Joseph ben Joshua ben Meïr ha-Kohen (1496–1575/80) was a Jewish physician, historian and Renaissance scholar.
Joseph's paternal family originally lived at Cuenca, Castile. His mother, Dolca, originated from Aragon. When the Jews were expelled from Spain the family settled at Avignon, where Joseph was born. At the age of five Joseph left Avignon with his parents and went to Genoa, where they remained until 1516. Driven from that city, they went to Novi, but returned to Genoa in 1538, where Joseph practiced medicine for twelve years. On June 3, 1550, he and all his coreligionists were driven from Genoa as a consequence of the rivalry of the non-Jewish physicians. Joseph then settled at Voltaggio, at the request of the citizens of that small town, practicing there until 1567. When the Jews were driven out of the territory of Genoa, he went to Castelletto (Montferrat), where he was very well received. In 1571 he was again established at Genoa, where he died.
Joseph ha-Kohen had three sons (Joshua, Isaac, Judah) and two daughters. As for his brother Todros, he has tentatively been identified by Robert Bonfil with Ludovico Carretto, who is known to have converted from Judaism. Joseph ha-Kohen was highly regarded as a historian and physician. One of his chief concerns was also the release of the many Jewish captives taken by the vessels of the Italian republics and by the Corsairs; as in 1532, when Andrea Doria captured many Jews on taking Coron, Patras, and Zante; in 1535, when the emperor Charles V took Tunis; in 1542, when the galleys of had imprisoned a number of Jews.
Joseph ha-Kohen is considered one of the most significant 16th century Jewish historians and Renaissance scholars. He was cited and highly regarded by later historians such as Jacques Basnage. He undoubtedly tried to be a careful historian. He gathered his facts from all possible sources, made notes, kept registers, and conducted a wide correspondence. He added continually to the first redaction of his works, carefully dating each one. Of his second chronicle he thus made at least four updated editions. Having lived in Italy from his childhood and become acquainted with persons prominent politically, he is a valuable source for the history of his time; concerning many events, he had examined witnesses. He also mentions a number of important facts ignored by other historians. He is less accurate in the treatment of ancient history, for which he often was obliged to consult untrustworthy sources.
He has two prominent works in the world of Hebrew literature. His first chronicle, Dibre ha-Yamim le-Malke Zarfat we-Beit Otoman ha-Tugar (Chronicles of the Kings of France and Ottoman the Turk), is a history of the world, in the form of annals, in which he outlines the conflict between Asia and Europe, between Islam and Christianity, the protagonist for Islam being the mighty Turkish empire, and for Christianity, France. He connects this to European history, beginning with the downfall of the Roman empire. He also includes narratives of persecutions of Jews during the first and second crusades, copied from eye-witness reports available to him in manuscript. The work was printed in 1554 at Venice but later put on index (Amnon Raz-Krakotzkin). It was reprinted in Amsterdam in 1733. Parts were translated into German and French; the entire work was issued in English, but badly translated, by . He continued, however, the work on it, as is evident from autographs preserved in British Library.
His second chronicle, Emek Ha-Bakha (Vale of Tears), was started in 1558 and is considered an important historical work. The name comes from Psalm 84, and it is a history of Jewish martyrdom. It consisted of the narrative of Jewish persecution that extracted from and built on the Jewish part of his earlier world histories, and inspired Salo Baron's idea of the "lachrymose" conception of Jewish history. It incorporates material from Samuel Usque's Consolaçam as Tribulaçoens de Ysrael (1557) and the chronicle of Abraham ibn Daud. Its set purpose in the introduction to the book was to serve as reading on the fast of 9 Av, a mournful holiday event in Judaism. There he dwells upon the sorrows and sufferings the Jews endured in various countries in the course of centuries. The book, which is a martyrology from beginning to end, closes with the 24th of Tammuz, 5335 AM (1575 CE). Yerushalmi notes that it begins in the post-biblical era. Bonfil notes that Joseph ha-Kohen's historiography is specifically shaped by the Jewish expulsion from Spain that Joseph ha-Kohen personally experienced. Joseph ha-Kohen and Usque are sources for early documentation of Jewish blood libels. He was a contemporary of the Italian-Jewish geographer Abraham Farissol, a scribe from Avignon who worked for Judah Messer Leon, and drew upon his work. Joseph ha-Kohen incorporates earlier medieval chronicles almost verbatim.
Joseph ha-Kohen began the first version of this work in 1558, at Voltaggio, and concluded it, in its initial form, toward the end of 1563. It was finally carried by the author down to 1575. It circulated in Italy in manuscript and was edited for the first time by Samuel David Luzzatto and published in 1852 by Max Letteris. In 1858 M. Wiener published a German translation. A modern text-critical edition, edited by Karin Almbladh, appeared in 1981.
Joseph ha-Kohen wrote few other works that had not been printed. Some of them are adaptations to Hebrew of books wrriten in Latin, Spanish, and probably also Italian.