Francisco Valles

Francisco Valles de Covarrubias, also known as Divino Valles (Covarrubias; October 4, 1524-Burgos; September 20, 1592), was a Castilian physician, the greatest Spanish exponent of Renaissance medicine. He considered the creator of modern pathological anatomy. He was a doctor of the Chamber of Felipe II, and general protophysician of the Kingdoms and Señoríos of Castilla.

Biography

The gravestone of his niche in the Chapel of San Ildefonso (Alcalá de Henares).

First book published by Valles: Controversiarum et philosophicarum libri decem (1556).

Francisco Valles was born in Covarrubias (a town in the current province of Burgos) and was baptized on October 4, 1524. His parents were Francisco Valles (also a doctor) and Brianda de Lemus. He had three brothers: Pedro, who was archdeacon of Covarrubias; Fray Luis, an Augustinian religious; and Petronila, who was the wife of Manuel Hurtado de Vera. In 1544 he began his studies at the University of Alcalá in the Colegio de Trilingüe, reaching a degree in arts and philosophy in 1547, becoming a master of arts and philosophy in 1553. In 1553 he graduated in medicine, and received his doctorate in 1554; He is recorded as a professor, at least since 1556, giving classes in practical anatomy through cadaver dissections.In 1557 he succeeded Cristóbal de Vega in the Prima chair of medicine in Alcalá until 1572.

He was married for 42 years to Juana de Vera, with whom he had six children: Lucía, Francisco, Juana, Catalina, Gabriel and Diego. In 1587 he founded a mayorazgo with his wife, over the house he had on Calle de Santiago and his hacienda in Alcalá de Henares.

He studied in various European cities, which brought him into contact with Andrea Vesalio, who he succeeded in 1572 as Philip II's personal physician, naming him "Médico de Cámara y Protomédico General de los Reinos y Señoríos de Castilla" the position highest doctor in Spain, achieved great professional prestige and recognition as an intellectual. He established the "Protomedicato" exam, which all medical graduates had to take in Madrid to be able to practice, as a control of the training received at the different universities in Spain. It was this king who described him as "Divine", when he cured him of a gouty crisis.

He spent most of his life in Alcalá de Henares, where he taught medicine, being the first to give practical classes with cadavers in Alcalá, which is why he is considered the creator of pathological anatomy.

In addition to being a doctor, he was a great humanist and writer, mastering classical Greek and Latin. His last years were spent in the apothecary of the Monastery of El Escorial preparing the distillation of natural plants and organizing the library.

Having made a will on May 29, 1592, he died on September 20 of the same year in the Convent of the Augustinians in Burgos, while accompanying King Philip II on a trip. His remains, at his express wish, were transferred and buried in the Chapel of the Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso, in Alcalá de Henares. Due to the deterioration of the place, on May 22, 1862, at the initiative of figures such as the historian Mariano González Sámano or the mayor of Alcalá, Francisco Palou, Valles' remains were exhumed and temporarily stored in a university unit until they were deposited again in another place in the church. On April 14, 2011, during the works of restoration of the chapel, the urn was rediscovered where it had been since the 19th century.

Reproduction of the shield of the Valles family as it appeared in the pavement slab of its burial.

Works

He began publishing at a very young age, with 20 known works, from translations of the classics to personal works, both medical and philosophical.

• Controversiarium medicarum et philosophicarum (1556) (2nd ed. 1564) (3rd ed. 1583), exposure of philosophical issues that make up medical knowledge.
• Commentaria in quartum librum metheoron Aristotelis (1558).
• Claudii Gal. Pergameni de Locis Patientibus Libri Sex (1559).
• In Aphorisms, " Hippocratis food libellum, commentia (1561).
• Octo librorum Aristotelis de physica doctrina versio recens & commentaria (1562).
• Controuersiarum naturalium ad tyrones pars prima (breakable link available on the Internet Archive; see history, first version and last). (1563).
• Commentrii de vrinis, pulsibus & febribus (1565) (1569).
• Commentaria in Prognosticorum Hippocratis (1567).
• Galeni ars medicinalis commentariis (1567), about the translation of the works of Galeno.
• Commentary in books Galeni de differentia febrium (1569), about the translation of the works of Galeno.
• Commentary in books Hippocratis de Ratione victus in morbis acutis (1569) (1590), are comments to the work of Hippocrates.
• In books Hippocratis de morbis popularibus, commetaria (1577) (Filed on 17 September 2011 in Wayback Machine.).
• Controversiarvm natvralivm ad tyrones pars prima: continens eas quae spectant ad octo libros Aristotelis de physica doctrine. Complvti: excudebat Querinus Gerardus, 1580.
• Of philosophia sacra. (1587), complete study of how much the Sacred Scripture on Medicine collects.
• Methodus medendi (1588).
• De vrinis, pulsibus, ac febribus compendiariae tractationes. (1588).
• In aphorismos Hippocratis commentarij VII (breakable link available on the Internet Archive; see history, first version and last). (1589).
• Treatise of distilled waters, weights, and measures for the boticars to use. (1592).
• From iis, quae scripta sunt physice in libris sacris siue de sacra philosophia. (1595).
• Sermon preached at the solemn feast of the Blessed Sacrament, which was made at the Royal Convent of Saint Paul of Seville (1620).

Influences

He influenced the great theologian, philosopher and jurist Francisco Suárez, a contemporary of Valles, whom he met and studied, applying to his youthful work De Anima anthropological concepts already present in the work of the great physician and humanist philosopher. In this great work, Suárez quotes up to 31 times to the divine Vallés, commenting on important passages of his Controvesias and his De sacra Philosophia. But the most important thing is that it collects from him the theory of the sympathy of the powers, rooted in the soul itself and that constitutes one of the best contributions to the study of epistemology and soul-body relationships. in Suárez's Philosophical Anthropology.

Acknowledgment

In 1912, in recognition of his contributions to medicine, the Divino Valles Hospital was built in Burgos, named after him. It also has a street in the San Julián de Burgos neighborhood.

In Madrid he has a street with his nickname "Divino Vallés" in the district of Arganzuela.

Controversy over his last name (Valle or Vallés)

The printed work of the doctor, in Spanish or Latin, appears signed as Francisco Vallesio Covarruviano or Francisci Vallesii Covarrubiani, which would mean 'Francisco del Valle, natural from Covarrubias'. Valle or Valles is a common surname in Castilla and, for many specialists, this is the correct way to name it, and not Vallés, as it also appears in certain publications. When, at the end of the XX, this doctor was studied again in historical works and in institutions, the plain form was preferred, both in the CSIC and in specialized works (those by V. Peset Llorca, E. Sánchez Fernández-Villarán, L. García Ballester, J.L. Abellán or J. Pardo Tomás) or in the Burgos hospital that bears his name.