Background
Andrés Laguna was born in Segovia, Spain in 1499.
Andrés Laguna was born in Segovia, Spain in 1499.
He studied the arts for two years in Salamanca, then moved to Paris in 1530, where he graduated from the arts and went on to study medicine.
Laguna became the private physician of Emperor Charles V, Pope Julius III, and others of high station. His wide knowledge, which ranged from a detailed understanding of botany to a command of Greek, displayed itself in translations of works on medicine. Laguna's Erasmian leanings are revealed in his well-known fictional narrative of a journey to Constantinople, Viaje de Turquía (1557), often falsely attributed to his contemporary, Cristobal de Villalón. Written in dialogue form, it recounts the adventures of Pedro de Urdemalas, a traditional figure, during his captivity by the Turks and his subsequent escape. The descriptions of Constantinople are adopted from other books on the subject; they are presented in a new light, however, so as to reveal by contrast many unfavorable aspects of the Christian world. Pedro de Urdemalas' vivid adventures are often connected with his practice of medicine among the Turks, perhaps the only autobiographical feature of this curious, absorbing work.
Laguna still considered the theory of the four humors effective, but he showed scepticism with respect to alchemy, rejecting any affirmation that did not have empirical confirmation.