Benjamin’s visit to the island.  It was in the year 1177 that William married the daughter of our English king, Henry II.]

[Footnote 210:  Edrisi, who wrote his Geography in Sicily in 1154 at the request of King Roger II, calls the island a pearl, and cannot find words sufficient in praise of its climate, beauty, and fertility.  He is especially enthusiastic concerning Palermo.  Petralia is described by him as being a fortified place, and an excellent place of refuge, the surrounding country being under a high state of cultivation and very productive.  Asher has no justification for reading Pantaleoni instead of Petralia.]

[Footnote 211:  The passage in square brackets is to be found in most of the printed editions, as well as in the Epstein (E) MS., which is so much akin to them, and is comparatively modern.  The style will at once show that the passage is a late interpolation, and the genuine MSS. now forthcoming omit it altogether.]

[Footnote 212:  See Aronius, Regester, p. 131.  This writer, as a matter of course, had only the printed editions before him.  His supposition that [Hebrew:] is Mayence is more than doubtful, but his and Lelewel’s identification of [Hebrew:] with Mantern and [Hebrew:] with Freising has been accepted.  Aronius casts doubts as to whether Benjamin actually visited Germany, in the face of his loose statements as to its rivers.  It will now be seen that he is remarkably correct in this respect.]

[Footnote 213:  The Jews of Prague are often spoken of in contemporary records.  Rabbi Pethachia started on his travels from Ratisbon, passing through Prague on his way to Poland and Kieff.]

[Footnote 214:  Benjamin does not tell us whether Jews resided in Kieff.  Mr. A. Epstein has obligingly furnished the following references:  In [[Hebrew:], Graetz, Monatsschrift, 39, 511, we read:  [Hebrew:].  In [Hebrew:], Monatsschrift, 40, 134, [Hebrew:].  This Rabbi Moses is also mentioned in Resp. of R. Meir of Rothenburg, ed.  Berlin, p. 64.  Later records give the name [Hebrew:].]

     [Footnote 215:  The vair (vaiverge or wieworka in Polish) is
     a species of marten, often referred to in mediaeval works. 
     Menu-vair is the well-known fur miniver.]

[Footnote 216:  Lelewel, having the reading [Hebrew:] before him, thought Sedan was here designated.  H. Gross suspected that the city of Auxerre, situated on the borders of the province of the Isle de France, the old patrimony of the French kings, must have been intended, and the reading of our text proves him to be right.  The Roman name Antiossiodorum became converted into Alciodorum, then Alcore, and finally into Auxerre.  The place is often cited in our mediaeval literature, as it was a noted seat of learning.  The great men of Auxerre, [Hebrew:], joined the Synod convened by Rashbam and Rabenu Tam.  See Gallia Judaica, p. 60, also Graetz, vol.  VI, 395 (10).]

* * * * *