Los Médicos irlandeses y las ideas (pre)ilustradas: Raymond Everard (1675-1754)

Abstract

Historiography has extensively demonstrated that Irish doctors played a very relevant role in the medicine of the Spanish Monarchy along 18th century. Nevertheless, beyond the prominent figures linked to the court and military circles –such as Higgins, Purcell, Gorman or O’Scanlan–, a significant number of Irish doctors can be claimed, who practised medicine in public-private spheres of less projection. In any case, they were well established professionals, who conveyed the new ideological currents generated in the continent and acquired along their migration pathways. Raymond Everard, born in co. Waterford (Ireland), truly depicts the archetype of the Irish doctor who, after being immersed in the French enlightened circles and universities, settled down in Bilbao as municipal doctor, where he took care of the town for nearly forty years, imbuing it with the existing technical-scientific modernity through his medical work.