Judah ben Joseph ibn Ezra

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Judah ben Joseph ibn Ezra was a Spanish Jew who rose to favour under King Alonso VII during the 12th century, eventually becoming the king's court chamberlain. Judah, a relative of renowned Granadian poet and philosopher Moses ibn Ezra, was made commander of the fortress at Calatrava by Alonso after its conquest in 1147. Indeed, he enjoyed such a close relationship with the Spanish monarch that the latter, at his request, not only allowed the Jews who had fled from the persecutions of the Almohades into Toledo, but even gave many of the fugitives dwellings in Carrion, Fromista, Flascala, Palencia and several other places, where new Jewish communities were soon established. Judah ben Joseph used his influence over Alonso to further the cause of persecuted Spanish Jews until the king's death in August 1157.