Abraham Cresques

Abraham Cresques
A part of the Catalan Atlas by Cresques Abraham and his son Jehuda Cresques
Born	1325 Palma, Majorca
Died	1387
Other names	Eliça, son of Rabbi Abraham
Occupation	cartographer
Known for	Catalan Atlas

Abraham Cresques (Catalan pronunciation: [əβɾəˈam ˈkɾeskəs], 1325–1387), whose real name was Cresques (son of) Abraham, was a 14th-century Jewish cartographer from Palma, Majorca (then part of the Crown of Aragon). In collaboration with his son, Jehuda Cresques, Cresques is credited with the authorship of the celebrated Catalan Atlas of 1375.

A Majorcan Jew, Cresques was a master map-maker and builder of clocks, compasses, and other nautical instruments. He was a leading member of the Majorcan cartographic school.

Abraham Cresques's real name was Eliça (a.k.a. Cresques) son of Rabbi Abraham, son of Rabbi Benaviste, son of Rabbi Eliça. Eliça being the name he would have received when he came of age but known as Cresques of Abraham (Cresques being his personal name, Eliça his religious name, Abraham his patronym), but the order is often flipped in most subsequent literature. His son, Jehuda Cresques, was also a notable cartographer.

In 1375, Cresques and his son Jehuda received an assignment from Prince John of Aragon (the future John I of Aragon) to make a set of nautical charts which would go beyond the normal geographic range of contemporary portolan charts to cover the East and the West, and everything that, from the Strait [of Gibraltar] leads to the West. For this job, Cresques and Jehuda would be paid 150 Aragonese golden florins, and 60 Mallorcan pounds, respectively, as it is stated in 14th-century documents from the Prince himself and his father Peter IV of Aragon. Prince John intended to present the chart to his cousin Charles (later to be Charles VI, King of France) as a gift. In that year 1375 Cresques and Jehuda drew the six charts that composed the Catalan Atlas at their house in the Jewish quarter of Palma.