Jacob ibn Jau

Who was Jacob ibn Jau?

Jacob ibn Jau was a Jewish silk-manufacturer at Cordova, occupying a high position at the court of the Umayyad Caliph Hisham II. He died about 1000. Amador de los Ríos calls him "Ibn Gan."

Jacob and his brother Joseph, finding in the court of the palace a large sum of money which had been lost by some Moors from the province during an assault upon them, resolved to use the money for presents for the caliph and the "hajib" al-Mansur ibn Abi Amir, to gain favor thereby. They accordingly manufactured precious silks for garments, and flags with artistically woven Arabic mottos and emblems, the like of which had never been seen in al-Andalus, and presented them to the caliph and the powerful hajib. Al-Mansur thereupon made Jacob prince and chief judge of all the Jewish communities of the Andalusian caliphate, investing him with the right of appointing judges and rabbis, and of determining the taxes which the Jews were to pay to the state.

Jacob was also invested with princely splendors; eighteen pages in gold-brocaded garments formed his guard of honor, and a state carriage was always at his disposal.