Gedaliah ibn Yahya גדליה אבן יחיא

Born in Imola, he studied in Ferrara, lived in Rovigo until 5322, briefly in Salonika, returned to Imola in 5327, was expelled from there and lived in Pesaro and Ferrara until 5335.

The result of his labour is Shalshelet HaKabbalah, published in Venice in 5347, the year of his death. The book covers the history and genealogy of the Jews from Moses to his own time, and beyond that the order of the heavenly bodies, the creation of the world, the soul, and the history of the peoples among whom the Jews lived.

Later scholars found errors in the book and explained them by how he lived: without his own library, on the move, from memory and from other men's copies. That does not cancel the book's place in Jewish historiography—but it must be read knowing this.