IBN WAḲAR (HUACAR), SAMUEL:
Physician to King Alfonso XI. of Castile; astronomer and astrologer; flourished in the fourteenth century. A favorite of the king, he gained influence in the administration of the finances of the country, and received the privilege of minting the coin at a lower standard. He induced the king to forbid the importation of grain, etc., from the kingdom of Granada, thereby arousing the antagonism and envy, of Joseph de Ecija. Both of them were accused by Gonzalo Martinez of enriching themselves at the expense of the state. Samuel ibn Waḳar was imprisoned with his two brothers and other members of his family, and died under torture. His body was left unburied for an entire year. It is doubtful whether Samuel ibn Waḳar was the author of the anonymous "Castilian Medicine," still extant in manuscript. If Don Samuel ibn Waḳar is identical, as is here assumed, with the "Hebreo medico del rey y grande astrologo" who treated the queen before the birth of Don Pedro and saved her life, he did not die until late in 1333.
- Cronica de Alfonso XI. ch. 98 et seq.;
- Shebeṭ Yehudah, pp. 30 et seq.;
- Antonio de Vera El Rey D. Pedro, p. 2a;
- Grätz, Gesch. vii. 335 et seq.;
- Carmoly, Histoire des Médecins Juifs, pp. 99 et seq.;
- Monatsschrift, vi. 368, xxxiii. 479.
