Francisco Vallés

Who was Francisco Vallés?

Francisco Vallés also known as Divino Vallés was a Spanish physician, the best example of the medical Renaissance in Spain.

He was born at Covarrubias, and studied in several European cities, which brought him into contact with Andrea Vesalius, the personal physician of King Philip II of Spain and «Médico de Cámara y Protomédico General de los Reinos y Señoríos de Castilla».

He served most of his life in Alcalá de Henares, where he taught medicine, an was the first in Alcalá to teach medicine for the body.

In addition to medicine Vallés was a great humanist and writer. His last years were spent in the apothecary's Monastery of El Escorial prepared by the distillation of natural plants. He died in Burgos, and is buried in the chapel of Colegio Mayor de San Ildefonso in Alcalá de Henares.