Narbonni, Moses

Narbonni, Moses (also called Mestre Vidal), a Jewish writer of note, was born about 1300. His father, Joshua of Narbonne, was a resident of Perpignan, and being deeply interested in the Jewish, i.e., Maimonidistic philosophy, instructed his son in that branch of science. Vidal cultivated also metaphysics, and admired likewise Averroes or Avicebron (q.v.), whose works he especially commented upon. His knowledge he enlarged by travelling from 1345 to 1362. He was obliged to leave his place when the populace massacred the Jews at the time that the "black death" was ravaging all Europe, and he not only lost all his property, but also, what was more painful to him, all his books. This, however, did not prevent him from finishing his great work at Soria-a commentary on Maimonides's MoreNebuchim, באור לספר מורה נבוכים (lately edited by Goldenthal [Vienna, 1852]), which he commenced at Toledo in 1355, and which has been rendered into Latin by R. Solomon bar-Maimon, and published by Is. Euchel (Berlin, 1791; Wien, 1818: Saulzbach, 1828, etc.). Vidal also translated into Hebrew from the Arabic of Algazali: 1, on the Unity of God: — 2, on Divine Providence: — 3, on the Utility of Logic. He died in 1362. See Furst, Bibl. Judaica, 3:17; Gratz, Gesch. d. Juden, 7:352, 353 (Leipsic, 1873); Etheridge, Introd. to Hebr. Literat. page 261; De Rossi, Dizionario (Germ. transl.), page 242 sq.; Lindo, Hist. of the Jews in Spain, page 159; Finn, Sephardim, page 394; Jost, Gesch. d. Judenth. u.s. Sekten, 3:84; Munk, Melanges, page 592 sq.; and Philosophie des Juifs (Germ. transl. by B. Beer), page 33 sq., 113 sq.; Zunz, Additamenta zum Leipziger Katalog d. Hebr. cod. page 325 sq. (B.P.)