A Portrait of Moshe de Portella
 

The Portella Brothers ( Moshe, Salomó, Ismael and Yuçef ), a jewish family of Tarazona, can be followed on documents since the year 1267. During the reigns of James I, Peter III, Alfons III and James II of Aragón they held diverse public responsabilities, mainly in Aragón but also in Principality of Catalonia and the Kingdom of Valencia, which were part of the Crown of Aragón.
During this period of time, considered by many historians as the "golden age" of the aragonese jewry, many of them intervened in the financial administration of the Crown. Allthough no jew could officialy fill a political, judiciary or military office, in the end their economic activities let them to intervene indirectly in these areas. Among the aragonese jews, the most outstanding was, without any doubt, Moshe de Portella from Tarazona, because of the importance of the financial responsabilities he held and the extension of the territories upon which he could act.

During many years, he was Bayle ( the King´s representative ) and Merino ( judge ) of Tarazona. He was in charge of similar responsabilities, simultaneous- or succesively, in many other towns in northwest and north Aragón, as well as in some cities in Valencia and Catalonia. During the reign of King Alfons III, he actually was named Bayle General of the Kingdom of Aragón. As such, he was in control of every royal taxation, intervened in lawsuits, both in cases between civilians and litigations between the different institutions of the royal administration, decided about judiciary seizings and financial compensations in case of manslaughter, surveilled the maintenance and restoration of the royal castles and fortresses, presided over the adquisition and storage of supplies, supervised the royal custom service at the frontier with the kingdom of Navarra. He also overlooked the royal fundraising and the levy of armament, horses and men for the military campaigns of the different Kings he served , whom he accompanied in the the constant travels through the different territories of the crown, that is, Aragón, Catalonia and Valencia, to which they were politically obliged to.

By order of, or with the approval of Moshe de Portella, the royal chancellery ruled over the economic activities in the Kingdom, or issued decrees related to judiciary, military and even diplomatic matters. With the time, he accumulated such power and influence that, in 1286, the aragonese aristocracy, reunited in parliament, demanded from the King the destitution of Moshe de Portella, formally because he was a jew. But the King didn´t renounce to his services , and Moshe de Portella continued exercising his same same functions. Pro forma, the only title he would bear from this moment on would be "our loyal (servant)" or " the loyal (servant) of our House".

In private matters, his activity as grain-broker and banker is well documented. As a financier, he lent important sums to King Peter III, as well as to Peter´s heir, Alfons III,

In all his public and private activities, Moshe de Portella could always count on the inconditional support of his four brothers. They also appear in many documents filling offices different from Moshe´s ones.
Curiously, no document has been found showing any of Moshe´s sons -Isaac, Abraham or Salomó- having any public responsability. This fact doesn´t necessarily mean the decline of the Portella family. At the time when the generation of Moshe´s sons took over, it was rather exceptional for an aragonese jew to fill a public office.

Moshe de Portella died in the city of Tarazona in 1293