BENGALIL

BENGALIL (Abengalel), family which flourished in Spain and North Africa in the 13th century. JOSEPH BENGALIL was a rabbi probably living in Ceuta, Morocco, who corresponded with solomon b. abraham adret . His sons ABRAHAM and SAMUEL both served on diplomatic missions for the Aragonese kings to Granada and Morocco. Abraham resided in Valencia, and was authorized to conduct business there in 1276 by James I at the request of the sultan of Tunis, apparently also using his official journeys for business purposes; in 1280, when his goods were impounded by the Castilian authorities, Pedro III retaliated in kind against Castilian merchants visiting Aragon. In 1291 Abraham took his family with him on a mission to Tlemçen (Algeria). -BIBLIOGRAPHY: J.M. Toledano, Ner ha-Ma'arav (1911), 41; J. Ben-Naim, Malkhei Rabbanan (1931), 57; Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 410; Corcos, in: JQR, 54 (1963/64), 65; Hirschberg, Afrikah, 1 (1965), 281–2. (David Corcos)