MILLÁS VALLICROSA, JOSÉ MARIÁ°

MILLÁS VALLICROSA, JOSÉ MARIÁ ° (1897–1970), Spanish scholar and historian. Millás Vallicrosa was born in Santa Coloma de Farnés, Spain. From 1925 onward he was professor of Hebrew studies at the University of Barcelona, having also taught at the University of Madrid. Millás Vallicrosa did research into the history of Spanish Jewry, medieval Hebrew poetry, the Bible, and the history of the sciences. He also translated medieval works from Hebrew and Arabic into Spanish. One of his important studies on Spanish Jewry is Documents hebraics de jueus catalans (1927), in which he compiled and explained Hebrew documents of the Catalonian Jews in the 11^th–12^th centuries. Another work of his is Assaig d'histuria de les idees físiques i matemàtiques a la Catalunya medieval (1931), on the history of the development of science in Catalonia. In the field of the history of science, Millás Vallicrosa's studies on Abraham ibn Ezra and *Abraham bar Ḥiyya are notable, while in the research into Hebrew poetry and literature a special place is occupied by his work, La poesía sagrada hebraicoespañola (1940). He suggested that antecedents of poetic forms in medieval Hebrew poetry in Spain can be traced to biblical poetry (in Sefarad, 1 (1941), 45–87). In this field he also published the studies, Yehuda ha-Leví, como poeta y apologista (1947), and Šĕlomō ibn Gabirol, como poeta y filósofo (1945). Millás Vallicrosa published scores of articles in scholarly journals, including Al-Andalus, Sefarad, Revue Internationale de l'Histoire des Sciences, and Osiris: Archeion. Many of his pupils earned scholarly reputations, among them his own sons. His wife, francisca vendrell, also a scholar, studied the history of medieval Spanish Jewry. A two-volume Homenaje… containing scholarly articles by Jewish and non-Jewish scholars was published in honor of Millás Vallicrosa in 1954–56. A list of his works was published under the title Títulos y Trabajos de Profesor D. José M. Millás Vallicrosa (1950).

add. bibliography:

T.F. Glick, in: Isis, 68 (1977), 276–83.

[Haim Beinart]