The Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834

The 'traditional' view of the workhouse system.

With regard to the authorship of the Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, which is usually attributed to Edwin Chadwick (1800-1890), the Economist (vol. 22, p. 770, 18 June 1864) stated:

'It was Mr. Senior who drew up the report which produced such a wonderous effect upon the public mind: it was Mr. Senior principally who, when the Ministers shrank aghast from the completeness and consistently logical principle of the measure recommended - as is the wont of Ministers to do - gradually screwed up their courage to the sticking point, and by his pertinacity and persuasiveness succeeded at once in convincing their loose understandings and encouraging their timid nerves. [...] It rarely falls to the lot of any individual to do so much permanent good to his country by the labours of a whole life as Mr. Senior effected on this occasion by the well-directed exertions of a few brief years.'

Nassau William Senior stated that the intention of the Act was 'to raise the labouring classes, that is to say, the bulk of the community, from the idleness, improvidence, and degradation, into which the ill-administration of the laws for their relief has thrust them. [...] The Act aims at affecting these objects, not by denying relief, not by affecting in the slightest degree the grand principle of the poor laws, that no man, whatever be his misconduct, shall want the means of subsistence, but by providing an administration by which that subsistence shall be given in a way which is favourable, instead of destructive to the welfare of society...'

Southwell Workhouse, Nottinghamshire. Rather nicer than some modern sink estates perhaps. This building is now owned by the National Trust and is open to the public. One of the attractions is that you can play 'The Master's Punishment' game.

The modern view of the workhouse system is perhaps typified by the following quote:

'The purpose of the workhouse was to discourage the poor from claiming poor relief. It was intended to "dis-pauperise" districts: that is, to make conditions so harsh and uncompromising in the institutions that people would prefer to try to manage outside, rather than enter them.'

This statement merely begs the question as to whether it would have been a good idea to encourage the poor to claim poor relief, that is to have made conditions inside the workhouse so much better than those outside that it caused a rush of people into the workhouse to live at the taxpayers' expense. The naivety of such a policy should be obvious and it would hardly have been fair to those ordinary working families who remained outside who would have had to pay taxes to support those in the workhouse. Conditions in the workhouses were strict by modern standards, sometimes perhaps unnecessarily harsh (and there were individual cases of abuse as well, though not of systematic corruption) but if the workhouse system had not been in place then thousands of people would have starved to death in the streets.

On the other hand the same website does state:

'On the positive side the workhouse provided better physical accommodation than most agricultural labourers' cottages, the workhouse diet contained about 33% more in solid food than most agricultural labourers would have, the food was solid if unappealing and boring, children in the workhouse were provided with a free education and were found work and inmates were provided with free health care.'

Mealtime in a workhouse. How did they get there?

Furthermore, and as an illustration of how historical facts can be misused, many writers on the subject* emphasize the number of elderly people in workhouses, insinuating, if not directly stating, that this was an especially cruel and oppressive aspect of the system. But answer one simple question: 'Given that no-one was legally obliged to enter a workhouse, who put these elderly people in the workhouse?' Answer? It was often their children, either directly or through failure to support them. The workhouses, which had originally been intended mainly for the able-bodied poor, were quickly used as a dumping ground for the elderly by their own families. They were also used as a dumping ground for children (even babies), particularly the disabled and mentally handicapped, and by 1839 almost half the workhouse population were children. In this way the workhouse system became, by default, the first national service providing care for the elderly, infirm, disabled, afflicted and abandoned (both young and old), in other words the first national health service.

*For an example see here (see 'Introduction') - 'By the 1850s, the majority of those forced into the workhouse were not the work-shy, but the old, the infirm, the orphaned, unmarried mothers, and the physically or mentally ill.' The truth is that a). they weren't forced, b). many of the elderly and disabled were in the workhouse because they had been abandoned by their own families and c). it is fortunate that someone was able to provide them with food, shelter and medical care.

One of the practical points to consider in relation to the subject of workhouse discipline is that when you have hundreds of people living under one roof who have, not necessarily through any fault of their own, arrived starving, dirty, verminous and possibly diseased (even contagious), who are mostly uneducated and some of whom are drunks, thieves, petty criminals or vagabonds, and possibly violent, then discipline is absolutely essential in order to prevent the whole place from descending into chaos. In many cases, the separation of families was probably a necessary precaution against abuse but, even so, the workhouse rules did in fact allow children to stay with their mothers or fathers.

In short, it is clear that Nassau William Senior had more common sense, greater moral courage, a stronger sense of justice and a sounder judgement of the true interests of the people than many modern politicians who (largely from motives of self-preservation and political bribery) support the payment of certain state benefits at a level which has resulted in large numbers of people choosing to 'live off state benefits as a career option' - the precise problem that Nassau William Senior sought to avoid. This not only creates a dependency culture in the recipients which undermines the moral foundations of society (and which has its worst effects on the recipients themselves and, even more sadly, on their children) but also leads to a situation where, for instance, people can jump to the top of council house waiting lists (ahead of others) as a reward for their own fecklessness or immorality. Once started, this vicious circle of dependency and moral decline is very difficult to stop, as we have found to our cost. Nassau William Senior knew better and had the courage to say so.

The gross historical distortions concerning the workhouse system that are peddled as truth, particularly in our schools, simply perpetuate misunderstanding and alienation, but it is those who are left ignorant and alienated (usually in order to suit someone else's political agenda) who suffer in the long run. There will be cases of injustice, abuse and simple failure in any system and it is easy to highlight a selection of them in order to give a highly misleading impression of the whole. This is not just dishonest, it is bad history. The fact remains that the system succeeded in providing help for most of the people who needed it for most of the time; it undoubtedly saved many lives.

Nobody can pretend that conditions for the working classes in Victorian Britain were anything other than hard for most (and indeed desperate for some) or that exploitation did not take place, but we should remember that these problems were largely structural; they were simply too big to be solved overnight and could only be overcome gradually by the steady exertions of a large number of right-thinking people from all classes, together with advances in science and technology. They got there in the end but, in the meantime, the poor and vulnerable needed a safety net (often as a result of abandonment by their own families); that safety net was the workhouse system and it was Nassau William Senior who put it there. Senior himself wrote in his 'Biographical Sketches' (p. 415):

'The ingratitude of mankind towards their benefactors has long been notorious. It is not indeed universal... But in general it will be found that those whose merits have been promptly and adequately recognised, have been men who have participated in the opinions and passions of those around them. They have been statesmen or soldiers or demagogues, whose objects have been the same as their contemporaries and who have differed from them only in perceiving more clearly or employing more unscrupulously the readiest means of attaining them. Men of a higher moral and intellectual character - men who are unaffected by the prejudice of their age and country - who refuse to aid in gratifying irrational desires or in maintaining irrational opinions - must not expect power or even popularity. This is particularly the case where the services rendered have been those rather of a teacher than a legislator, where they have consisted in exposing fallacies, softening prejudices, stigmatising selfishness, and preparing in one generation the way for measures which are to be adopted by another.'

The workhouse infirmaries (while they may have sometimes been rudimentary at first, were always under the supervision of a qualified medical practitioner and did at least guarantee medical attention to the poor) constituted the first national system of healthcare for the poor and needy. Over time many of them developed into substantial hospitals, often a separate building or group of buildings from the workhouse itself. The workhouse infirmaries were taken over by their local authorities as a result of the Local Government Act of 1929 and from this network was formed, on 5 July 1948, the National Health Service (NHS), which is now the largest employer in the country (in fact, the second largest in the world) and which provides free healthcare to all. The development of public healthcare in the UK resulted from the efforts of many people over a long period but Nassau William Senior undoubtedly helped to lay the foundations of that service. What is a falsehood is the idea peddled by left-wing politicians that the then Labour Government somehow 'invented' the National Health Service in 1948; nothing could be further from the truth. See here for more information on workhouse infirmaries.

Life in the workhouse (1901).

The Senior family were originally Spanish Jews (Sephardim), most of whom converted to Catholicism when the Jews were expelled from Spain in 1492; many converted back again at a later date. The leading member of the family at that time was Don* Abraham Senior** of Segovia, Castile (b 1410/12 d 1493), who rose to become probably the wealthiest and most powerful Jew in Spanish history. His courtly appearance and manner, as well as his diplomatic and financial skills***, made him a great favourite of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile and he played an important role in arranging their marriage, which led to the union of the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile****. Don Abraham also effected a reconciliation between Isabella and her brother, Henry IV, which allowed Isabella to succeed to the throne of Castile. As a financier, tax farmer and tax collector, Don Abraham also played an important role in funding and supplying the armies that drove the Moors from Spain, helping Ferdinand and Isabella to bring to a successful conclusion the 800 year long Reconquista, the crusade against the Moors. Overall, it is clear that he played a significant role in the formation of modern Spain as well as, it appears, the discovery of the New World, as described below, and this undoubtedly makes him one of the most significant figures in 15th century Europe. Don Abraham was appointed Court Rabbi and supreme magistrate of the Jews in 1477 and Treasurer of the Santa Hermandad ('Holy Brotherhood'), a Catholic militia, in 1488. As supreme magistrate he held judicial authority over all the Jews of Castile including, it appears, the right to try capital crimes. In 1492 Don Abraham was appointed Regidor of Segovia as a reward for his services to the Crown. His appointment as Court Rabbi made him the chief representative of the Jews in Spain and senior Rabbi, which some considered unsuitable for someone without the proper religious qualifications; his enemies gave him the nickname 'Sonei Or' or 'Hater of Light'. Interestingly, Don Abraham's power was such that on one occasion even Torquemada, the Inquistor-General, had to plead with Don Abraham concerning taxes in Segovia and in 1492 Don Abraham successfully sued the Inquisition to recover property. Don Abraham died in 1493 and was apparently buried at the Monastery of Santa María del Parral, Segovia.

*The title of 'Don' was accorded to certain prominent Jews in Spain and Portugal at the time; it is not a later invention. See Ray, Jonathan, 'The Sephardic Frontier', p. 117 and 127 for examples, including a 1373 royal confirmation of Ferdinand I of Portugal.

**I have seen Don Abraham Senior referred to as Abraham de Guadalajara, the city north-east of Madrid where he was apparently born. This name implies that he did not have a surname, which is a mystery.

***'Reading a recent attempt to trace [Don Abraham's] career based on surviving documentation, one cannot but associate him with the typical image of the Renaissance courtier.' ('Spain and the Jews', p. 68).

****'On his arrival in Toledo, in accordance with a pre-arranged plan, the young prince [Ferdinand] went first to Senior's house, and in the evening was escorted by his host to the princess [Isabella].' So it appears that Don Abraham actually introduced the couple. See 'Nassau W. Senior 1790-1864', S. Leon Levy, David & Charles, Newton Abbot, 1970, p. 200, referring to 'Kayserling, M., 'Christopher Columbus', 1907, p. 23.

Monastery of Santa María del Parral, Segovia

The Moorish King, Boabdil, surrenders Granada, the last stronghold of the Moors in Spain, to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492. Painting by F. Padilla.

The discovery of the New World. A biographer of Columbus, John Boyd Thatcher, has written that 'the triumph of Columbus was the triumph of the Converso Luis de Santangel, visionary and champion of the perennial lost cause of history, the cause of the Jews.' Other writers (notably Salvador de Madariaga and Simon Wiesenthal) have speculated that the longings of the Conversos who supported Columbus may have run parallel to the dreams of the discoverer himself, namely, an obsessive dream to find a refuge for the Jews in the lands that he hoped to find across the Atlantic. This refuge is of course the United States, whose military technology now protects Israel. It was a Sephardic Jew, Emma Lazarus (1849-1887), who, in 1883, wrote the famous poem now engraved on the Statue of Liberty, 'The New Colossus':

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to be free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Don Abraham was apparently one of a small group of leading Jews who financed Christopher Columbus's voyage to America. Stephen Birmingham, in his book 'The Grandees' states (p. 45), with regard to Columbus' expedition, that 'when still more money was needed, and when Isabella was on the point of abandoning the project for lack of funds, Abravanel turned to other Jewish bankers, including Luis de Santangel [actually a Converso, that is a Jew who had converted to Catholicism or a descendant of such], Gabriel Sanchez, and Abraham Senior, who had played such an important role in bringing Isabella and Ferdinand to the altar. It was because of these bankers that the expedition was able to leave Spain under a Spanish flag and, as a result of their part in the undertaking, Columbus' first word back to Spain about his discovery was addressed not to the Queen - which would have been courteous - but to Senores Santangel, Sanchez and Senior, his bankers, which was practical [this letter from Columbus of 1493 is actually addressed to Santangel only but Santangel was apparently 'lead lender' for his friends]. As a result of these activities, Professor H. P. Adams of John Hopkins [John Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland] has commented: "Not jewels, but Jews, were the real financial basis of the first expedition of Columbus".' Don Abraham met Columbus in Malaga in August 1487 ('Christopher Columbus', M. Kayserling, 1907, p. 42, 52-55).

Don Abraham converted to Catholicism in 1492 when the Jews were expelled from Spain and took the surname 'Coronel'. His conversion stemmed partly from the fact that he was an old man in his 80s and partly from personal pressure exerted by the King and Queen, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, who (along with Cardinal Mendoza and the Papal Nuncio) subsequently acted as sponsors at his baptism. It has been said that the Catholic monarchs threatened reprisals against all the Jews if Don Abraham did not convert, no doubt hoping that the conversion of such an important figure would encourage others to follow suit. As Elijah Capsali (c. 1483-1555) wrote: 'Even Don Abram Seneor and his [son]-in-law, Meir Melamed, among the greatest Jews in Spain, were also baptized, willingly or unwillingly, for I have heard it rumored that Queen Isabella had sworn that if Don Abram did not convert, she would wipe out all the communities, and that Don Abram did what he did in order to save the Jews, but not from his own heart. His [son]-in-law also followed him, because it was important for the queen to have the two convert, by whatever means necessary and that they continue to serve her until the day of her death. And on that day that these two were converted, their children and families followed suit, and they worshipped other gods. Then King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella appointed the sons of Don Abram Seneor as judges and military officers, and they became prominent throughout Spain, being given lands over which they ruled, and all this for changing their religion.'

'The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain' painted in 1889 by Emilio Sala Frances, Museo de Bellas Artes de Granada.

A representative of the Jews pleads for the reversal of the decree of expulsion of 1492. The figure in the foreground is either Don Isaac Abravanel or Don Abraham Senior. The figure gesturing behind the table must be Torquemada; presumably this is the point at which Torquemada said that accepting Jewish gold would be like Judas accepting the 30 pieces of silver.

Don Abraham steered a difficult course between serving the Crown and protecting the interests of his fellow Jews. Behind the scenes he seems to have tried to minimize their suffering during a very difficult period. In Segovia in 1485 he intervened to prevent the rabble-rousing activities of Antonio de la Pena, a Dominican monk, against the 'Jewish wolves' who should be 'driven away by fire'; previously, in other Spanish cities, such activities had caused immense suffering amongst the Jews, including hundreds of deaths. In 1486 he interceded with the King to prevent the expulsion of the Jews from Valmaseda. In 1489 he paid, largely from his own fortune, the ransoms of 450 Jews captured at the fall of Malaga, mainly women who would otherwise have been sold into slavery*. In 1492 he strenuously opposed the decree of expulsion and with Don Isaac Abravanel tried to persuade the Catholic monarchs to rescind it, offering a vast bribe from his own fortune.

*See 'The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain', p. 431. 'He [Don Abraham] and Rabbi Meir Melamed [his son-in-law] bound themselves to pay the remainder of the ransom in instalments.' It was not Don Isaac Abravanel who paid the ransom, as is stated in the Jewish Encylopedia (Vol. 11, p. 500). See also Kayserling, M., 'Geschichte der Juden in Portugal', 1867, p. 101.

(Note that the Catholic Encyclopedia claims that it was the Catholic Church that was responsible for obtaining backing for Columbus' voyage and that it was church money that was actually used, having been merely collected by Santangel. However, if this was the case then why was Columbus' first letter describing the discovery of the New World addressed to Santangel (alone) and signed 'At your orders'? This would seem rather odd if Santangel had been a mere tax collector. Surely Columbus would have written either to the King and Queen or to his backers in the Catholic hierarchy? Note that Cardinal Mendoza, stated in the Catholic Encylopedia to have been one of Columbus' principal backers, had a Jewish grandmother.)

Was Don Abraham the last Exilarch?

Baghdad under the Caliphate: The heralds announce the arrival of the Exilarch on a visit to the Caliph with the words "Make way for our Lord, the Son of David." ("Amilu tarik la Saidna ben Daud."), as referred to by Benjamin of Tudela in his 'Book of Travels' (1173). The Exilarch is presumably the bearded figure (facing to the right) below the leftmost trumpet. The Caliph is presumably sitting on the bench in the background, with his harem on the left.

As Professor Haim Beinart has stated in 'The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain' (p. 420), Don Abraham Senior was referred to in a letter of 1487 from the Jews of Castile to the Jews of Rome and Lombardy as 'the Exilarch who is over us'. 'Exilarch' means 'Prince of the Captivity' or 'Head of the Exile' (that is, de jure King of the Jews in exile), a title dating from the Babylonian Exile of 597-538 BC which appears to have survived in Mesopotamia until Tamerlane the Great sacked Baghdad in 1401. The title was hereditary in and exclusive to the House of David (see II Kings xxv. 27 and I Chronicles iii. 17 et seq.) but was elective amongst the immediate male members of that family and subject to rabbinic approval. Given the fact that the title appears never to have been accorded to (or used to describe) anyone not acknowledged by rabbinic authorities to be of Davidic descent, and that the misuse of such a title would have been most unlikely, it is reasonable to infer that Don Abraham was descended from one of those branches of the House of David that have been traced to Spain (see the Jewish Encylopedia).

A possible line of descent is from Abraham 'Nasi' ('Nasi' means 'Prince of the House of David'), son of Hiyya Ha-Nasi, who was born in Spain, son of David (d 1092), 39th Exilarch of the 3rd dynasty*, who temporarily fled to Spain in 1040 when his father, Hezekiah, 38th Exilarch, was imprisoned (he was later executed in 1058) by the Caliph of Baghdad. Hezekiah was 117th Exilarch in succession to Jeconiah (d 559 BC), 1st Exilarch and penultimate King of Judah of the House of David, who, in 597 BC, was taken by Nebuchadnezzar as a captive to Babylon. Alternative possible lines of descent are from Nissim, 69th Exilarch, who was deposed in 1295 and went to Spain, and Issac Alfasi (d 1103), descended from Azariah, 34th Exilarch, who fled to Spain in 1088. Note that the surname 'Senior' is derived from the Spanish 'senor', that is 'sire' or 'lord', which may, in turn, be a translation of 'Nasi'; thus, Abraham Senior would mean Abraham 'Senor' (in fact the name was often spelled 'Senor'), that is Abraham 'Nasi', that is Abraham the Prince [of the House of David] - but this is speculation. 'Coronel', the surname adopted by the Senior family in 1492, means 'coronet' (used today to denote the rank of 'colonel'). It appears ('Spain and the Jews', p. 68) that Don Abraham signed his name simply 'Abraham', without a surname, which was extremely unusual, if not unique, and which might indicate that 'Senior' was not a surname but a title or nickname derived from a title or even just a nickname.

Don Abraham's signature on a letter to the Constable of Castile. From 'The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain', p. 500.

Sir Iain Moncreiffe of that Ilk (1919-1985), Albany Herald of Arms (Court of the Lord Lyon), writing in 'Books & Bookmen', February-March 1976, wrote: 'What's already known is that the Jews in exile in Asia were ruled under the Persian and later the Arab empires by 'Princes of the Captivity' called 'Exilarchs', with a genealogy claiming descent by at least the second century from the Royal House of David, probably with justification because it was based on their acceptance.' (Quoted from 'Lord of the Dance', London, 1986, Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd, p. 155).

The fact that Don Abraham Senior appears to have had no surname; the fact that he was, apparently, born in Guadalajara, where the palace of the Dukes of Infantado, heads of the Mendoza family, is situated; the fact that he had close links with the Mendoza family (including the fact that his grand-daughter, Maria Coronel, married Juan Bravo (x 1521), a scion of that family); the fact that he was clearly close to Cardinal Mendoza, who acted as one of the sponsors at his baptism in 1492; the fact that in 1492 he adopted the name Coronel, apparently associated (according to Beinart, 'The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain', p. 461) with the Guzman family, Dukes of Medina-Sidonia, who were very closely related to the Mendoza family, indicate that there is a possibility that Don Abraham Senior may actually have been an illegitimate child of a member of either the Mendoza or Guzman families by a Jewish woman. Such liaisons were not unkown, even amongst the royal family I understand. Such a parentage would not have affected his Jewishness (in the eyes of Jewish people - although he could not, presumably, have been Exilarch in this case) since that comes through the mother, but it may make some sense of the unanswered questions surrounding Don Abraham, such as 'Why don't we know the name of his father?' Given that Don Abraham took the name Fernan Perez Coronel in 1492, I wonder whether Don Abraham's father might have been Fernan Perez de Guzman (d 1460)*, son of Pedro Suarez de Toledo and Leonor de Guzman, and second cousin of Íñigo López de Mendoza, Marquis of Santillana (1398-1458). See Nader, Helen, 'The Mendoza Family in the Spanish Renaissance 1350-1550', p. xv). On the other hand, it may be that Don Abraham's father was a Jew who simply worked for one of these families in a trusted position, but that would leave unanswered the question of why Don Abraham was described as 'Exilarch'; it is such a positive description (i.e. its meaning is quite specific) that it is hard to believe that it would be used in a negligent fashion.

*Is this the great Spanish poet? (Search for Fernán Pérez de Guzmán)

The Palace of Infantado, Guadalajara, which dates from about 1480 and replaced an earlier building.

A different translation of the same letter of 1487 appears in 'Spain and the Jews' edited by Elie Kedourie (p. 70) and refers to 'the staff from Judah that is our Exilarch' but then explains the use of the word Exilarch by saying that its use 'is consistent with an ideology which legitimized institutions by mentioning antecedents', thus implying that the leading Jew in any large community could be referred to as 'Exilarch', something that would seem to be most unlikely. The position of 'court rabbi' was long-established in both Spain and Portugal and some previous holders of the post had exercised similar powers to those exercised by Don Abraham Senior, and yet no previous court rabbi had been called 'Exilarch'. See 'The Sephardic Frontier' by Jonathan Ray.

Apparently 'all descendants of David, even in the female line, are rightly called "Nasi" - "Prince" - to honor their royal descent' ('Shaltiel - One Family's Journey Through History', Moshe Shaltiel-Gracian, p. 134).

King David

The Senior name still seems to carry some weight amongst the Jewish matriarchs of New York, as recorded by Stephen Birmingham in his book 'The Grandees', where he states (p. 39) 'The two principal matchmakers [in relation to the marriage between Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile] were Don Abraham Senior of Castile and Don Selemoh of Aragon, men of such prominence that they had never taken the trouble to be baptized. ("Yes", Aunt Ellie would assure the children when she spoke of these great men, "We are connected, we are connected.")'.

It is worth noting that Don Isaac Abravanel (1437-1508) wrote of the Expulsion that 'In the end there left, without strength, three hundred thousand people on foot, from the youngest to the oldest, all at one time, from all the provinces of the king, to wherever they were able to go. Their King went before them, G-d at their helm. Each pledged himself to G-d anew. Some went to Portugal and Navarre, which are close, but all they found were troubles and darkness, looting, starvation and pestilence. Some traveled through the perilous ocean, and here, too, G-d's hand was against them, and many were seized and sold as slaves, while many others drowned in the sea. Others again, were burned alive, as the ships on which they were traveling were engulfed by flames.' This contemporary source implies that there was a King of the Jews (i.e. an Exilarch) in Spain at that time. I have seen it mentioned elsewhere that this royal line ended up in Portugal.

Juan Bravo (c.1483-1521), hero of Segovia, grandson-in-law of Don Abraham Senior

One of Don Abraham's grand-daughters, Maria Coronel, married the Spanish nobleman Juan Bravo (c.1483-1521), one of the three leaders of the 'first modern revolution', namely the 'War of the Communities' of 1520-1521, which was a revolution against the Emperor, Charles V. They had two children, Andrea Bravo de Mendoza and Juan Bravo de Mendoza. Juan Bravo's mother, Maria de Mendoza, was a daughter of the Count of Monteagudo. Maria de Mednoza was of the same family as Cardinal Mendoza (see above), who my sources state had a Jewish grandmother. It would seem therefore that Juan Bravo was at least partly Jewish and he married the grand-daughter of a Converso Jew, Don Abraham Senior. The Mendoza family are probably the most illustrious in Spain, holding numerous titles, including that of Duke of Infantado (created 1475).

Statue of Juan Bravo in Segovia, Spain - a Jewish revolutionary?

Execution of the Comuneros of Castile (Juan de Padilla, Juan Bravo and Francisco Maldonado) in 1521, by Antonio Gisbert (1834-1901). They were known as the 'Caballeros Comuneros' (literally I guess 'Communist Knights') and they inspired several later revolutions, including, I think, one in Paraguay and another in Colombia.

Before their execution, Juan de Padilla said to Juan Bravo: 'My Lord Bravo, yesterday we fought as knights, today we must die like Christians.' Juan Bravo then asked to be executed first, as he 'did not wish to see the death of such a good knight.'

The Mendoza family intermarried with another well-known Spanish family, that of de la Vega, a name made famous centuries later by 'The Mask of Zorro', thus giving rise to a (sort of) connection between a real 16th century revolutionary, Juan Bravo, and a fictional 19th century one, Don Diego de la Vega or Zorro.

Zorro - 'He could be anywhere.'

Joseph Senior Saraiva, a descendant of Don Abraham Senior as detailed below, died in Barbados in 1694 and was possibly the grandfather of my ancestor, (Moses) Aaron Senior (b 1690/1 d 1736), who was described as a West Indian Jew. (Moses) Aaron Senior also married the widow of an estate owner of Barbados and his children owned estates on Barbados, including one called 'Seniors'.

Tomb of Joseph Senior Saraiva on Barbados.

I have found the following on the Haring-Santen Family Tree, which is based on the following sources: Jose Amador de los Rios, Estudios historicos, politicos y literarios sobre los Judios de Espana, p 445; Jose Amador de los Rios, Historia social, politica y religiosa de los judios de Espana y Portugal, iii, p 279-296; Kayserling, Geschichte der Juden in Portugal, p 83 & 102. See also the pedigree prepared by the Portuguese historian, Luis de Bivar Pimentel Guerra, in 1976.

Don Abraham Senior/Fernando (Fernao) Perez Coronel of Castile (1410/12-1493), lived at Segovia, near Madrid = (1) Dona Violante de Cabrera and (2) Dona Maria Sanches del Rio and had issue an eldest son;
Juan ('Joao') Perez Coronel (d c 1504/5), lived at Segovia, described as a 'Knight of Philip I [King of Spain 1504-6] in France' i.e. ambassador = Cataline del Rio and had issue;
Inigo Lopez Coronel (b c 1490), born in Segovia = Not known and had issue;
Francisco Coronel, lived at Salvaterra, Spain, served in the army of Flanders = Not known and had issue;
Antonio Coronel (b c 1523), moved to Moncao, Portugal in 1588 = (c 1548) Isabel Dias* (b c 1527) and had issue;
Heitor Coronel (b c 1549) = (c 1574) ? Saraiva (b c 1553) and had issue;
Antonio Saraiva Coronel of Hamburg (d 1665) - see below.

*In 1540 a Luis Diaz, 'the Messiah of Setubal', Portugal, a poor, uneducated shoemaker, claimed to be the rightful heir to King David's throne and made messianic claims. His pedigree from ancient Jewish royalty was apparently known from his family's records, who were 'Marranos' or Hispanic Jews. The popularity of Luis Diaz caught the attention of the Spanish Inquisition which arrested and burned him at the stake in 1542. I have no idea whether Luis Diaz and Isabel Dias were related (it is a common name) but they lived coterminously. It is worth noting for further investigation.

Antonio Saraiva Coronel of Hamburg (d 1665), above, was the father of Joseph Senior Saraiva (d 1694 Barbados) (see below) by his wife Ester de Joao Ramires (Studemund Halevi, Hamburg, Biogr. Lexicon der Hamburger Sefarden, pages 790 and 791, which also refers to Antonio's brother, David (b c 1575 Amarante, Portugal d 1650 in Brazil) as a descendant of Don Abraham Senior). David's young son, Joseph, who died on 11 April 1614, was the first person to be buried in the Ouderkerk aan den Amstel cemetery.

Amarante, Portugal - birthplace of David Saraiva Coronel (David Senior) - see above.

Joseph Senior Saraiva of Barbados

a). Hanah Senior, daughter of Joseph Senior Saraiva, died on Barbados on 14 Dec 1679, which proves that Joseph Senior Saraiva married and had at least one child (E M Shilstone, 'Jewish Monumental Inscriptions in Barbados', p 97);
b). a Barbados parish register of 1680 records a Joseph Senior, a Jew, with '3 persons', who are probably a wife and two children or three children; they cannot be slaves because these are listed separately; on the preceding page the column is headed 'children'; wives are listed with their husbands (for non-Jews) but the wives of Jews do not seem to have been included at all (J C Hotten, 'Persons of Quality etc.', p 450);
c). a Jacob Senior sold two slaves on Barbados in 1695 (N D Davis, 'Additional Notes on the History of the Jews of Barbados, Vol 19, p 174);
d). an Aaron Senior witnessed the will of a Tobias Clutterbuck on Barbados on 15 Oct 1695 (Barbados Wills, Vol 2, p 66), so it would seem likely that Jacob Senior and Aaron Senior were the children of Joseph.
e). an Aaron Senior, husband of Sarah Dias, is mentioned in the will of a Sarah Israel Dias (aunt of her namesake) in 1695 (Wilfred S Samuels, A Review of the Jewish Colonists of Barbados in the Year 1680).

Is there a connection?

The Aaron Senior who witnessed the will in 1695 cannot be my ancestor (Moses) Aaron Senior because the latter was (apparently) born in 1690/1 (see SOG Great Card Index) and would therefore have been 4 or 5 years old in 1695. Similarly, the Aaron Senior recorded as the husband of Sarah Dias in 1695 cannot be my ancestor (Moses) Aaron Senior for the same reason - so we have two Aarons. The conjecture must be that my ancestor (Moses) Aaron Senior (d 1736) was the son of the Aaron Senior who was recorded as the husband of Sarah Dias in 1695 and that the latter Aaron Senior was child of Joseph Senior Saraiva (d 1694). Aaron, son of Joseph, would probably have been born in the early 1670s, given that his father appears to have arrived in Barbados in 1669 (Studemund Halevi, Hamburg, Biogr. Lexicon der Hamburger Sefarden, p 801) and probably married shortly afterwards - but it is also possible that Joseph arrived in Barbados with a young family. Thus, Aaron, son of Joseph, would have been about 20 when my (Moses) Aaron was born in 1690/1, which would not be unreasonable.

Note that the book 'Jews of Britain' by P H Emden (published c.1943) states, page 58, footnote 1, 'NASSAU WILLIAM SENIOR, son of the Rev. John Raven Senior, Vicar of Durnford, Wiltshire, and great grandson of Aaron Senior, a West Indian Jew, who had been naturalised in 1723 ...' but there is no indication of the source of this information.

There can be very little doubt that my ancestor, Moses Aaron Senior (1690/1-1736), was a member of the Senior/Senior-Coronel/Coronel family. It is merely a question of identifying to which of the many branches existing at that time he belonged.

Barbados.

Fernao Perez Coronel/Fernao Nunez Coronel

Abraham Senior changed his name to Coronel when he converted to Catholicism in 1492. There appears to be some doubt as to whether Don Abraham changed his name to Fernao Perez Coronel or to Fernao Nunez Coronel. Beinart in his 'Expulsion of the Jews from Spain' takes the view that Don Abraham was in fact the latter and that Fernao Perez Coronel was the new name of Rabbi Meir Melamed (d 1493), Don Abraham's son-in-law, who was the King's Secretary and a member of the Royal Council from 1492. On this basis the descendants of Fernao Perez Coronel were descended from Don Abraham (Fernao Nunez Coronel) via his daughter, whose name was possibly Reina. All other historians and genealogists, including some writing after Beinart, seem to have taken the view that Don Abraham Senior was Fernao Perez Coronel and some state specifically that Beinart's view is wrong.

Many of Don Abraham's descendants seem to have used or reverted to the Senior name when it was safe for them to do so. Like most other Jews at this time they often used a Christian-sounding alias, sometimes more than one. 35 Dutch Jews named Coronel, nearly all from Amsterdam, were killed in the Holocaust, mostly at Auschwitz, including a 10 year old girl called Rebecca (Thursday 23 July 1942) and other children.

The 1492 expulsion of the Jews its aftermath

This branch of the family seems to have moved from Segovia, Spain, to Salvaterra, Galicia, Spain (near the Portuguese border - to provide an escape route I imagine) and from there they spread out, mostly via Portugal, to Amsterdam, Brazil (Recife, Pernambuco), Curacao, the West Indies, Hamburg and so on. In addition, members of the family were constantly moving between these places, sometimes back and forth. Some branches of the family remained in Portugal, as described below. Generally, the family seems to have been prominent members of all the Jewish communities in which they settled.

A Senior family marriage contract from Hamburg (1690). Marriage of Samuel Senior de Mattos and Rachel Senior de Mattos. Note the coat of arms at the bottom, which might be a variation of the arms exemplified below, namely quarterly, 1st and 4th, gules (red) a lion rampant or (gold), 2nd and 3rd, gules (red) a tree vert (green) upon a terrace. There seems to be a crown on top of the shield.

Curacao - an orange liquer invented by the Senior family of Curacao.

Curacao.

Willemstad, Curacao.

Old Recife.

New Recife.

The Senior/Coronel family in Portugal

The Senior/Coronel family had many distinguished descendants in Portugal including, according to notes in my possesion (prepared by the Portuguese historian, Luis de Bivar Pimentel Guerra), Luiz Gomes d'Elvas Coronel (b 1547) of Loures, Lisbon, who was recognised by Philip II (III of Spain) as a noble by virtue of his descent (great-grandson) from Fernao Perez Coronel (charter dated 26 September 1607, grant of arms of Coronel impaling da Mata on 16 February 1600). The family changed its name from Coronel to da Mata Coronel, then to da Mata (dropping the Coronel) and then to da Mata de Sousa Coutinho (on marriage to a daughter of the de Sousa Coutinho family) and is, according to my notes, currently represented by Don Manuel Francisco da Camara da Mata de Sousa Coutinho (b 1939), 5th Marquis and 6th Count of Penafiel. The family built two palaces, the 140-room Palace of Correio-Mor at Loures, near Lisbon, essentially their country villa, and the Palace of Penafiel in Lisbon itself (see below for pictures of both palaces). See 'Nobiliario das Familias de Portugal', Felgueiras Gayo, Carvalhos de Basto, 2nd Ed., Braga, 1989 and' Pedatura Lusitana', 6 vols., Cristovao Alao de Morais, Carvalhos de Basto, 2nd Ed., Braga, 1997.

In this database you can trace from the current Marquis of Penafiel back to Fernao Perez Coronel. The first Count of Penafiel, created 1798, was Manuel Jose da Mata de Sousa Coutinho (1782-1859), a direct male-line descendant of Fernao Perez Coronel according to the database. The title then passed through his daughter, the 1st Marchesa.

Other titles of various branches of the de Sousa Countinho family include Baron of Balsemao, Viscount of Balsemao, Viscount of Maceio, Count of Barreiro, Count of Linhares, Count of Obidos, Count of Palma, Count of Redondo, Count of Sabugal, Count of Soure, Count of Sousa Coutinho, Count of Vimioso, Count of Barreiro, Marquis of Borba, Marquis of Maceio, Marquis of Valenca, Marquis of Funchal.

Don Vitorio Maria Francisco de Sousa Coutinho Teixeira de Andrade Barbosa (1790-1857), 2nd Count of Linhares, was the 2nd Prime Minister of Portugal, though he was in office for only 3 weeks.

Note that the title 'Countess of Penafiel' seems to have been one of those 'adopted' by Maria Pia (1907-1995), apparently (but this is disputed) natural daughter of King Carlos of Portugal and pretender to the Portuguese throne. I have no idea why she used this title. See also here.

Direct male-line descent of the 1st Count of Penafiel from Fernao Perez Coronel (Don Abraham Senior)

Fernao Perez Coronel (Don Abraham Senior) (1410/12-1493) had issue;
Inigo Perez Coronel (d 1522) m Guiomar Mendez del Rio and had issue;
Tristao Reimao Coronel m Isabel Nunes da Ponte and had issue;
Luis Gomes d'Elvas Coronel m Brianda Nunes da Ponte and had issue;
Antonio Gomes d'Elvas Coronel (b. about 1515 d. about 1604) m Beatriz Nunes de Azevedo and had issue;
Luis Gomes da Mata (d'Elvas) Coronel (b 1547), 5th Correio-Mor* (Postmaster-General of Portugal) m Branca Antonia d'Elvas and had issue;
Joao Gomes da Mata Coronel m Filipa Barbosa (b 1583), and had issue;
Luis Gomes da Mata (d 1674), 7th Correio-Mor m Violante de Castro**, daughter of Lopo de Sousa Coutinho and had issue;
Duarte de Sousa Coutinho da Mata, 8th Correio-Mor m Isabel Caffaro (b 1661) and had issue;
Luis Vitorio de Sousa Coutinho da Mata (1688-1735), 9th Correio-Mor, Fidalgo da Casa Real (Noble of the Royal Household) m Joana Catarina de Menezes (b 1700) and had issue;
Jose Antonio da Mata de Sousa Coutinho (b 1718), 10th Correio-Mor, Knight of the Order of Christ (successors in Portugal to the Knights Templar - see below), m Dona Catarina da Camara (b 1735) and had issue;
Manuel Jose da Mata de Sousa Coutinho (1782***-1859), 11th Correio-Mor, 1st Count of Penafiel****, father of the 1st Marchesa, m Maria Jose de Castelo Branco, daughter of the 1st Marchesa of Belas.

A Jew in armour - this is the only picture that I have come across of a Jew, or a Converso Jew, in armour.

The text reads 'Quadro a oleo do 8 Correio-Mor Duarte de Sousa da Mata Coutinho (1674/1696)', that is 'Oil painting of the 8th Postmaster-General Duarte de Sousa da Mata Coutinho (1674/1696)'. I assume that this is Duarte de Sousa Coutinho da Mata (b. 1661), see above, great-grandfather of the 1st Count of Penafiel. I do not recognize the arms but the first quartering shows the arms of de Sousa de Arronches, that is Portugal (modern) with a bar sinister quartered with de Sousa ('Armorial Lusitano', Lisbon, 2000, p. 510-511), indicating a bastard line of the royal house of Portugal. The arms of de Sousa de Arronches appear (without the bordure, that is ancient, or bar sinister) on the arms carved over the entrance to the Palace of Penafiel, Lisbon, being the 2nd and 3rd quarterings; the 1st quartering is da Mata and the 4th is Coutinho, as illustrated below. His mother was Violante de Castro, through whom he also inherited the blood of the royal house of Aragon, so he probably felt he had the right to look grand. See here.

The arms over the entrance to the Palace of Penafiel, Lisbon. 1st, da Mata; 2nd and 3rd, de Sousa de Arronches (Portugal quartered with de Sousa); 4th, Coutinho - thus da Mata de Sousa Coutinho. The da Mata arms have an addition to the normal arms (described below) of a chief with a cross, which might indicate membership of an order. The arms are surmounted by the coronet of rank of a marquis, the Marquis of Penafiel.

Manuel Antonio Gomes da Mata de Sousa Coutinho (1862-1922), 2nd Marquis and 3rd Count of Penafiel, grandfather of the present (5th) Marquis.

The following notes refer to the preceding pedigree:

*In 1606, in recognition of services rendered to the King, he was granted a royal charter changing his name from Coronel to 'da Mata', meaning, literally, 'of the bush'. This apparently refers to bushes that grow on the hillsides around the site of the Palace of Correio-Mor, Loures (see the pictures below), and which had been used for centuries to provide firewood for the nearby Convent of Odivelas (now a girls school called 'Instituto de Odivelas' run by the Ministry of Defence); he was therefore, it appears, taking his name from his estate - the 'place of the bushes' (it was called the 'Quinta da Mata') - in the normal feudal manner.

He was granted arms of 'or, three bushes vert ('matas de verde') flowering of their colour ('floridas de sua cor'). These arms of da Mata can be seen below (painted on a ceiling in the Palace of Correio-Mor) as the first quatering in the arms of Manuel Jose da Mata de Sousa Coutinho, 1st Count of Penafiel. The second and third quarterings are the arms of Camara (the 1st Count's mother was Catarina da Camara) and the fourth quartering is the arms of Mendocas, Counts of Vale de Reis and later Dukes of Loulé (the 1st Count of Penafiel's maternal grandmother was Isabel Maria de Mendoca e Moura), daughter of the 4th Count of Vale de Reis. The 1st Duke of Loulé (and 8th Count of Vale de Reis) married Ana-de-Jesus-Maria de Bragança, Infanta of Portugal, daughter of King John VI of Portugal, and the current 6th duke is believed by some to be senior claimant to the throne of Portugal in right of this descent. This explains why the arms of the Counts of Penafiel are different from those of Coronel. In the male line the 1st Count was a Coronel.

D. Constança Maria da Conceição Berquó de Mendoça Rolim de Moura Barreto (1889-1967), 4th Duchess of Loulé in her own right and, according to some, rightful Queen of Portugal. The basis of this assertion is, as I understand it, that the descendants of Ana-de-Jesus-Maria de Bragança, Infanta of Portugal, have remained Portuguese citizens not debarred from the succession, while all other branches have either (1) not remained Portuguese citizens, whereby they have become debarred from the succession, or (2) have been specifically debarred from the succession by a constitution of 1838 (which has not been repealed but which was apparently over-ruled by an 1842 re-instatement of an 1826 constitution). It is a complicated subject which is partially explained here, here and here (which shows the Loulé connection to the royal family). Note that the Dukes of Loulé have never claimed any right of succession (though they are undoubtedly in the line of succession) and the overwhelming majority of people, including, it seems, the Portuguese state, recognise the Duke of Bragança as rightful heir. In any event, the Loulé branch of the royal family seems to be the only branch which has unquestionably not been debarred at any time for either reason.

The arms of the 1st Count of Panafiel painted on the ceiling of the Hall of Arms, Palace of Correio-Mor, as described above. Quarterly, 1st, da Mata, 2nd and 3rd, da Camara, 4th, Mendoca.

**The de Castro family, Counts of Monsanto, were one of the oldest and noblest families in Spain who were connected by blood to the royal family of Aragon. Violante de Castro (above) was the great-great-great-grand-daughter of Pedro de Castro, 3rd Count of Monsanto (1460-1529) who was the great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandson of James I, King of Aragon. Violante de Castro carried this royal blood into the Coronel/da Mata family so that about 150 years after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 a Jewish family married into the royal line of Aragon. The Coutinho family, Counts of Marialva, were descended from Denis, King of Portugal (1269-1325), via his illegitimate son, Alfonso Sanches (1289-1329). The 5th Marquis of Marialva rebuilt the Palace of Seteais, Sintra, now a luxury hotel. Note that in Portugal, for reasons that I am not entirely clear about (but presumably because the ladies concerned were heraldic heiresses), people often seemed to assume the names of their mothers; thus the daughter of Lopo de Sousa Coutinho and his wife, Joana de Castro, was called Violante de Castro. Sometime children of the same parents have different surnames.

***This would mean his mother was 47 when he was born. Presumably there is an error here somewhere.

****He was also granted the feudal lordship of Penafiel, a town about 20 miles east of Porto. He had a distinguished military career and served in the Peninsular War.

The Order of Christ

The Cross of the Order of Christ

Jose Antonio da Mata de Sousa Coutinho (b 1718), 10th Correio-Mor, see above, was a Knight of the Order of Christ. The Knights of Christ were founded in 1317, Papal Bull 1319, and were direct successors in Portugal to the Knights Templar (founded 1119, suppressed 1312), whose property in that country was transferred to them; in other words, the Knights Templar simply changed their name. Only Catholics of noble descent were admitted to the Order. The order continues to exist today in Portugal as a state order of merit. There is also a Papal Order of Christ.

The Convent of the Order of Christ, Tomar, Portugal. Built by the Knights Templar in 1160, it became the headquarters of the Order of Christ in 1357.

A seal of the Knights Templar. It reads 'SIGILLUM MILITUM XRISTI' or 'Seal of the Knights of Christ'. The seals of several of the Grand Masters of the Order of Christ in Portugal depict the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, from which the Knights Templar took their name.

A snapshot from the film 'The Kingdom of Heaven' before the battle of the Horns of Hattin (1187). The scene in that film where 140 Knights Templar charge a Moslem army of 7,000 (picture below) is based on fact; the charge took place at The Wells of Cresson, near Nazareth, in 1187 - three men survived ('The Knight and Chivalry', R. Barber, p. 230). Funnily enough, one of the knights who fought (and died) at Cresson was Roger des Moulins (French equivalent of Milne), Grand Master of the Knights Hospitaller, whose arms were argent on a cross moline sable an escallop or.

Arms of Coronel in Portugal/Spain

Here is a larger version.

The arms borne by the Coronel family in Portugal - azure, five eagles displayed or in saltire, the middle eagle crowned or. The crest is an eagle displayed and crowned or (i.e. the same as the middle eagle). These arms, together with hereditary nobility ('e a seus filhos, privilegio para que se possam chamar fidalgos, e gozam das honras de fidalgos' - 'and to his children, the privilege of being called nobles, and of enjoying the honours of nobles*'), were first granted by King Manuel I of Portugal to Nicolao Coronel, Physician to the Royal Family, apparently a nephew of Don Abraham Senior (Fernao Perez Coronel), in 1499 (Arquivo Nacional da Tore do Tombo, Liv 4 de Misticos, fls 165 verso e Chanceleria de D. Manuel, Liv 16 fls 108 verso). Nicolao Coronel appears to have accompanied Queen Maria, daughter of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, into Portugal on the occasion of her marriage to Manuel I in 1497.

*This hereditary nobility descended not just to the grantee's children but to his remoter descendants, as demonstrated by the following further grants of the Coronel arms or charters of nobility:

• Arms granted in 1600 by Philip II (III of Spain) to Luiz Gomes d'Elvas Coronel, even though the grantee was not descended from Nicolao Coronel (as far as I know) but from Fernao Perez Coronel via his third son, Inigo Peres Coronel.

• Luiz Gomes d'Elvas Coronel (b 1547) of Loures, Lisbon, was recognised by Philip II (III of Spain) as a noble by virtue of his descent (great-grandson) from Fernao Perez Coronel (charter dated 26 September 1607).

• Arms granted to descendants of Fernao Perez Coronel's eldest son, Joao Peres Coronel, namely Manuel Soares Coronel, of Crato, who received a charter on 15 Nov 1605 from Philip III (IV of Spain)* granting him the right to bear the arms of Coronel as a descendant of Fernao Perez Coronel (See Jose de Sousa Machado, in Brasoes Ineditos, Braga, 1906, p. 127).

• Manuel's son, Andre Soares de Saraiva Coronel of Lisbon was granted a charter of nobility by Kin