Isaac Ibn-Albalia, distinguished also for his political position; Isaac Ibn-Giat and Isaac ben Reuben, who were at once Talmudists and writers of liturgical poems; Isaac Ibn-Sakni; Isaac Alfassi and Solomon Yizchaki, the two creators of an independent method of Talmudic study, far surpassing that used by the Geonim. Isaac ben Baruch Albalia, by means of documents, traced his origin to Baruch, a noble exile from Jerusalem, who is supposed to have been sent by Titus to a proconsul at Merida, in order to carry on in Spain the silk culture, in which his family was skilled. Later the Albalias removed to Cordova, and became one of the most distinguished families of the Andalusian capital. Isaac (born 1035, died 1094) early betrayed a gifted mind and a burning thirst for knowledge. His inclinations led him equally to astronomy, mathematics, philosophy, and the Talmud. Samuel Ibn-Nagrela encouraged him in his studies by gifts and books, and his son Joseph endowed him with abundant means. Isaac Ibn-Albalia lived alternately in Cordova and with his noble patron in Granada. He only trifled with poetry, and turned his mind to deeper studies. Isaac Ibn-Albalia had scarcely attained his thirtieth year, when he began a commentary to elucidate the most difficult portions of the Talmud. At the same time (1065) he was writing an astronomical work called Ibbur, on the principles of the Jewish calendar, which he dedicated to his patron, Joseph Ibn-Nagrela. Isaac Ibn-Albalia, who was at the time visiting his friend Joseph, luckily was not injured in the massacre at Granada (1066), and he afterwards made Cordova his permanent abode. Here he became acquainted with the noble prince, Abulkassim Mahomet, a lover of science and poetry. When the latter ascended the throne of Seville, under the name of Al-Mutamed (May, 1069), he summoned Ibn-Albalia to his court at Seville, and made him his astronomer, whose duty it was not so much to observe the motions of the stars as to foretell future events from the position of the constellations. He also appointed Isaac Albalia as chief over all the Jewish communities of his kingdom, which fortunate conquests had made the mightiest in Mahometan Spain. It extended northward as far as Cordova, and eastward to Murcia. Isaac, therefore, like Ibn-Chasdaï, Ibn-Jau, and Ibn-Nagrela, took the rank of prince (Nassi). He was at the same time rabbi over the communities of the realm of Seville, and his authority was acknowledged abroad. As his master, Al-Mutamed, was the most illustrious prince in Spain, so Isaac was the most illustrious and learned man among the Spanish Jews. Beautiful Seville became through him the center of Jewish Spain, as Cordova and Granada had been in the past. Al-Mutamed, the last noble ruler of the Arab race in Spain, had another Jewish functionary at his court, Ibn-Misha'l, whom he employed on diplomatic missions.