Moses ben Abraham (fl. 1244)
His only known work, the Chroniques de la Bible, is an Old French historical and prophetic compilation based Hebrew sources.
[10] My lord the Count William of Auvergne who wishes to possess and know the origins and the lineages of the beginning of the world, and wants to know the battles which have been fought in the past and orders them written in this book.
[12][13][14] Maria Theresa Rachetta, however, suggests that the Chroniques is "too eccentric for a layman of modest means who lived most of his life on a restricted territorial allowance" and proposes that the word "quens" (count) is an interpolation.
In her view, the original patron was William of Auvergne, bishop of Paris, and the work was produced for or in response to the Trial of the Talmud (1240).
[5] Moses, in the prologue and in a few other places, refers to his work only as the Livre, 'book', which is the title adopted by Maria Theresa Rachetta.
Moses' patron wanted "to know the beginning and the unfolding of the lineages since the creation of the world, as well as the battles which were fought in ancient times."
[20] Moses next discusses the histories of the ancient Babylonian and Persian empires, drawing mainly from the biblical books of Daniel and Esther.
[19] The second part of the work, which is not derived from the Sefer Yosippon, describes the descendants of Ham and Shem, the Bible (with short interpretations) and Islam.
[22][23] He claims that the 38[b] books of the Hebrew Bible are accepted as truth by not just Jews and Christians, but Muslims, Albigensians and Mongols.
[21] Combining an interpretation of prophecies in the books of Ezekiel (27:14, 38:2–6) and Zechariah (13:8–9) with contemporary reports, Moses concludes that the Mongols were harbingers of the end of time.
[26] A Cuman hostage from the Mongol army sent by the kings of Hungary and Rus' testified before Duke Henry II of Brabant.
[22][18] Moses repeats the story that Alexander found the Ten Lost Tribes trapped beyond a raging river.
[29] Moses occasionally suppresses information in his source that he regards as legendary, such as Alexander's being the son of Pharaoh Nectanebo II.
[30] The Chroniques ends abruptly with the story of King Archelaus of Cappadocia reconciling Herod to his son Alexander.
[21] The material translated and heavily abridged from the Sefer Yosippon represents "the sole pre-modern version ... in a European vernacular.
"[18] The Chroniques is preserved in a single deluxe illuminated manuscript of the late thirteenth century, now in The Hague, Royal Library of the Netherlands, 131 A 3.
[37] Walter Cahn notes how the imagedeparts from the ancient and medieval habit of personifying winds in the guise of bearded and horn-blowing divinities, and substitutes for this anthropomorphic convention a more "literal", graphically mimetic ideogram, a large, drop-like form shaded with wavy lines and tones that are meant to evoke the movement of air.
Although both have already been depicted, they are repeated at this point in order to emphasise that they have the same meaning: the fourth kingdom is Rome and it began when the Roman emperor Titus sacked Jerusalem in AD 70.
It is placed later in the manuscript, alongside the part where the priests of the Temple in Jerusalem tell Alexander that he will defeat Darius III on the basis of Daniel's prophecy.
