Verisoph public archive

Abraham Senior

1412 – 1493 Castilian (Sephardic Jewish) Court rabbi, tax farmer, financier

Chief court rabbi and royal financier who converted to Catholicism rather than accept exile in 1492.

Religion
Judaism; converted to Catholicism in 1492
Affiliations
Court of the Catholic Monarchs; Crown of Castile

Senior was the leading rabbi and tax administrator of Castilian Jewry and a financier to Ferdinand and Isabella. When the expulsion decree came, he chose baptism, taking the name Fernan Perez Coronel, with the king and queen as his godparents. His decision was a heavy blow to Jews who had hoped he would lead resistance to the decree.