Ri haZaken—Rabbeinu Yitzchak of Dampierre רבנו יצחק הזקן
head of the Tosafists after Rabbeinu Tam
Rabbi Yitzchak ben Shmuel (d. c. 1189) was Rabbeinu Tam's nephew and the Rashbam's grandson on his mother's side; after his uncle's death he became head of the school of the Tosafot and led it from Dampierre. It was in his study house that the Tosafot took the form in which they are printed: not marginal notes but an analysis that collides every place in the Talmud where one matter is spoken of.
The tradition of the sixty students, each with his tractate, is transmitted by the Tosafists of the next generation; in it one hears how a school worked before printing—memory was held in common.
His students were Rabbi Shimshon of Sens, the Baal haTerumah and Rabbi Yitzchak ben Avraham; through them the school of France reached Spain and Ashkenaz, and the Tosafot reached every printed page of the Talmud.
The sources give no exact years of life; the window of activity is set by generation, following Aharon Hyman and the lists of Seder haDorot.
On the timeline
Related
Sources
Rishonim
- Tosafot, passim — «the Ri» as the school's principal voice
- Sefer haYashar of Rabbeinu Tam and the lists of the Tosafists — the kinship and the succession of the headship
Basis: documents and evidence.