El Puerto de Santa María

[Graham Milne]

I have discovered a possible family link to the Port of Santa Maria (from which Columbus set sail) and have a question about the arms of that town. Info on the town at:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Puerto_de_Santa_Mar%C3%ADa

Arms at:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/ff/Escudo_de_El_Puerto_de_Santa_Mar%C3%ADa.svg

If you blow this picture up (e.g. use your browser's zoom facility) you will see that there is a black woman wearing a crown dressed in a mantle bearing the arms of Castile and Leon (I think). This woman is holding a white woman wearing a crown, who I guess is Santa Maria. The question is what is the significance of the black woman, why is she wearing a mantle of the arms of Castile and Leon and why is she holding Santa Maria?

The possible link to my family comes via Doña Maria Alfonso Coronel y Acuña (1267 - 1332), Señora del [Lady of] Puerto de Santa Maria. She married Don Alonso Pérez de Guzmán 'El Bueno' (1256 - 1309), founder of the House of Guzman and ancestor of the Dukes of Medina Sidonia.

My ancestor, Don Abraham Senior (1410/12-1493) was a Jew who converted to Christianity in 1492 (expulsion of the Jews from Spain). He changed his name to Coronel and his family afterwards bore the arms used by Maria Alfonso Coronel (azure five eagles displayed or). These arms can be seen on her tomb in the Monastery of San Isidoro del Campo, Seville. See:

http://www.genealogics.org/showphoto.php?personID=I00533057&tree=LEO&ordernum=1

and

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monasterio_de_San_Isidoro_del_Campo

I have found a possible link here between Don Abraham Senior to the Coronel/Guzman families via his first wife, Violante de Cabrera. See:

http://www.peerage.org/genealogy/Violante%20de%20Cabrera.pdf

Interestingly, Alonso Pérez de Guzmán may have been a Moor and his wife may well have been Jewish. See:

http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00533056&tree=LEO
http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00533057&tree=LEO

Since this couple are ancestors of Isabella of Castile (1451-1504) who is ancestor of almost every royal and aristocratic house in Europe, it might be that every European royal house has both Moorish and Jewish blood from this couple. Further, Don Abraham Senior was described as Exilarch in a letter of 1487 from the Jews of Castile to the Jews of Rome and Lombardy (Professor Haim Beinart,'The Expulsion of the Jews from Spain', p. 420 - see Loading Image...) and we can infer from this that he was a descendant of the House of David (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exilarch). If the Coronel family also have this descent than that descent would have passed to every European royal house via Isabella of Castile as well.

Anyway, it is the arms of the Port of Santa Maria that interest me at the moment. Any ideas would be welcome.

[for Nicolai]

Since this couple are ancestors of Isabella of Castile (1451-1504) who is ancestor of almost every royal and aristocratic house in Europe, it might be that every European royal house has both Moorish and Jewish blood...

Since "Judaism" is a "Believe-Religion" concludes that there is no such thing as "Jewish Blood" ...it would be correct to name it "Middle-Eastern Blood",
that is shared among many believe systems!

.. and it really isn't at all surprising to find "North-African or Middle-Eastern DNA" in Spain, Italy, Greece, Serbia etc. etc. etc.
at any given time!

[for Nicolai]

you should make an DNA Test, you might be surprised to find
that you don't have such "North-African or Middle-Eastern DNA"
at all!!!!

[for Nicolai]

I also would Google the terms "Black Madonna"
or "Black Madonna origin"....