The Count of San Luis | |
Office: | Prime Minister of Spain |
Term Start: | 19 September 1853 |
Term End: | 17 July 1854 |
Predecessor: | Francisco Lersundi |
Successor: | Fernando Fernandez de Cordova |
Birth Date: | 1 February 1820 |
Birth Place: | Seville, Spain |
Death Date: | 22 February 1871 (aged 51 years). |
Death Place: | Madrid, Spain |
Birthname: | Luis José Sartorius y Tapia |
Nationality: | Spanish |
Honorific Prefix: | The Most Excellent |
Don Luis José Sartorius y Tapia, 1st Count of San Luis (1 February 1820, in Seville, Spain – 22 February 1871, in Madrid, Spain) was a Spanish noble, politician and journalist who served as Prime Minister of Spain from 1853 to 1854, during the reign of Queen Isabella II.
Sartorius, a man of very traditional convictions, was the leader of a faction of the Moderate Party which, because of his erroneously supposed Polish origin, was known as los polacos ("the Poles"). His newspaper, El Herlado, became one of the mainstays of the moderates during the regency of the Progressivist Baldomero Espartero. During the Moderate decade (1844-1854), Sartorius held several political offices, especially three times as Ministry of the Interior (Ministro de Gobernacion) in 1847, 1849-1851 and 1853-1854. He became Prime Minister between 1853 and 1854.
Contrary to popular belief, Sartorius had nothing to do with Poland; he was of German origins. His paternal ancestors were from Hesse, the grandfather Johann Philipp Sartorius came from Umstadt and the grandmother María Isabel Trier was from Wehrda. Their son and Sartorius' father, Andrés Sartorius Trier, was born in Marburg; a military engaged against the French troops, he then sought refuge in Spain. He married María Joaquina Tapia Sánchez, born in Puerto Rico; her parents, Antonio de Tapia and Josefa Sánchez Oviedo, following a spell in America returned to their native Andalusia.
Sartorius was married to María de los Remedios Chacón y Romero de Cisneros (daughter of Rafael Chacón, 7th Marquis of Cela, and María del Amparo Romero de Cisneros y Nagüens), with whom he had seven children: