art in the struggle between
King Henry II and Thomas a Becket. The German Emperor,
Frederick Barbarossa, supported the anti-Pope Victor IV, and
in consequence Alexander had to leave Rome soon after his
election in 1159 and before his consecration. He did not
return to settle down permanently in Rome until November 23,
1165, but was forced to leave again in 1167. Consequently
Benjamin must have been in Rome between the end of 1165 and
1167. Benjamin terminated his travels by passing from Egypt
to Sicily and Italy, then crossing the Alps and visiting
Germany. In Cairo he found that the Fatimite Caliph was the
acknowledged ruler. The Caliph here referred to must have
been El-'Adid, who died on Monday, September 13, 1171--being
the last of the Fatimite line. A short time before his
death, Saladin had become the virtual ruler of Egypt, and
had ordered the Khotba to be read in the name of the
Abbaside Caliph el-Mostadi of Bagdad. (See the _Life of
Saladin_, by Bohadin: Palestine Pilgrims' Text Society, p.
61.) It is clear, therefore, that Benjamin's absence from
Europe must be placed between the years 1166 and 1171.
Benjamin on his return journey passed through Sicily when
the island was no longer governed by a viceroy. King William
II (the Good) attained his majority in 1169, and Benjamin's
visit took place subsequently. It will be found in the
course of the narrative that not a single statement by
Benjamin is inconsistent with this determination of date;
see p. 3, n. 4; p. 9, n. 2; p. 15, n. 4; p. 61, n. 1; and p.
79, n. 2.]

[Footnote 3: Saragossa was called in Benjamin's time
_Sarakosta_ (= Caesar-Augusta). Charisi, in _Tachkemoni_,
46, refers to some of the Rabbis.]

[Footnote 4: The imposing ruins at Tarragona comprise
prehistoric walls of enormous unhewn blocks of stone, as
well as the remains of Roman aqueducts, tombs,
amphitheatres, &c. Here and generally in this narrative the
letter R is used as an abbreviation for Rabbi.]

[Footnote 5: See Graetz, _Geschichte der Juden_, vol. VI,
pp. 230 et seq.; also notes 1 and 10 at the end of vol. VI.]

[Footnote 6: The ancient name of Gerona was Gerunda.]

[Footnote 7: See Geiger's _Juedische Zeitschrift fuer
Wissenschaft und Leben_, p. 281. The Records of Narbonne
b