Don Abraham Seneor or Abraham Senior (Segovia 1412–1493) was a Sephardi rabbi, banker, politician, patriarch of the Coronel family and last Crown rabbi of Castile, a senior member of the Castilian hacienda (almojarife of the Castile or royal administrator).
The Seneor family was also involved in politics, defending the interests of artisans in the cities of central Castile.
He was related to Andrés Cabrera (the steward of King Henry IV of Castile), Andrés Cabrera's wife, Beatriz de Bobadilla (lady of the Queen Isabella of Castile) and Alonso Quintanilla, Count of Accounts, to whom the Infante (crown prince) Alfonso had entrusted the establishment of a mint in Medina del Campo (a city enriched by the fairs).
In 1469 he played a major role in securing the marriage of the Infanta Isabella of Castile to Ferdinand of Aragon, including providing the betrothal gifts.
Isabella had such confidence in Seneor that, in gratitude for his services, she endowed him with a lifetime pension of 100,000 maravedis, confirmed in 1480 at the behest of the royal confessor Hernando de Talavera.
Seneor was appointed chief justice of the Jewish community of Segovia, (often clashing with converted Jews and their families) 12 and rab do la corte (court Rabbi or chief rabbi of Castile); an office for which, like many of his predecessors, the Jewish religious authorities thought him unqualified.
In the War of Granada Seneor and Abravanel played a valuable role both in raising taxes and provisioning Isabella's army, while Samuel Abolafia was in charge of recruitment.
Through their efforts, they managed to raise among the Castilian aljamas a large sum of money to allow the Jews captured in Málaga to be ransomed.
After failing to prevent the decree expelling the Jews from Spain (the Edict of Granada issued (31 March 1492), despite their offer of a large sum of money, Seneor (an old man of 80 years), together with others of his family chose conversion to Catholicism, while his friend Abravanel (55) chose to keep his religion and left for Naples.
The conversion of Abraham Seneor was expected to have a major impact on the political strategy of the Catholic Monarchs, so it was carefully staged, publicized and surrounded by all appropriate solemnities.
In a ceremony held on June 15, 1492 in the monastery of Guadalupe and conducted by the Primate of All Spain, Seneor was baptized and took his Christian name, Fernando (after his godfather, King Ferdinand himself), and the surname Perez Coronel (chosen from the extinct noble lineage Coronel).
Within a few days of his conversion, whose sincerity was discussed, he became a ruler of Segovia, a member of the Royal Council and chief accountant of Prince Juan.
During the expulsion Seneor continued to play a key financial role in assisting others in the Jewish community forced to leave Spain.
Back in Spain, he acted as a godfather at the baptism ceremony of the first Native American Indian, giving him the name of Peter (July 29, 1496, in the same monastery of Guadalupe where he was baptized a few years before).
Other prominent members of the family were Luis Nunez Coronel (nephew of Abraham, theologian, professor at the Sorbonne, Secretary of Alonso de Fonseca and friend of Erasmus of Rotterdam) and Paul Nunez Coronel (Sorbonne professor and rector of Montague College, where he met Erasmus).
Not all the descendants of Rabbi Abraham Senior, also known as Fernán Pérez Coronel, truly embraced Catholicism.
Some were denounced as New Christian judaizers (secret Jews) and, punished by the Inquisition, lost their possessions and even were deported to Brazil.
Pérez Coronel descendants are scattered around the world, some in Israel, others in Brazil, Ecuador, Mexico, Venezuela, Holland, and the United States.
Las citas de fuentes primarias recogen todas esas formas, e incluso otras, como Abrahem Seneor o Habrahan Senior.
Richard Ayoun y Haïm Vidal Séphiha, Sefardíes de ayer y hoy, EDAF, 2002, ISBN 8441411085 pg.
Yolanda Moreno Koch, Ricardo Izquierdo Benito, Del pasado judío en los reinos medievales hispánicos: afinidad y distanciamiento, Universidad de Castilla La Mancha, 2005, ISBN 8484273881 pg.
Joseph Pérez Los judíos en España, Marcial Pons Historia, 2005, ISBN 8496467031, pg.
El anterior apellido Coronel aparece en la aristocracia castellana al menos desde María Alfonso Coronel, dama del siglo XIII, casada con Guzmán el Bueno, cuyos descendientes llevaron los apellidos Pérez de Guzmán.
Senior e hijo: redes comerciales, Fondo Editorial Humanidades, 2002, ISBN 9800020144, pg.
16) indica que "Perez-Co-Ronel" puede leerse en una mezcla de castellano y hebreo como "perezco cantando a Dios", mientras que "Núñez Coronel", leído como "No-Nizco-Ronel" significaría "recordaremos cantando a Dios".
; quien deja indicada la causa de la confusión possible entre ambos apellidos: Abraham Seneor, el Rabino Mayor, y su yerno Mayr Malamed, se bautizaron siendo apadrinados por los propios reyes, y pasaron a llamarse Fernando Núñez Coronel y Fernando Pérez Coronel, respectivamente.
La forma Meír se recoge por Richard Ayoun y Haïm Vidal Séphiha, op.
En algunas fuentes se la recoge como su hija; pero por las fechas es mucho más probable que sea nieta de Abraham Senior.
István Szászdi León-Borja, Las élites de los cristianos nuevos: Alianza y vasallaje en la expansión atlántica, 1485–1520 José Luis Lacave Juderías y Sinagogas Españolas, citado por Liliana y Marcelo Benveniste La Sinagoga en la casa de Abraham Seneor en Segovia: “ni tan perdida ni tan secreta” (Esefarad, 24 de junio de 2010), donde se recogen fotografías y más información sobre su possible ubicación actual.
The fame of the Colonel was so widespread, that already in the seventeenth century, Francisco de Quevedo uses his name (with the obvious connotations for readers aware of the time) in a character in The Searcher : Diego Coronel, student service Noble from entering the protagonist, who suffers with its famous university misadventures.