BONDAVIN, BONJUDAS

BONDAVIN, BONJUDAS (Bonjusas, or Judah ben David; c. 1350–c. 1420), rabbi and physician. Bondavin practiced   medicine in Marseilles between 1381 and 1389 as physician to Queen Marie of Provence, and in 1390 settled in Alghero, in Sardinia. Also a talmudic scholar, Bondavin later became rabbi of Cagliari. As such, he enjoyed the favor of the Aragonese authorities. When King Martin II of Aragon visited Sardinia in 1409, Bondavin attended his court, and the king extended his jurisdiction as rabbi to the whole of Sardinia. Bondavin's learning is demonstrated in his correspondence with Isaac b. Shesbet of Saragossa, centering on a picturesque episode at the royal court. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bloch, in: REJ, 8 (1884), 280–3; Roth, Italy, 265; Milano, Italia, 182. (Attilio Milano)