Yahia Ben Rabbi
Yahia Ben Rabbi , also known as Yahia the Negro, was a Portuguese nobleman. He was reputed to be a direct descendant of the Hebrew exilarchs of ancient Babylonia that claimed direct descent from the Biblical King David and was the eponymous progenitor of the Ibn Yahya family.
Ben Rabbi resided in Lisbon and was respected by Sephardic Jews as well as by King Afonso I of Portugal, who knighted him for his courage by awarding him the title, "Lord of the Aldeia dos Negros", and presented him with an estate that had belonged to the Moors. Ben Rabbi's nickname then became "Yahia the Negro".
Ben Rabbi was the son of Yaish Ibn Yahya and grandson of Hiyya al-Daudi, who was a prominent rabbi, composer, and poet and served as advisor to Portugal's last king, Afonso II.
Ben Rabbi had five sons with his wife:
- Yaish Ben Yahya, the father of three sons, Yosef, Shlomo, and Moshe.
- Yakov Ben Yahya, the father of Hiyya, the father of Eli
- Yosef Ben Yahya, the father of Shlomo Ha-Zaken, the father of three sons, who were: Yosef, Gedaliah, and Hiyya
- Yehuda "Sar" Ben Yahya, father of Yahya and Yosef
- Yahia Ben Yahi, father of Shlomo, Joseph, and Bakr Ben Yahya
