Phinehas ha-Levi, author of secular Hebrew poems, was probably born in Catalonia, but spent some time in Toledo in the second half of the thirteenth century. He has been identified in different ways, but all are difficult to demonstrate, and we cannot be very sure about any detail of his life. He is known because of his relationship with Ṭodros ben Judah ha-Levi Abulafia, the courtier of Alfonso the Sage (el Sabio), who apparently hosted him in his home. We learn from Ṭodros’s dīwān that the two poets were friends but competed to win the favor of the illustrious courtier Don Isaac ben Zadok. …