Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal
D. Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal and 1st Count of Oeiras, known as the Marquis of Pombal, was a Portuguese despotic statesman and diplomat who effectively ruled the Portuguese Empire from 1750 to 1777 as chief minister to King Joseph I. A strong promoter of the absolute power and influenced by the Age of Enlightenment, Pombal led Portugal's recovery from the 1755 Lisbon earthquake and reformed the kingdom's administrative, economic, and ecclesiastical institutions. During his lengthy ministerial career, Pombal accumulated and exercised autocratic power. His cruel persecution of the Portuguese lower classes led him to be known as Nero of Trafaria, a village he ordered to be burned with all its inhabitants inside, after refusing to follow his orders.
Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal
The Marquis and his brothers, one the Grand Inquisitor and the other Governor-General of Grão-Pará.
Eleonora Ernestina von Daun, the Marquis of Pombal's second wife.
Portrait of the 1st Marquis of Pombal; Joana do Salitre, 1770.
Dom Joseph I, known as the Reformer, was King of Portugal from 31 July 1750 until his death in 1777. Among other activities, Joseph was devoted to hunting and the opera. His government was controlled by Sebastião José de Carvalho e Melo, 1st Marquis of Pombal.
Joseph's consort, Queen Dona Mariana Victoria
Joseph I monument in Lisbon
1773 State of Brazil Joseph I 6400 réis.