Los cinco testamentos de Francisco Xavier Balmis

Abstract

El reciente hallazgo de los Protocolos Testamentarios Francisco Xavier Balmis (1753-1819), director de la Real Expedición Filantrópica de la Vacuna, constituye una nueva fuente documental para explorar su perfil biográfico. Balmis redactó un total de cinco testamentos que abarcan el periodo de 1803-1818 y coinciden con momentos cruciales de su vida. Su análisis ha permitido establecer interesantes observaciones que certifican su inseguridad personal antes de afrontar la expedición, su desamparo al ser despojado de sus bienes por adherirse a la causa monárquica frente a Napoleón, el consuelo al serle restituidos sus honores y hacienda o la entereza para afrontar sus últimos momentos. Revelan que Balmis supo hacer de la carrera profesional como cirujano militar un instrumento para alcanzar el prestigio social, y desmienten los supuestos sobre un final oscuro. El inventario de sus bienes ratifica su desahogada situación económica y su capacidad para gestionarlos. Las fuentes notariales se acreditan con este caso de Balmis, un funcionario de la Corona, como un ejemplo para el estudio de las oligarquías urbanas del Antiguo Régimen.

The recent discovery of the testamentary records of Francisco Xavier de Balmis (1753-1819), director of the Royal Philanthropic Expedition of the Vaccine, constitutes a new source material with which to study his biographical profile. Balmis wrote a total of five wills covering the period from 1803-1818 and coinciding with crucial moments in his life. The analysis of these documents has led to interesting observations that confirm Balmis’s personal insecurity before facing the Expedition, his vulnerability when he was stripped of his possessions for joining the royalist cause against Napoleon, the reassurance he felt when his honors and property were restored, or his fortitude in facing the final moments of his life. The documents also reveal that Balmis used his career as a military surgeon as a tool to achieve social prestige, and belie the assumptions of an obscure end. The inventory of his goods confirms his comfortable economic situation and his ability to manage it. The notarial sources are confirmed by this case of Balmis, an official of the Crown, as an appropriate source for the study of urban oligarchies of the Spanish Ancien Régime.