Actually David, Penangsang is pretty right about Senopati.
He was the biggest landholder in the district, married into royalty, then refused to pay tribute to Pajang. He had no royal blood, and in fact the claim of descent from Majapahit for the House of Mataram rests in the female line, not the male line.
When I read this period of Javanese history, it strikes me as sounding like a Javanese parallel to the history of the Mafia in modern USA. Sutawijaya (Senopati) was a boss, who decided that he wanted to become "Boss of the Bosses", so he staged a take-over.
I don't know about the perspective of Javanese people living outside Jawa, but I do know about the founding of Mataram, and about Senopati, and Penangsang's remarks are pretty close to the mark.
From the time of Senopati right through to probably Kartosuro, the House of Mataram was dedicated to trying to prove its legitimacy.
Linguists have speculated that their efforts to prove that they were in fact royalty were responsible for the development of Modern Javanese from Old Javanese.
Prior to Mataram it appears that Old Javanese, which lacks much of the artificial construct of the multi level Modern Javanese, was in general usage, but the rulers of Mataram introduced the additional language levels of Modern Javanese to drive home to everybody that they must be respected.
Javanese history makes very good reading. Not dry at all, constant movement, and lots and lots of blood.
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