Moshe b. Yosef ben Yijū
Description / Bio
A nephew of Avraham b. Yijū, part of the Sicilian branch of the family. Died relatively young. Three letters from him and two to him have survived, all from c. 1155–56. As of the spring of 1154 Moshe was most probably in Tyre or elsewhere on the Levantine coast on his way back to Sicily, but the ship in which hewas traveling was attacked by pirates ("men of the shīnīs," Bodl. MS heb. 11/15, line 18), and Moshe and other Jewish passengers were captured and held for ransom. The pirates were eventually forced to leave the ship, and it arrived safely in Messina (only for the commander of the port to confiscate their cargo). (See Goitein and Friedman, India Traders, docs. III,46–49 and III,58)