Caslari family

The Caslari family was a Jewish family originating in Caylar, a village in the Hérault department of southern France. The place was known in Latin as Castalarium, and its medieval Jewish community formed the geographic and cultural point of reference for the family name. The Caslari were not a commercial brand or corporate group; the name identifies a historical family associated with Jewish intellectual and communal life in the Languedoc, Provence, and the Comtat Venaissin. A Jewish community existed at Caylar during the Middle Ages. Following the expulsion of Jews from the French kingdom under the royal edict of 17 September 1394, members of the Caylar community moved toward Provence and the Comtat Venaissin, areas where Jewish communities continued to exist under different political arrangements. Members of the wider family or people bearing the name are recorded at Tarascon in 1459 and 1487 and at Avignon in 1480. The family retained a significant reputation into the second half of the sixteenth century. The best-known early figure associated with the name is David Caslari, also called Bongodas and known by the title Maestro. He was a physician at Narbonne and was among the Jews who received privileges from the archbishop in 1284. He was also connected with the poet Abraham Bedersi, who addressed a liturgical Purim poem to him. Bedersi proposed David Caslari, alongside Abraham Saquil, Asher ha-Kohen, and Moses ben Judah Mansuri, as a judge for a literary competition involving Jewish poets. David Caslari is further associated with a Hebrew translation of Galen's medical treatise De Inaequali Intemperie, demonstrating the family's participation in the transmission of scientific learning between Latin and Hebrew intellectual traditions. Other figures bearing the name contributed to religious literature, manuscript culture, and communal administration. David ben Vadi Caslari was active at Perpignan around 1337. Although he was probably not closely related to the earlier David Caslari, his signature appears on a divorce document involving the scholar David Bongoron. En Bongodah, or Bonjuda Yehacel Caslari, was a poet active around 1400. He and his son Yehacel, also known as Ezekiel, exchanged poems with Solomon ben Reuben Bonfed; those compositions survived in manuscripts associated with Bonfed's diwan. Mossé du Caylar, also called Mossé Caslari, served as a warden of the Jewish community at Avignon in 1480. His role places the family within the administrative and communal institutions of late medieval Provençal Jewry. In the sixteenth century, Tzemach ben Jedidiah, known as Crescas of Caslari, copied a 1525 Paris manuscript containing Abraham ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch. Tzemach ben Moises Caslari served as a rabbi at Carpentras around 1583, and his signature appears on a document confirmed there on Adar 7, 5343, corresponding to 1583 in the Gregorian calendar. Taken together, the surviving references portray the Caslari name as a marker of a dispersed but intellectually active Jewish lineage. Its associated figures worked across medicine, translation, poetry, manuscript copying, rabbinic scholarship, and communal leadership. The available material does not establish a continuous modern institution, business, or living corporate entity under the name. The family's historical significance instead lies in its connection to the Jewish communities of medieval and early modern southern France.

The Caslari family took its name from Caylar, a village in the Hérault department of France whose Latin form was Castalarium. A substantial Jewish community existed there during the Middle Ages. The family history is therefore closely connected to the Jewish presence in southern France and to the later movement of Jewish communities into Provence and the Comtat Venaissin. The political and religious changes of the late fourteenth century reshaped the family's geographical setting. After the royal edict of 17 September 1394 expelled Jews from the French kingdom, Jews from Caylar relocated toward Provence and the Comtat Venaissin. People bearing the Caslari name were later documented at Tarascon in 1459 and 1487 and at Avignon in 1480. These movements reflect the wider dispersal of Jewish families from Languedoc into neighboring territories where Jewish communal life continued. The Caslari name remained respected through at least the latter half of the sixteenth century. The earliest prominent scholar connected with the family was David Caslari, also called Bongodas and entitled Maestro. He practiced medicine at Narbonne and was among the Jews granted privileges by the archbishop in 1284. His intellectual network included Abraham Bedersi, a major Hebrew poet, who addressed a Purim liturgical poem to him. Bedersi also named David Caslari as a prospective judge in a literary contest involving Jewish poets. David's reported translation of Galen's De Inaequali Intemperie from Latin into Hebrew links him to the medieval circulation of medical knowledge across languages and communities. A second figure, David ben Vadi Caslari, was active at Perpignan around 1337. Historical sources caution that he may not have been closely related to the earlier David Caslari. His signature appears on a bill of divorce issued by the scholar David Bongoron, providing evidence of his participation in the documentary and religious life of the period. Around 1400, En Bongodah, or Bonjuda Yehacel Caslari, worked as a poet. His son Yehacel, also known as Ezekiel, exchanged poems with Solomon ben Reuben Bonfed. The survival of these poems in manuscripts associated with Bonfed's diwan indicates that the family participated in the literary culture of medieval Jewish Provence and southern France. Mossé du Caylar, another individual identified as Mossé Caslari, held a communal office at Avignon in 1480. He served as a warden alongside several other named community members. This record shows that the family was involved not only in scholarship but also in the practical governance of Jewish communal institutions. The family's scholarly profile continued into the sixteenth century. Tzemach ben Jedidiah, called Crescas of Caslari, copied a manuscript in 1525. The manuscript, now identified in Paris as number 179, contained Abraham ibn Ezra's commentary on the Pentateuch. Manuscript copying was an important means of preserving and transmitting Jewish biblical interpretation, and this work situates a member of the family within that tradition. Tzemach ben Moises Caslari was a rabbi at Carpentras around 1583. His signature appears on a document confirmed at Carpentras on Adar 7, 5343, corresponding to 1583. The document also bears the names of Moses son of Judah Rouget and Moses son of Joseph Kolon. This late reference demonstrates the family's continuing presence in the religious and legal life of the Comtat Venaissin region. The surviving record does not describe the Caslari as a company, product label, or organized modern institution. It instead preserves the name through biographies, community documents, poetry, medical translation, rabbinic scholarship, and manuscript history. The family illustrates how Jewish lineages in medieval and early modern southern France could remain identifiable across several generations while members moved among towns such as Narbonne, Perpignan, Avignon, Tarascon, and Carpentras.

• 1583

  Tzemach ben Moises Caslari is recorded as a Carpentras rabbi

  [1]Caslari familyen.wikipedia.org

  Tzemach ben Moises Caslari signs a document confirmed at Carpentras, where he is identified as a rabbi.

• 1525

  Crescas of Caslari copies an Ibn Ezra manuscript

  [1]Caslari familyen.wikipedia.org

  Tzemach ben Jedidiah, called Crescas of Caslari, copies a manuscript containing Abraham ibn Ezra's Pentateuch commentary.

• 1480

  Mossé Caslari serves the Avignon community

  [1]Caslari familyen.wikipedia.org

  Mossé du Caylar, also known as Mossé Caslari, is recorded as a warden of the Jewish community at Avignon.

• David Caslari receives privileges at Narbonne

  [1]Caslari familyen.wikipedia.org

  David Caslari, a physician at Narbonne, is recorded among the Jews granted privileges by the archbishop.

• David ben Vadi Caslari appears in a Perpignan document

  [1]Caslari familyen.wikipedia.org

  David ben Vadi Caslari is documented at Perpignan through his signature on a Jewish divorce document.

• Expulsion from the French kingdom changes the family's geographic setting

  [1]Caslari familyen.wikipedia.org

  Following the royal edict of 17 September 1394, Jews from Caylar moved toward Provence and the Comtat Venaissin.

A historical Jewish family name associated with scholarship, medicine, poetry, manuscript transmission, rabbinic learning, and communal leadership in southern France and neighboring Provençal Jewish communities.

1. 1Caslari familyen.wikipedia.org