2023-12-25 00:47:12
In a time when rulers exercised power from birth to death, and where every small ailment could condition a battle or a political dispute, the work of royal doctors and the information they handled was a matter of State. The Catholic Monarchs had at their service some of the best doctors on the continent, specialists who were paid for both their knowledge and their discretion. They were worth, as the expression goes, more for what they kept silent than for what they did.
That is why the information stored by us is so valuable. Julián Gutiérrez de Toledoone of those in charge of treating the illnesses of Queen Elizabeth and her daughter Juana and whose confidential documents are now for sale. The Astarloa Bookstore in Bilbao, in collaboration with one from Madrid, has put on sale for a price of 7,000 euros a set of texts by the doctor that until now remained forgotten. A sale that is open to both buyers in Spain and abroad (in fact, the documents are currently in the US) given that the Ministry of Culture has not declared it unexportable good.
«The usual process is to first offer it to the State as the fastest way to request an export permit. In this case they considered that it was not of interest and granted us permission. I understand that the State cannot buy everything that everyone offers, because it is unfathomable,” says Iker Madariaga, one of those responsible for the Basque bookstore about some documents that have been in a family archive and have not been studied until now. by historians.
Queen Juana la Loca, imprisoned in Tordesillas with her daughter, the Infanta Doña Catalina, 1906, by Francisco Pradilla abc
The texts come from a private library in Valladolid that the current heir was not interested in preserving and decided to put up for sale. The most relevant information in these manuscripts is the letter he wrote to Felipe the Beautiful describing the “deplorable” state in which Juana de Castilla found herself during her stay in Medina del Campowhere he remained against his will and under the guardianship of his mother, who was already seriously ill.
«This is a very interesting report that talks about Juana’s poor health written by the person in charge of supervising her health. His conclusions are quite devastating. She was in deplorable conditions, although we have not detected any mention of the psychological issue,” says Madariaga, who manages this bookstore with her father. with more than 30 years of history dedicated to the buying and selling of second-hand old books, especially manuscripts and other paper rarities. Other pieces in his collection are some privileges of the Catholic Monarchs and a book of hours with a beautiful invoice.
The poor health of the Monarchs
The other documents in the set for sale refer to the disputes opened between this doctor of Jewish origin and his professional colleagues. In a memorial addressed to Fernando ‘El Católico’ he charges against his colleagues Pedro de Frías and Fernando Alvarez de la Reina and denounces the corruption that existed in the administrative apparatus of the Crown, which earned him a stint in prison. In addition, the file owned by Astarloa shows another confrontation over the use of weights and measures in the sale of medicines and other technical matters of his trade. The documents are in good condition and do not have moisture stains or any deterioration.
The texts are full of references to the medical problems of the Kings, which is crucial on a historical level given the salad of unclarified symptoms that killed Isabel, among others fluid retention, joint pain and advanced diabetes. That is apart from the cardiac deterioration that weakened Ferdinand until it led him to his grave in 1516. The chronicles describe a Monarch, with an aged heart punished by a diet terribly rich in cholesterol, who found it increasingly difficult to breathe and who became tired with activities that he previously carried out with the energy of a young man. Sometimes he could not stand on his own and had to move around in a hip chair.
Among the little that is known about Julián Gutiérrez, born in Toledo in the mid-15th century, is the one who was named court doctor of Isabella of Castile and Ferdinand of Aragon in 1491 with a salary of 90,000 maravedíes and later he would become the personal physician of Juana de Castilla.
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