The Many Faces of the Rylands’ Jewish Manuscripts

This collection of medical texts by the Christian physician Luis Lobera de Ávila was written in the Castilian Spanish language but in Hebrew letters. It was copied from the 1542 editions of Lobera’s works, which were printed in the Latin alphabet. The choice of language is a bit of a mystery. First, Sephardi (Spanish) Jews usually used their own Spanish dialect called Ladino (Judeo-Spanish). Second, Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492, and had no direct contact with the standard Castilian language anymore.

Could it have been commissioned by a Jewish doctor who read Spanish and wished to consult the work in the original language, but was more comfortable with the Hebrew alphabet? 

Medical and magical prescriptions