Hagin Deulacres (Ḥayyim Gedaliah, Or Dieulacresse)

Last presbyter or chief rabbi of England; appointed May 15, 1281. He appears to have been raised to this position by the favor of Queen Eleanor, mother of King Edward I. Hagin was probably a nephew of Elyas, the "Great Presbyter," and was not, it seems, living at the time of the Expulsion, as his name is not mentioned among those who were expelled in 1290, though the house of his son Benedict fell into the king's hands (Jacobs, "Jewish Ideals," p. 185). Neubauer attributes to Hagin the translation of some of Abraham ibn Ezra's astrological works for Henry Bate at Malines ("Rabbins Français," p. 507), but on very insufficient grounds, and on still slighter evidence the translation of the "Image du Monde," credited by others to Mattithiah ben Solomon Delacrut. It has been suggested that Hagin Lane in London was named after this Hagin, who probably lived opposite it, but recent evidence seems to show that its original name was "Hoggen," the Middle English plural of "hog."

Bibliography:

  * Tovey, Anglia Judaica, p. 59;
  * Miscellany of the Soc. Hebr. Lit. ii. 159;
  * Jacobs, Jewish Ideals, pp. 185-188;
  * Grätz, Gesch. 3d ed., vii. 180.



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