José Antonio Nolasco Moñino y Redondo

Son of a retired army officer, who served as ecclesiastical notary in Murcia; was educated at Colegio de San Fulgencio; studied law at the University of Orihuela; worked as lawyer in Madrid; earned doctorate from the University of Salamanca (1752); was appointed (1766) a fiscal (ministerial official) of the Council of Castile (Consejo de Castilla); investigated the Esquilache riots (1766) and won a reputation as a supporter of the king's reformist policies; took active role in the expulsion of the Jesuits (1767); was made envoy to Rome (1772-1776), where he succeeded in securing the support of the Pope Clemens XIV in suppressing the order; appointed first secretary of state (19 Feb 1777 - 28 Feb 1792) by King Carlos III; carried out a thorough reform of the Spanish bureaucracy, culminating in creation of the Supreme Council of State (1787); involved himself in university reform and improved press liberties; encouraged public works in Madrid aimed at rebuilding the city; secured alliances with Prussia and Russia; improved relations with Portugal; concluded trade agreements with Morocco and the Ottoman Empire; supported the First Coalition against the revolutionary French Republic, but failed to prevent discrediting of the liberal movement in Spain, which he headed; was stabbed by a French priest who was a revolutionary sympathizer at Aranjuez (1790); ousted on charges of embezzlement (1792); was imprisoned at the castle of Pamplona (1792-1794); acquitted in 1794 and retired to his estates; was called to join a new central government created at Aranjuez to oppose the French occupation; approved as Interim President of the Governing Supreme Central Junta (25 Sep 1808 - 1 Oct 1808) and then elected to the office of president of the same body (1 Oct 1808 - 30 Dec 1808); left Aranjuez (1 Dec 1808) before the city was seized by the French and was installed at Seville (16 Dec 1808); succumbed to illness under the strain of the trip and died 30 Dec 1808. Biography source: [6]