José de Seabra da Silva
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José de Seabra da Silva | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Secretary of State for the Internal Affairs of the Kingdom | |
| In office 15 December 1788 – 6 January 1801 | |
| Monarch | Maria I of Portugal |
| Preceded by | The Viscount of Vila Nova de Cerveira |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount of Balsemão |
| Adjunct Secretary of State for the Internal Affairs of the Kingdom | |
| In office 3 June 1771 – 17 January 1774 | |
| Monarch | Maria I of Portugal |
| Prime Minister | The Marquis of Pombal |
| Succeeded by | Aires de Sá e Melo |
| Chief Guardian of the Royal Archives | |
| In office 1768–1774 | |
| Monarch | Joseph I of Portugal |
| Preceded by | Manuel da Maia |
| Succeeded by | José Pereira Ramos de Azeredo Coutinho |
| In office 1799–1802 | |
| Preceded by | José Pereira Ramos de Azeredo Coutinho |
| Succeeded by | The Viscount of Balsemão |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 31 October 1732 Torre de Vilela, Portugal |
| Died | 12 March 1813 (aged 80) São Sebastião da Pedreira, Lisbon, Portugal |
| Spouse | Ana Felícia Coutinho Pereira de Sousa Tavares Cerveira e Horta |
| Occupation | Politician |
José de Seabra da Silva GCC (31 October 1732 – 12 March 1813), was a Portuguese magistrate and politician. He was Secretary of State during the rule of the Marquis of Pombal.[1] He contributed to an anti-Jesuit treatise that was used to justify the expulsion of Jesuits from Portugal.[1]
José de Seabra da Silva was the first-born child of Lucas de Seabra da Silva and Josefa Teresa de Morais Ferraz. His father, Lucas de Seabra da Silva, was a professor of law at the University of Coimbra, later a Councilor of the Exchequer (Conselheiro da Fazenda) and a judge in the Royal Supreme Court (Desembargo do Paço). Josefa Teresa de Morais Ferraz was an administrator of the Majorat of Figueiró dos Vinhos.[2]
Education and career
First tutored by a clergyman, José enrolled at the University of Coimbra in 1744 at the age of 12, and completed his studies in 1751. On 1 March 1752, he sat in on a public examination (de jure aperto) so he could join the judiciary. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs and War at the time, was in attendance and surprised by the young man's erudition. In 1753, José was made a desembargador in the court of appeals of Porto, and was in 1754 transferred to the Court of Supplication (Casa da Suplicação, the royal higher court of appeals), in Lisbon.[3]
After the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, when Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo started to consolidate his power over the government, he was invited to act as the minister's particular clerk and protégé. Seabra da Silva then saw a rapid succession of promotions in the public administration: in 1757, he was made a supervisor of the General Company of Grão-Pará and Maranhão; in 1765, he was made the executor of Queen Mariana Victoria's finances; in April 1765, he was made a Crown Prosecutor, in which position he was a powerful aide of Carvalho e Melho in his campaign against the influence of both the Jesuits and the Jacobins; in November 1765, he was made Chancellor of the Court of Supplication; in April 1766, he was made Chief Guardian of the Royal Archives; in January 1770, he was made a judge in the Royal Supreme Court; and, finally, in June 1771, he was made Adjunct Secretary of State under Carvalho e Melo (now titled Marquis of Pombal).[3]
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