Makhir of Narbonne

Makhir ben Yehudah Zakkai of Narbonne or Makhir ben Habibai of Narbonne or Natronai ben Habibi (725–765 or 793) was a rabbi and scholar and, later, the supposed leader of the Jews of Narbonne, Septimania (now Occitania, the region of France bordering the Mediterranean Sea).

Writings by Abraham ibn Daud According to a tradition preserved by Abraham ibn Daud in his Sefer ha-Qabbalah, written about 1161, Makhir was a descendant of the Davidic line. Ibn Daud wrote:

Whether it is a legend or not, the relation between Makhir and Charles 'Charlemagne' is legendary, the more famous king substituting for his father Pepin the Short, first Carolingian king of the Franks, who in order to enlist the Jews of Narbonne in his efforts to keep the Umayyad Caliphate at bay, granted wide-ranging powers in return for the surrender of Moorish Narbonne to him in 759. The Chronicle of Aniane and the Chronicle of Moissac both attribute this action to the Goth leaders of Narbonne, rising up and massacring the Muslim garrison. Pepin, with his sons Carloman and Charles 'Charlemagne', redeemed this pledge in 768, granting to Makhir and his heirs extensive lands, an act that called forth an unavailing protest from Pope Stephen III. In 791 Charlemagne confirmed the status of the Jewish Principate and made the title of Nasi permanent.

The Makhir family enjoyed many privileges for centuries, and its members bore the title of nasi. Benjamin of Tudela, who visited Narbonne in 1165, speaks of the exalted position occupied by the descendants of Makhir, and the "Royal Letters" of 1364 also record the existence of a rex Iudaeorum (King of the Jews) at Narbonne. The place of residence of the Makhir family at Narbonne was designated in official documents as "Cortada Regis Judæorum".

Bnei Makhir and Carolingian dynasty

Arthur Zuckerman maintains that Makhir was identical with Natronai ben Habibi, an exilarch who was deposed and exiled from Lower Mesopotamia in a dispute between two branches of the Bostanai family in the late eighth century. a negative opinion shared by other scholars, while the broader suggestions of a Jewish principality in Occitano-Romance-speaking regions (now southern France) have likewise been disputed. Zuckerman's use of sources and analytical approach has also been criticized.