Bakr Ben Yahia (born in the 9th century) was an important

Marrano Marranos were Spanish and Portuguese Jews living in the Iberian Peninsula who converted or were Forced conversion#Spanish Inquisition, forced to convert to Christianity during the Middle Ages, but continued to Crypto-Judaism, practice Judaism i ...

( Iberian

crypto-Jew Crypto-Judaism is the secret adherence to Judaism while publicly professing to be of another faith; practitioners are referred to as "crypto-Jews" (origin from Greek ''kryptos'' – , 'hidden'). The term is especially applied historically to Sp ...

living as a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

) figure in

Gharb al-Andalus Gharb al-Andalus ( ar, غرب الأندلس, trans. ''gharb al-ʼandalus''; "west of al-Andalus"), or just al-Gharb ( ar, الغرب, trans. ''al-gharb''; "the west"), was the name given by the Muslims of Iberia to the region of southern mode ...

, modern-day

Algarve The Algarve (, , ; from ) is the southernmost NUTS II region of continental Portugal. It has an area of with 467,495 permanent inhabitants and incorporates 16 municipalities ( ''concelhos'' or ''municípios'' in Portuguese). The region has it ...

in Portugal. Bakr Ben Yahia was the son of

Yahia Ben Bakr Yahia Ben Bakr (born in the 9th century) was an important Mozarab (Iberian Peninsula, Iberian Christians, Christian or, in some instances, a Christianized Iberian Jew, living under Muslim domination) figure in the al-Gharb al-Andalus. He was a membe ...

. Both Ben Bakr and Ben Yahia held political office and executed important construction in Faro. Bakr Ben Yahia is credited with constructing the walls, as well as the iron gates around the perimeter of Faro. It is during this time that he brought the image of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

as it would be stated much later in the songs by King

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

(1221 – 1284), and the settlement became known as Santa Maria (a former name of modern Faro).História de Faro (montejunto.net) "Ao revoltoso Yahia Ben Bakr sucede seu filho Bakr Ben Yahia, que executa importantes melhoramentos na cidade. Constroem-se as actuais muralhas, guarnecidas por portas em chapa de ferro, aumentando-se o perímetro da Vila-a-Dentro. Terá sido nesta altura colocada entre as ameias a imagem de Santa Maria, como nos canta Afonso X de Castela, o Rei Sábio. É de crer que neste período a cidade tenha adoptado o nome de Santa Maria do Ocidente ou simplesmente Santa Maria Xanta Maria." http://www.montejunto.net/historia-de-faro

References

Portuguese Roman Catholics Converts to Roman Catholicism from Judaism People from Faro, Portugal 9th-century Portuguese people Medieval Portuguese Jews 9th-century Jews {{Portugal-bio-stub