3 people named Diogo Rodrigues - an early Lamego in the Atlantic trade, a participant in the d'Olivares refinancing, and a Curiel ancestor

  Diogo Rodrigues de Lamego and his son Jorge Gomes de Lamego (see note 5 below) are possible ancestors of the Lamegos who participated in the refinancing of the Spanish Crown. The latter were Antonio Mendes Lamego who was a prominent Atlantic merchant of the Atlantic sugar and slave trades (see note 6 below) and the Lamego relatives Bartolomeo Febos (son of Antonio Lamego of Rouen) and Luis de Oliveira Lisboa (brother-in-law of Antonio Lamego) who were bill specialists. An in-law of the Tinocos, Diogo Rodrigues da Costa was a Portuguese New Christian who secured in 1635 a royal appointment as a tax farmer and was a banking participant (see note 6 below) and his name suggests he could have been a grandson of our 3rd Diogo Rodrigues. The latter was a Curiel/Acosta collateral ancestor and a merchant of Coimbra who married Guiomar da Costa (see note 2 below).

The marriage of Antonio Rodrigues Lamego to Sarah Curiel took place in 1618 or shortly before, for they appeared in this year in Rouen with 1 son from Antonio's earlier marriage and none of their own (see note 3 below). The above chart was first drawn up to provide a context to the marriage. But the marriage preceded the royal refinancing, and probably did not take place in Madrid for the newly-weds departed Portugal for Rouen; it is therefore clear that our chart only serves its purpose post facto! That is - the linking role of the 2nd Diogo Rodrigues in Madrid around 1635 was adventitious and arose only because of his subsequent Tinoco marriage. Later another adventitious link arose - the 1673 Amsterdam marriage of David Baruch Lousada #44 to Esther Rodrigues da Costa (see note 4 below), but this later link serves a purpose - it suggests that by the date of her birth in 1644 (not 1649 as one database shows) the Rodrigues da Costa family had moved to Paris!

The above chart suggests how the early Lamegos may be linked to the later Lamegos. The Mendes name appears in the above chart and also amongst the Rouen Lamegos and we suggest the Mendes/Lamego link arose because an aunt of Antonio Rodrigues Lamego married a Mendes which could explain the Rouen Mendes Lamego as a relative brought up with his 2nd cousins. The wife of Luis de Oliveira is given as the daughter of Luis Antonio in ref 142 and since Luis de Oliveira was an uncle of Bartolomeo Febos (ref 23 p66) this suggests that the father of Manuel and Antonio Rodrigues Lamego was Luis Antonio Rodrigues de Lamego. The chart is a modified version of that found in ref 142, an analysis of the Inquisitional evidence against Juan Nunez Saravia 1585-1639 (see note 7 below) whose sister married Juan Rodrigues Lamego whom we deduce (see note 1 below) was a brother of Antonio and Manuel Rodrigues Lamego.

Notes:

1. We base the deduction upon the close family connection between Juan Nunez Saravia and both Luis de Oliveira Lisboa and Bartolomeo Febos. His nephew Diego Diaz Nunez was 'primo hermanos' (which can be translated as 'cousin brother' or 'cousin germain') of Bartolomeo Febos, while Juan Nunez Saravia was related to Luis de Oliveira Lisboa 'en tercer o cuarto grado' reflecting no doubt that one was a brother-in-law of a brother-in-law of the other. These relationships may be found at pp290-1 of ref 142 and are depicted here and we noted reference to Luis de Oliveira Lisboa being imprisoned and Antonio Rodrigues del Cano was to manage the hacienda of Saravia while Saravia was in prison.

2. Derived from ref 35 pp52 and we note above this source's uncertainty about the name Guiomar, and we flag a query as to Diogo's destination in 1574 - 'Lyons' is given but does this actually mean 'Lyon' or somewhere else? Occasionally one does find Lyon spelt 'Lyons'.

3. Antonio Rodrigues Lamego with his second wife Beatriz Henriques aka Sarah Curiel and his young son Bartolomeo Febos (see note 8 below) came to Rouen from Portugal in 1618 (ref 150).

4. In the 1673 marriage, the witness for Esther Rodrigues da Costa was Jacob Montezinos. He was possibly a witness in order to protect the dowry obligations owed by the husband from his earlier marriage to Hannah Montezinos. He was a son or nephew of Fernando Montezinos one of the Villaflor New Christians of Madrid with whom the Baruch Lousadas became attached through a 1638 marriage. Fernando Montezinos appeared in the trial records of Juan Nunez Saravia as discussed in ref 142 - see p380 where he is listed as not able to give testimony in Madrid as he was already in prison!

5. They may be found ref 23 Appendix A-6 as ancestors in the family chart of the Rodrigues de Lisboa asiento.

6. As ref 23 p27 informs us, Antonio Mendes Lamego was a member of the Tinoco, Fernandes Camaragibe and Rodrigues de Mello e Tovar complex of wealthy families, but a peripheral member for he does not appear in Appendix A-1 as a Participant Banker. Neither does Diogo Rodrigues da Costa despite his Tinoco marriage (ref 23 p108). For other details of Antonio Mendes Lamego see ref 340.

7. Juan Nunez Saravia was one of the few asentistas who the policies of d'Olivares proved not to protect. He was impoverished by the Spanish Inquisition, perhaps because of his role in an earlier massive currency dilution episode. His Portuguese name was Joao Nunes Saraiva (see ref 330 vol2 p67). However, he was quite influential - for as noted in ref 70 p301&303, he was part of the first asientos - a trial run for the d'Olivares refinancing.