ALVALENSI, SAMUEL:
By: Meyer Kayserling
Perhaps the grandson of the above; was born in Spain at the end of the fifteenth century, was taken after the expulsion of 1492 to Fez, where he became the favorite of King Abu Said, of the Merines dynasty. About 1536 the Xarifes rose against the Merines, and Samuel Alvalensi, together with some of the loyal alcaldes, fitted out a fleet and sailed with four hundred men to Ceuta, which was then besieged by the rebels. Despite the numerical superiority of the enemy, who mustered 30,000 men, he inflicted upon them heavy losses and compelled them to raise the siege and to return to Fez. He showed similar courage in 1539 at the relief of Safi. Samuel afterward settled in Azamor.
Bibliography:
- Diego de Torres, Histoire des Chérifs, French translation by the Duke of Angoulême, the father, p.69 ;
- Aboab, Nomologia, pp. 305 et seq.;
- De Barrios, Historia Universalis Judayca, p. 8.
