SANTANGEL (SANCTO ANGELOS), LUIS (AZARIAS) DE:
- 1. Marano and learned jurist of Calatayud, Spain; died before 1459. He was converted by the sermons of Vicente Ferrer, and was made magistrate ("zalmedina") of the capital of Aragon. The name Luis de Santangel was borne also by the following:
- 2. Grandson of No. 1. He was fiscal agent in Aragon, and in 1473 represented the knights and noblemen in the assembly of the Aragonese estates.
- 3. Head of a mercantile house in Valencia; died in 1476. He maintained uninterruptedly business relations with King John of Aragon, and was farmer of the royal salt-pits at De la Mata, near Valencia, for which he made an annual payment of 21,100 sueldos, in accordance with an agreement dated July 9, 1472. He farmed also the customs duties and the taxes in the royal domains.
- 4. Grandson of No. 1; merchant of Saragossa. He joined the conspiracy of the Maranos against the inquisitor Pedro Arbues, and was publicly burned at the stake Aug. 18, 1487, at Saragossa.
- 5. Son of No. 3. After his father's death (1476) he succeeded him as farmer of the royal taxes, and was subsequently promoted to the rank of royal counselor. He appeared as an adherent of Judaism in the sanbenito at the auto da fé in Saragossa July 17, 1491. Ferdinand of Aragon, whose favorite he was, valued him highly for his faithfulness, honesty, and ability, and appointed him "escribano de racion," that is, chancellor of the royal house of Aragon.
Santangel took an important part in the discovery of America. After negotiations between Columbus and the Spanish king and queen had been broken off, he succeeded in winning over Queen Isabella, and, from purely patriotic motives, himself lent the necessary money, 17,000 ducats (5,000,000 maravedis), without interest. It was Santangel that received Columbus' first detailed report of his voyage and discoveries (see America, The Discovery of).
Ferdinand throughout his life continued to cherish friendly feelings for his beloved counselor. When Santangel's daughter married D. Angel de Villanueva, a grandson of Moses Patagon of Calatayud (1493), the king, in recognition of the faithfulness of her father, presented her with the sum of 30,000 sueldos. But the highest reward for the many memorable services rendered by Santangel to the king and to Spain was the royal exemption of Santangel's children and grandchildren from liability to the charge of apostasy, the officers of the Inquisition in Valencia and other places being strictly forbidden to molest them in any manner on account of their religious belief.
- Kayserling, Christopher Columbus, pp. 60, 65, 69 et seq.