Reform and hospital models in Castile: the case of the Fernández de Velasco family (1374–1517)

ABSTRACT

The aim of this article is to reassess the types of care initiatives offered by the Fernández de Velasco family on their manor estates in the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries. Starting in the mid fifteenth century, the family put in place a series of measures that may be grouped together as part of the hospital reform taking place throughout other contexts across Europe. The changes implemented were based on lesser-known hospital strategies, as well as on the emulation of family and regional models. I analyze the role of the nobility in the transformations of health and charitable systems of this period, which have traditionally been closely identified with municipal authorities, the monarchy and the state in large cities. Through reflections on Castile and the Fernández de Velasco lineage, my work aims to enrich the definition of such concepts as “reform” and “hospital models.”

KEYWORDS:

• Charity
• Burgos
• Medina de Pomar
• Briviesca
• nobility

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 This article was written during my PhD fellowship (FPI, BES-2017-081778), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation within the research project “Scripta manent III: From Private Records to Public Texts. An Online Medieval Archive” (PID2020-116104RB-I00, PI Cristina Jular Pérez-Alfaro, www.scriptament.info). It formed part of the Network of Excellence “Cultura escrita medieval hispánica: del manuscrito al soporte digital” (RED2018-102330-T), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation. Translation by Nicholas Callaway.

2 This historiographical concept should not be confused with the religious and administrative reform by ecclesiastics, especially in France in the thirteenth century, led by figures such as Jacques de Vitry. This phenomenon is described in studies such as Bird, “Medicine for Body,” and Davis, The Medieval Economy, which do not include the hospital reform of the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries in their analyses.

3 Bianchi and Słoń, “Le riforme ospedaliere,” 20:

tutti quei processi di riorganizzazione dei sistemi assistenziali urbani che nel corso del Quattrocento segnarono significativi e rilevanti momenti di rottura con l’esperienza medievale, manifestando in tutto o in larga parte i tratti caratteristici delle riforme di quel periodo, a prescindere dal ritrovamento di delibere o altri documenti prodotti da organismi pubblici –laici e/o ecclesiastici–per la promozione delle riforme stesse (my translation).

The city of Milan and its large hospital have received much attention. See Albini, “La riforma quattrocentesca;” Brasher, “Hospitals and Charity,” 136–66.

4 López Terrada, “Health Care and Poor Relief,” 177–84; Villagrasa-Elías, “Política hospitalaria.”

5 García Oro and Portela Silva, “Felipe II y el problema hospitalario,” 87:

Dado el agotamiento del sistema hospitalario medieval y el hecho de que la asistencia hospitalaria tradicional no cubría, en el siglo XVI, las necesidades de la sociedad española, se imponía la búsqueda de soluciones nuevas. Será Felipe II quien impulse la reforma de los Hospitales, atendiendo a criterios de reunificación y concentración, a fin de garantizar una asistencia sanitaria pública de mayor calidad (translation mine).

See also García Oro and Portela Silva, Las reformas hospitalarias del Renacimiento.

6 For an example of how such measures could be promoted by other agents, in this case the local authorities, in the final decades of the fifteenth century, see Ferreiro-Ardións and Lezaun-Valdubieco, “Reforma y expansión hospitalaria.” On the concept of hospital reform for the crown of Castile and the city of Toledo, see Villagrasa-Elías, “La reforma antes de la reforma.”

7 Piccinni, “I modelli ospedalieri,” 19.

8 Piccinni, Il banco dell’ospedale di Santa Maria.

9 D’Andrea, Civic Christianity in Renaissance Italy.

10 Marino, “Late Medieval Hospitals in Southern Italy.”

11 Rubio Vela, Pobreza, enfermedad y asistencia, 23–74; Lindgren, “¿De qué vivían los hospitales?”

12 De Pinho, “Antecedentes e componentes.”

13 López Terrada, “Health Care and Poor Relief,” 184–94.

14 Rawcliffe, “A Crisis of Confidence?”

15 See González Crespo, La elevación de un linaje; Jular Pérez-Alfaro, “Nobility and Patronage: The Velascos.”

16 Jular Pérez-Alfaro, “La importancia de ser antiguo.”

17 For a general overview, see Moreno Ollero, Los dominios señoriales de la Casa de Velasco.

18 Montero Málaga, El linaje de los Velasco.

19 Pereda, “Mencía de Mendoza († 1500),” and “Liturgy as Women’s Language.”

20 An analysis of this collection and the family line is the core objective of the project Scripta manent, http://www.scriptamanent.info/.

21 The process of establishing a centralized family archive was slow and complex, preceded by a series of lesser archives: Benito Rodríguez, “El archivo medieval del linaje.”

22 Del Pulgar, Los claros varones de España, 25–26.

23 These aspects were highlighted in the early twentieth century by García Sainz de Baranda, Apuntes históricos, which has since been followed by studies centered on the library and based on a series of catalogues and inventories. The first inventory from 1455 was published in 1897 by Paz y Meliá in an edition with several errors that were then repeated by subsequent authors. Lawrance, “Nueva luz sobre la biblioteca,” inventoried and catalogued the library in the 1980s, following a more scientific approach. Recently, Vírseda, “La biblioteca de los Velasco,” has traced the evolution among the different catalogues, carrying out a codicological analysis of the extant copies.

24 De Porres Fernández, “Fundación, dotación y ordenanzas,” and “El Hospital de la Vera Cruz;” Vírseda Bravo, “La biblioteca de los Velasco.”

25 Paulino Montero, “El patrocinio arquitectónico de los Velasco,” 208–25, and Arquitectura y nobleza.

26 Franco Silva, “La asistencia hospitalaria,” 63–68.

27 Cadiñanos Bardeci, “El hospital de Nuestra Señora.”

28 To complement the present article focused on strategies, reform and the spread of models, see also Villagrasa-Elías, “Mutación económica-hospitalaria,” in which I analyze the transformations of these hospitals from an economic point of view.

29 I go into more detail on this aspect in Villagrasa-Elías, “La reforma antes de la reforma.”

30 García Oro and Portela Silva, “Felipe II y el problema hospitalario,” 87.

31 García Oro and Portela Silva, Las reformas hospitalarias del Renacimiento, 28. The plan involved phasing out the hospitals of San Andrés, Santa Ana and Santa María del Camino, which did not close until much later. The hospitals of Santiago and San Miguel del Camino remained in operation.

32 Valenzuela Candelario, “La caridad del Rey,” 162. Granada saw the merger of the two hospitals under royal patronage: the Alhambra hospital (1501) and the Hospital de los Reyes (1504), and, later on, the Casa de los Inocentes.

33 On the institution’s beginnings, see Martínez García, “El hospital de San Juan de Burgos.”

34 Arrizabalaga, “Asistencia, caridad y nueva ética,” 42–47.

35 Blasco Gil, “El hospital de San Nicolás de Bari.”

36 Bonaffini, Per una storia delle istituzioni, 15–30; Marino, “Riforme del welfare.”

37 Roca Cabau, “La unión de los hospitales ilerdenses,” 31–54.

38 Barceló-Prats, Poder local, govern i assistència pública, 59–99.

39 Falcón Pérez, “Sanidad y beneficencia en Zaragoza,” 192–93.

40 Bianchi and Słoń, “Le riforme ospedaliere,” 20–21. Milanese model: “fu caratterizzato dalla concentrazione di alcuni antichi ospizi sotto un’unica amministrazione, spesso accompagnata dall’edificazione di una nuova e grandiosa fabbrica ospedaliera.” Florentine model: “non provvide a centralizzare sotto un’unica direzione buona parte dei servizi ospedalieri urbani, poiché l’autonomia dei principali nosocomi venne preservata: in questo caso la rete ospedaliera medievale fu potenziata con l’apertura di istituzioni (brefotrofi e/o lazzaretti)” (my translation).

41 Villagrasa-Elías, “Política hospitalaria,” 163–64.

42 De Angelis, L’ospedale apostolico di Santo Spirito, 64–76.

43 Saborit Badenes, Morir en el Alto Palancia, 281.

44 González Rodríguez, “Escrituras fundacionales,” 173–74.

45 Martínez García, La asistencia a los pobres, 29–34, has calculated that by the late fourteenth century there were thirty-two hospitals in Burgos.

46 Gallegos, “Alfonso VI y los peregrinos,” 342–44.

47 Martínez García, El hospital del Rey de Burgos, 49–58.

48 Martínez García, “El hospital de San Juan,” 67.

49 Archivo Histórico de la Nobleza (hereafter AHNOB), Frías, C. 238, D. 36 (6 June 1374). The founding deed has been preserved, although in a highly deteriorated state.

50 Paulino Montero, “El patrocinio arquitectónico de los Velasco,” 209.

51 The endowment certificate of 1433 (AHNOB, Frías, C. 238, D. 37–40) reproduces the initial endowment given by the grandparents of the Good Count of Haro; this certificate has been used by Franco Silva, “La asistencia hospitalaria,” 66–69, to discuss the institution, its revenues and its rations. For a partial transcription, see García Sainz de Baranda, Apuntes históricos, 437–42.

52 De Porres Fernández, “El Hospital de la Vera Cruz,” 333–35.

53 Ruiz de Loizaga, Documentación medieval, 202–04.

54 Franco Silva, “La asistencia hospitalaria,” 69–88.

55 Alegre Carvajal, “Prestigio, ciudad y territorio.”

56 Castaño, “Crédito caritativo en la Castilla,” 129–37; Ruiz de Loizaga, Lo sacro y lo profano, 49–55. In Medina de Pomar, the arca was housed in the aforementioned Hospital de la Vera Cruz: García Sainz de Baranda, Apuntes históricos, 230–31. The first Italian monte di pietà was founded in Perugia thirty years later: Muzzarelli, Il denaro e la salvezza, 18–21.

57 Piccinni, “I modelli ospedalieri,” 18–26.

58 Ziegler, Medieval Healthcare, 115–16.

59 Marino, “Late Medieval Hospitals in Southern Italy,” 145–50.

60 Gallent Marco, “Los hospitales de la Santa Creu,” 41–60.

61 Villagrasa-Elías, “El viaje de lo escrito.”

62 The Primera Crónica General, 1:686, narrates the founding and construction of the convent of Las Huelgas and the Hospital del Rey.

63 Martínez García, El hospital del Rey, 56–57.

64 Martínez García, El hospital del Rey, 58–73.

65 Transcription in Vírseda Bravo, “La biblioteca de los Velasco,” 408, 413. For an analysis of the statutes of 1455 as a cultural object, see Vírseda Bravo “Del archivo al documento.”

66 Paulino Montero, “Encuentro con lo sagrado.”

67 Gules a castle or, for the community of freires in Burgos, later replaced by the Cross of Calatrava. St. Andrew’s Cross for the Carthusians of Medina de Pomar.

68 For the statutes regarding the nurses, see Vírseda Bravo, “La biblioteca de los Velasco,” 509. During visits in the eighteenth century, these women are also referred to as cartujas (Carthusians).

69 AHNOB, Frías, C. 386, D. 39 (2 December 1436). I would like to thank Cristina Jular for her transcription of this diploma. Cited by González Crespo, La elevación de un linaje, 291–92. Because at present we only have this one source, there remains the possibility that this request was not a voluntary act on the part of the Hospital of Burgos, but rather the result of the nobility’s predatory tactics. The phenomenon can be compared with the monastery of Oña’s request for the Velascos’ protection; see Diago Hernando, “La tutela nobiliaria.” The offer to protect the hospital in Burgos dates back several decades, and is directly related to the abusive practices of the nobility.

70 Four years earlier, it was the city of Burgos that was seeking the protection of the Count of Haro: Montero Málaga, El linaje de los Velasco, 91–92.

71 AHNOB, Frías, C. 386, D. 39: “fue fecha grand inpressión por palabras vituperiosas et injuriosas a la orden e a nuestras personas,” and “fue entrado e tomado el dicho ospital por fuerça e contra voluntad de la orden e nuestra, con omes de armas de pie e de cauallo.”

72 De Porres Fernández, “El Hospital de la Vera Cruz,” 333–39.

73 Velasco Bayón et al., Colección documental, 549–55, 600–04: “las vías e maneras por donde fuesen mejor regidos, sostenidos e fuesen más duraderos los dichos hospitales e pobres, e sus bienes multiplicados, en las quales cosas la esperiençia es madre de las cosas” (my translation).

74 The volume is held by the Biblioteca Nacional de España (hereafter BNE), Mss/9468: Ordenanzas de la Cofradía de Santa María de Esgueva […]. The document has been transcribed in De Tiedra, Fundación gloriosa y secular, 121–42.

75 Vírseda Bravo, “La biblioteca de los Velasco,” 333–34, in the 1553 catalogue, it states that the statutes were from 1440. Pedro Fernández de Velasco moved to Valladolid following the death in 1454 of John II of Castile. The statutes of the Hospital de la Vera Cruz were written up in Valladolid on 14 August 1455 (De Porres Fernández, “El Hospital de la Vera Cruz,” 336–37).

76 Fontaneda Pérez, “El Hospital de la Piedad,” 449:

por vía de ordenanza que están los pobres de la Cofradía de Esgueva de Valladolid, y del Hospital que tiene fecho el Conde de Haro en Medina de Pomar, o del Hospital de Medina del Campo que hace el Obispo de Cuenca (translation mine).

See also Lucía Gómez-Chacón, “Transformar las cosas transitorias.”

77 On their mother-daughter relationship, see Pereda, “Mencía de Mendoza († 1500),” 18, 70–71. Mencía de Mendoza’s stepsister, Leonor de Mendoza, was the abbess of Las Huelgas at the end of the century.

78 For an initial biographical sketch see Villagrasa-Elías and Jular Pérez-Alfaro, “Trazos biográficos.” For the end of her life we have her will: AHNOB, Frías, C. 363, D. 15, f. 2v.

79 AHNOB, Frías, C. 363, D. 15, f. 3v-4r.

80 AHNOB, Frías, C. 373, D. 1 (9 February 1517). The main aspects of its founding are covered in Franco Silva, “La asistencia hospitalaria,” 69–88. In her will, Mencía de Velasco set forth that a second hospital dedicated to St. Clare should be founded (AHNOB, Frías, C. 363, D. 15, f. 16v-17r.), although this plan never came to fruition. Did her plans involve founding two hospitals and a convent of the Poor Clares, exactly like in Medina de Pomar?

81 As noted by Cadiñanos Bardeci, “El hospital de Nuestra Señora.”

82 AHNOB, Frías, C. 373, D. 1, f. 10v.:

a de ser todo esto hecho de la manera que lo traen hecho los pobres del ospital del conde de Haro, mi señor, que Dios aya, mi aguelo, el qual ospital está junto a santa Clara de Medina de Pumar (my translation).

She also set aside in her will 20,000 maravedís for the poor at the hospital in Medina de Pomar: AHNOB, Frías, C. 363, D. 15, f. 8v.

83 AHNOB, Frías, C. 363, D. 15, f. 5v.

84 AHNOB, Frías, C. 373, D. 1, f. 8r.: “quinze pobres a reverençia de los quinçe misterios del Rosario, los quales serán llamados confadres del Rosario” (my translation).

85 AHNOB, Frías, C. 373, D. 1, f. 8r.

86 I have relied on the transcription in Origen de la Ilustrissima Casa de Velasco (BNE, Mss. 3238) made available by the CRELOC project: <http://creloc.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/Mss_3238_para_CRELOC.pdf>.

87 AHNOB, Frías, C. 373, D. 1, f. 9r.

88 The fund established by Mencía de Velasco is described in her will: AHNOB, Frías, C. 363, D. 15, f. 14r-v.

90 For la Vera Cruz, I have relied on the transcription of Vírseda Bravo, “La biblioteca de los Velasco,” 399–437. For Briviesca: AHNOB, Frías, C. 373, D. 1.

89 On the building process, see Alonso, “Arquitectura y arte.”

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación [project Scripta manent (PID2020-116104RB-100)]; Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad [doctoral fellowship BES-2017-081778] (Government of Spain).

Notes on contributors

Raúl Villagrasa-Elías

Raúl Villagrasa-Elías held a predoctoral fellowship at the Institute of History of the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) in Madrid; in 2022 he completed his PhD thesis at the University of Saragossa (Campus Iberus, Spain) on “The Hospital Renaissance in Iberia: A Proposal from Written Culture (1374–1549).” Currently, he is Substitute Professor in the Department of Historical Sciences of the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC) and is attached to the Institute of Textual Analysis (IATEXT) of this university.