ABSTRACT
A major figure in the so-called Golden Age of Hebrew poetry in Spain, Samuel Hanagid was also a Talmudist and a statesman, and was the first to be given the title of Nagid ("Prince"). Thus he renovated the Biblical tradition of artists qua political figures. Hanagid was born in Cordova, but when the Berbers invaded it, he left the city. He was appointed vizier under Badis, the Berber ruler of Granada, and triumphantly led the armies of Granada against Seville under the forces of Isma'il ibn Abbad. He wrote and sent poems to his son during his days on the battlefield, and he is remembered for the quality and scope of these. Hanagid composed the following verses the battle near the Sangil River, in 1039. According to one of his translators, the Israeli poet T. Carmi, Hanagid recited them instead of the afternoon service on that day. Carmi also suggests that in his childhood, Hanagid had a vision in which the archangels Michael and Gabriel brought him God's promise of protection. It is that vision to which he refers in the fourth line of the poem as "Your promise." The son referred to at the end of the poem is Hanagid's own son, Yehosef, who succeeded his father as army commander and vizier. Yehosef, according to Carmi, began to copy and arrange his father's poetry when he was eight and a half years of age.
