Meir Melamed

Meir Melamed also known by his Christian name Fernando Nunez Coronel was a financier in Spain during the period of the expulsion.

In the contemporary sources he is mentioned as “king’s secretary”, probably because he held office in one of the royal accounting departments, and “rabbi” which indicated that he was also a scholar. He lived in Sergovia most of the time.

On the position of a chief administrator of tax farming in Spanish kingdom he succeeded his father-in-law, Abraham Seneor, an enormously powerful and wealthy man (1487). In 1492, along with his father-in-law he was baptized at Guadalupe. By conversion he probably wanted to escape the expulsion of the Jews that started in 1492.

In the coming period he held a post of chief accountant (contador mayor), and became a permanent member of the royal council and a town councillor (regidor) in Segovia. The Coronels were to become a long and distinguished dynasty, some of whom later left Spain and settled in England, where in more liberal environment they converted to Judaism.