Yahia Ben Bakr

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Yahia Ben Bakr was an important Mozarab (Iberian Christian living under Muslim domination) figure in Medieval Portugal.

Yahia Ben Bakr was of Jewish descent, the son of a Bakr Ben Yahia (not to confuse with Yahia Ben Bakr's son, also called Bakr Ben Yahia) and of relation to or a descendant (possibly a grandson) of Yahia Ben Yahi III, a Sephardi Jew who was entrusted by King Afonso I of Portugal with the post of supervisor of tax collection and was nominated the first Chief-Rabbi of Portugal (at some point, some of Yahia Ben Yahi III's descendants seem to have converted to Christianity).

Yahia Ben Bakr was succeeded in office by his son, Bakr Ben Yahia. Both Ben Bakr and Ben Yahia held political office and executed important construction in the city of Faro. They are credited for constructing the actual city walls, as well as the iron gates around the perimeter of the city. It is during this time that they brought the image of Mary as it is stated in the songs by King Alfonso X of Castile. It is believed that during this period the city adopted the name of Santa Maria do Ocidente (English: Holy Mary of the West), or simply Santa Maria.

Bakr Ben Yahia's son and Yahia Ben Bakr grandson, Aloandro Ben Bekar, Governor of Faro, would see his daughter Madragana become a mistress to king Afonso III of Portugal, and ancestor, amongst many other, of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (daughter of Princess Elizabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen), queen consort of George III of the United Kingdom (and grandmother of Queen Victoria, and the great-great-great-great grandmother of the current Queen of the United Kingdom, Queen Elizabeth II).