Samuel HaNagid - A Prince of Jews - Extra History

Hi there, I'm a new subscriber, just discovered your awesome channel recently and got lost in some ancient battlefields for hours on end... Thanks so much guys for saving me all the boring research on such interesting topics and making it fun to learn. Just wanted to nitpick here that technically, Nagid is not exactly a prince in Hebrew. It means a highly influential person, often wealthy, philanthropist, or an elder of the community, and in certain contexts can mean a ruler or governor, so technically you might say that a prince is also all those things, but a prince in Hebrew is Nasich (with the ch pronounced as in Scottish 'loch'), and not Nagid. It's a high title, but one that does not imply royalty, and also a bit of a made-up one for the occasion and not so much as "the first time a Jew got to be" a previously known thing like a prince.

Sarah Livne

Hi there, and welcome! Hope you find a nice little community here. When you start your history show, remember that there's always a learning curve. Be patient with yourself, look at and learn from your own material, and as you grow and continue creating more content you'll get a handle on what makes your show special. And don't even worry about comparing yourself to us, because there's plenty of room for more great history shows in the world!

Extra History

hey I'm one of your subscribers and a History buff since 10 [13 now]. i first of all want to congratulate you guys for this awesome channel. Second on the podium i must say that i'm new to both patreon and the funding business, but i'll treat it like a chape. Third to the throne, i want show history though education and entertainment using gameplay and film and i believe that ill won't be that noticed compared to you guys.

russian rifle227

SWEEEEEET!!! If you do one on him, he would be the first writer/stand up comedian on the Extra History series.

Joo-Hwan Jun

It was awesome, Arthur! I OFFICIATED it. And now I'm proud.

Extra History

Hmm! Mark Twain would be pretty fun. And now you've got me thinking. :D

Extra History

As someone who loves medieval Spain in all its complexity, Shmuel HaNagid has always been a favorite of mine - and I confess, I went with "Samuel" in the show because of the tragic face Dan made at me when I asked him if he could pronounce "Shmuel." (I don't think it's that hard, but I can be kind to him just this once!) Anyway, I was fairly happy with the length here. At most I could have made it a two-part episode by telling Joseph's story in another piece, but not a whole series. There's just not enough data on either of them... and a good portion of the data that does exist is from the memoirs of someone who hated them both (al-Muzaffar) so I take his words with a big grain of salt.

Extra History

It was suuuper important to them. And it also played an intricate role in the episode, more than is immediately obvious! Even when we weren't quoting Samuel's poetry, we were sneaking tiny references into the art.

Extra History

You are very welcome, as always! <3

Extra History

I put it down more to "fear of the other." I think that's a universal part of human nature (that we must strive to overcome), but which has followed us through the centuries and infested even religions and philosophies that started off with good intentions.

Extra History

Luckily for Samuel, taxes already existed way before he came into the picture and he didn't personally do anything to invent the idea of paying a tax to support religious institutions or people. ;)

Extra History

While I understand that you were disappointed the episode took extra long to come out (so was I), that does not give you the right to be rude here. Find a better way to express your disappointment next time.

Extra History

It's great to see you guys cover this figure. Shmuel HaNagid (his Hebrew name) was the kind of figure I hoped you would do a whole series on. You've missed some features such as the rumor that he had a hand in building the Alhambra palace, but overall, you've covered him both respectfully and accurately.

I love how poetry played such an intricate in society.

Robbie the Gnome

Ahhh, that explains it. Enjoy the wedding!

Nessf

finally took you long enough.

schuyler

Cool! I was maybe thinking of Mark Twain and incorporate some of his stand up material with his life story. Or someone whose life is so ridiculous that one cannot believe that it is actually someone's actual life and not a sitcom.

Joo-Hwan Jun

Tenkja!

Martin Ockovsky

Damn, talk about a bleak ending. What the hell did the jews do to earn such persecution down the ages anywa- Ah, right. Religion... Man humans are fucked up.

The Cayute

And here I am left wondering when did this whole "dedicating your life to study the tora" while living off someone else started. Guess I'm just salty about my tax money financing it.

Michael Waisfeld

Hi folks! Soraya here. And thanks Dan for posting this yesterday after my day proved more hectic than expected (best friends' wedding will do that to ya). Alas I shall be away the rest of the weekend (for said wedding!) which means I won't be able to hang out in the comments like I love doing, even though this time I actually wrote the episode and was really looking forward to talking about it with you! Hope you all enjoy the episode in the meantime, and I'll catch up with you when I get back! -Soraya

Extra History

I know, it's good of you to tell the whole of the story. It's just that, being Jewish, i can't take this as anything less then one more reminder of just how bad things used to be. That the persecutions didn't start with Hitler, and that it wasn't limited to just Christian populations. Thank you for all the hard work.

John doh

Hate. Hate never changes.

Extra History

Unfortunately it only gets worse for them in Spain - the Spanish Inquisition's coming up a few centuries after this. :( But for a time at least, the Granadan community did bounce back (and other Jewisih communities elsewhere in Spain continued thriving) so there was some light to be enjoyed.

Extra History

Yeah, so far - with Mary Seacole and now Samuel HaNagid - I seem to specialize in tragic figures. But I'll find something fun to talk about next time I write a one-off! ...Unless another sad story beckons me and I can't resist it. D: -Soraya

Extra History

I know. :( I'm very cruel. I thought about ending the story with Samuel's death, since this episode was principally about him, but honestly it felt like cheating not to carry the story to its real conclusion with the death of Joseph and massacre of the Jewish community. Tragic, but worth knowing about.

Extra History

No, that's totally my own error! I should have thought to double-check Jewish prayer traditions . Thanks for offering the info, though, as I will keep this in mind the next time it comes up in Extra History! And I'm glad you enjoyed our telling of the story of Samuel HaNagid. -Soraya

Extra History

I trade in tears. -Soraya

Extra History

It hurts to see this kind of cycle of tragedy perpetuated through history, whether towards Jews, Muslims, Christians, or anyone else. The Modern Day isn't an exception, sadly.

Hasan Mahmood

Ow..... The ending hurt! A good change of feel though! As the world is a stage, it is a platform of triumphant stories, gut-busting comedies and the most somber of tragedies. I wonder if Shakespeare will be on your guy's list. If there is a historic figure with a life that can be told in a comedic tone, I would like to know!

Joo-Hwan Jun

talk about a downer ending :(

John doh

Incredible video! I'm belated to see such an important figure in Sephardic Jewish history make it onto this show! One small problem that I have to point out is that we don't pray on our knees with our hand clasped together, but rather standing and wearing tefillin on our weaker arm and head, and generally under a tallit. I know that would probably have been more difficult to draw but it was just a small thing I felt the need to point out. Keep up the good work!

Boonce

Oh, man. It stings to see the Jewish people face such persecution time after time. I really feel for them, it must have been terrifying to know that everywhere they went, they faced the possibility of such murder and hatred.

Peter

Oh wow, that ending really, really hurt. Well done.

Alexander Vornoff