Abenvives
ABENVIVES
ABENVIVES (Vives ), Spanish family, members of which were in the service of the kings of Aragon between 1267 and 1295. The most influential member vives ben joseph ibn vives owned estates throughout Aragon and Valencia. An excellent administrator, he brought law and order to the estates under his jurisdiction but became unpopular. In August 1270 several Jews and Muslims proffered complaints against him, alleging that he was a usurer and sodomite, but he was absolved by King James i. In 1271 the king commissioned Vives to suppress a Muslim rising in Valencia. Vives made frequent loans to the king, amounting to at least 45,600 sueldos between 1271 and 1276, and was granted several royal estates as pledges. He was removed from office after James' death in 1276. Other members of the family include isaac, who was a tax collector in 1283; samuel, who was granted estates in the area of Alfandech and held several bailiwicks between 1282 and 1295; and joseph, who lent money to the crown and was granted several castles, and held minor administrative posts between 1271 and 1284.
bibliography:
Toledo, in: Boletín de la Sociedad Castellonense de Cultura, 16 (1935), 315ff., 398ff.; Piles, in: Sefarad, 20 (1960), 363–5; Baer, Spain, 1 (1961), 411. add. bibliography: A. García, Els Vives, una família de jueus valencians (1987).
[J. Lee Shneidman]