Barberos y sangradores flebotomianos en Granadanorma y sociedad en los siglos XVII y XVIII

Résumé

The barbers and phlebotomists were perhaps the most characteristic professionals of empirical practice in medicine in modern Spain. Their work was associated with a medical technique: "Bleeding", which was the cause of dramatic battles between pro-bleeding and anti-bleeding groups which found themselves embroiled in bitter discussions about its therapeutic value. Bleeders reached some social standing at the time but their practise had always been questioned due to their ambiguous position between fully qualified professionals - doctors and Latin surgeons - and those other empirical amateurs with no education other than experience, whose methods could somehow be compared to those of superstition or witchcraft. The skillful work of barber and bleeder was permanently under control of the "Protomedicato", an institution created by the Reyes Católicos (The Catholic Kings) in order to govern and maintain the high quality of health care practised by medical doctors and surgeons. The institution was later extended to cover some other jobs loosely associated with medicine, such as enamelists, chemists, and herb specialists. Barbers and bleeders were allowed to work for rather a short period in Castille, where all the disciplines were merged by the "Protobarbeirato", while in Valencia their legal endorsement to work was common to barbers, surgeons and bleeders. They all had to sit for the same type of exam under Latin surgeons. In the Granada Town Hall Library some certificates of phlebotomian bleeders issued between 1666 and 1720 are preserved. Our present study concentrates on these documents with the main purpose of analysing the profession of bleeder at that time, and especially in Granada. There are 7 certificates in prime condition while in some other 3, only a few facts are legible. One of the documents shows the difference between a doctor's and a bleeder's function, not only at a theoretical level but at in practise as well. Our analysis is performed from a social perspective, considering the diverse aspects of the many core disciplines: surgeon, bleeder, barber..., as well as the other auxiliary medical practises prevalent at the time.