MARQUESS OF SEBASTIAO JOSE DE CARVALHO E MELLO

See also:

• MARQUESS OF SEBASTIAO JOSE DE CARVALHO E MELLO POMBAL (1699-1782)

POMBAL (1699-1782)  , Portuguese statesman, was born at Soure near Pomba, on the 13th of May 1699 . He was the son of Manoel de Carvalho e Athayde, a country gentleman (fidalgo) and of his wife D . Theresa Luiza de Mendonca e Mello . He studied law at Coimbra University, served for a short time as a private in the army, and afterwards lived the life of a man about town in Lisbon, sharing in the diversions of the " Mohocks " who then infested the streets . In 1733 he abducted and married D . Theresa de Noronha, a widow belonging to one of the most distinguished families in Portugal . He then retired to Soure, where, on the recommendation of Cardinal de Motta, King John V. commissioned him to write a series of biographical studies . In 1739 he was sent as Portuguese ambassador to London, where he remained until 1745 . He was then transferred to Vienna . His first wife having died on the 7th of January 1739, he married, on the 18th of December 1745, Leonora Ernestine Daun, daughter of General Count Daun . In 1749 he was recalled to take up the post of secretary of state for foreign affairs and war . The appointment was ratified on the 3rd of August 1750, by King Joseph, who had succeeded John V. in that year .

Carvalho's career from 1750 to 1777 is

part of the history of Portugal . Though he came into power only in his 51st year, without previous administrative experience, he was able to reorganize Portuguese education, finance, the army and the navy . He also built up new industries, promoted the development of Brazil and Macao, and expelled the Jesuits . His complete ascendancy over the mind of King Joseph dates from the time of the great Lisbon earthquake (Nov . 1, 1755) . Though the famous words " Bury the dead and feed the living " were probably not spoken by him, they summarize his action at this time of calamity . In June 1759 his suppression of the so-called " Tavora plot " gained for him the title of count of Oeyras; and in September 1770 he was made marquess of Pombal . His severe administration had made many enemies, and his life had been attempted in 1769 . Soon after the death of King Joseph, in 1777, Pombal was dismissed from office; and he was only saved from impeachment by the death of his bitterest opponent, the queen-mother, Mariana Victoria, in January 1781 . On the 16th of August a royal decree forbade him to reside within twenty leagues of the court . He died at Pombal on the 8th of May 1782 . See, in addition to the works dealing with the period 1750-1777 and quoted under PORTUGAL: History; S.J.C.M .

(Pombal), Relacao abrevaada, &c . (

Paris, 1758) ; Memoirs of the Court of Portugal, &c . (London, 1765) ; Anecdotes du ministere de Pombal (Warsaw, 1781) ; Administration du marquis de Pombal (4 vols., Amsterdam, 1787) ; Carus . do marques de Pombal (3 vols., Lisbon, 1820–1824) ; J . Smith, Count of Carnota, Memoirs of the Marquess of Pombal, &c . (London, 1843) ; F . L . Gomes, Le Marquis de Pombal, &c . (Paris, 1869); B . Duhr (S.J.), Pombal, &c . (Freiburg im Breisgau, 1891) ; C . J. de Menezes, Os Jesuitas e o marques de Pombal (Oporto, 1893) . See also articles in the Revue des deux mondes for September 1870; the Revue bleue for September 1889, and the Revue historique for September 1895 and January 1896 .