tudela: A Medieval Mediterranean
Travelogue(Madison, Wis.: Associated University Presses,
1995); Michael A. Signer et al., The Itinerary of Benjamin
of Tudela: Travels in the Middle Ages (Malibu, Calif.:
Joseph Simon Pangloss Press, 1987).Bentivoglio family They were an Italian aristocratic
family influential in BOLOGNA from the 13th century.
They led the city’s antipapal movement in the second half
of the 14th century, intending to oust the governors
installed by the popes. John I Bentivoglio (d. 1402), who
led the movement at the end of the 14th century, seized
power and in 1401 became the lord of Bologna. Disputes
with the VISCONTIof MILANled to his assassination, mur-
dered by a city nob, in 1402. His son, Anthony Galeazzo
(d. 1435), a jurist, continued his father’s policy until his
death in 1435. Thereafter the city entered a period of
decadence, as political–religious conflicts caused several
leadership changes. Sante Bentivoglio (d. 1463), perhaps
illegitimate, became lord of Bologna in 1446. He was