COMUNICACIÓN

The director general for External Action of the Regional Government of Extremadura, Pablo Hurtado, inaugurated today the course “Health, Illness and Nutrition During the Reign of Charles V”, which will run until 25 July at the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste. This event concludes the Campus Yuste training programme, part of the 26^th edition of the University of Extremadura’s International Summer/Autumn Courses. (23/07/2025)

The director general highlighted the figure of Charles V as a central axis in European and global history, having witnessed the birth of what we now know as “the first wave of globalisation, as he ruled an empire in which the destinies of Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia were interwoven with unprecedented intensity”, he stated.

In this regard, Hurtado described the Monastery of San Jerónimo de Yuste as “a space to engage deeply with the world, where memory becomes awareness and the past serves as a compass for our future”.

He went on to recall that the three previous courses addressed key milestones and challenges shaping recent history. “We have examined the transition to democracy as an experience of consensus, courage and responsible citizenship; we have reflected on the forty years since Spain and Portugal joined the European Economic Communities; and we have critically analysed the new world order in which Europe must determine the role it wishes to play”.

To conclude, the director general reaffirmed the importance of human dignity, critical knowledge, and respect for truth as essential foundations for tackling the shared challenges that affect collective health, social cohesion, and democratic coexistence. “This is the ultimate aim of Campus Yuste: to think together in order to build with critical insight, intellectual ambition, and with commitment and sensitivity”, he concluded.

The course’s co-director, César Chaparro, meanwhile, recalled that the era of Charles V is a recurring theme in Campus Yuste’s programmes, listing the various topics explored in previous years, such as diplomacy, the role of women, the emperor’s enemies, the Lutheran Reformation, humanism, and literature, among others.

“Medicine and disease are of extraordinary importance in the social, political, economic and cultural life of a country”, Chaparro stated, adding that “this course encourages us to explore, from the perspectives of humanism, history and science, how medical knowledge, cultural exchanges, food discoveries and therapeutic practices formed part of a social, political and spiritual fabric undergoing profound transformation”.

All these topics will be addressed from both European and American viewpoints, as one must not forget that “the American reality provided economic, medical, scientific and nutritional resources to Renaissance Europe”, the course’s co-director explained.

In addition to physical illnesses, there were also diseases of the soul —or mental conditions— which were regarded as social or religious issues. “Alongside academic medicine, there existed a legion of home remedy practitioners, witches and sorcerers, folk healers, travelling salesmen and charlatans”, he noted. Beyond these subjects, medical education, hospital medicine and hospices, the regulation of medical practice by various authorities —particularly the Crown— the link between illness and environment, and both individual and public hygiene will also be key themes explored over the three days.

To conclude the course’s opening session, the vice-rector for University Extension at the University of Extremadura, María Teresa Terrón, took the floor, highlighting the significance of the Monastery of Yuste as a place that brings people together around a monarch who symbolises the union of European countries —an issue of vital importance in today’s political, economic and cultural context.

For the vice-rector, “strengthening the construction of a European identity —one that guarantees freedoms— requires us to honour the leading historical figures who laid the foundations of the path we are now following and must support with all the resources at our disposal”, she explained.

She also underscored the Campus Yuste programme as a key feature of the University’s summer calendar.

More than 70 people have registered for this course, both in person and online, from countries including Argentina, Colombia, Cuba, the Dominican Republic Ecuador, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Nicaragua, Portugal, Spain, and Sweden.