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RESEARCH PRODUCT

Bartomeu de Tresbens, physician and astrologer in the service of king Peter the Ceremonious and the infant John: between the service to the Crown and the municipality

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description

Bartomeu de Tresbens was a physician, astrologer and philosopher at the service of two kings of the Crown of Aragon, Peter IV the Ceremonious and his son, Duke John, the future John I the Hunter, between 1360 and 1375, approximately. His major work of astrological content has hardly been studied, except for the Llibre de les nativitats (Book of Nativities). Similarly, most of his biography is not known. The documents, which are mainly the correspondence of its relationship with the monarchy, are preserved, but also other records that connect him to the municipalities of Barcelona and Cervera. Particularly in the latter case, Tresbens was tempted by the municipal authorities for being the physician and possibly teacher of the town. This study gives an overview of his biography but it focuses particularly on the negotiations of the doctor with Cervera, in the context of the local medical and health care. This was a strategy which seems Tresbens wanted to make to find a place to spend the rest of his days with an excessive salary.