Epistolary correspondence and medical knowledge: The circulation of physicians and the health care of the royal family during the Crown of Aragon (13th-14th centuries)

Abstract

The aim of this article, based on the study of missives that are part of the official correspondence of the Crown of Aragon, is to analyze the communication and work of physicians in the health care of the monarch Jaime II and his family. To map the medical professionals who attended to the king, it was selected two men of knowledge who were part of the same training ground, the Faculty of Medicine in Montpellier: Arnaldo de Vilanova and Guillem de Béziers. Thus, considering the perspective of connected histories, the focus of the approach centers on the study of the displacements in various cities of the kingdom of Aragon and the relationship of these two physicists with King James II. Likewise, the letters were analyzed by observing the circulation of knowledge, medical writings, and elements linked to the royal concern with issues relating to the field of medicine.