El confesor real en la Castilla de los Trastamara: 1366-1504

The knowledge about the figure of royal confessor has been, until recent times, very limited for the period of medieval Castile. A lot of studies have been done for Modern Age, when the institution of the kinǵs confessor played an important role in the Court of the Hispanic Crown. It is evident that this figure didńt appear ex nihilo in the Sixteenth Century and there existed some origins. Many historians mentioned some medieval confessors in their studies about any other subjects. Actually, it was not clear if those clerics could be properly considered as confessors. Our first aim has been to find all the references which exist in the sources and bibliography about kinǵs confessors in the Middle Ages and verify their nature as confessors. We fixed the beginning of the period of study with the reign of Enrique II, and its end with the death of Isabel I in 1504. The main reason is the fact that both sovereigns are the first and last monarchs of Trastamara dinasty, a very significant period in the origin of Modern State in Castile. The Church was an essential element in this process, on account of the service which many clerics enlisted to the Crown in different tasks (diplomacy, bureaucracy, Counsel and Counselling, etc.) and their ideological support to this endeavour. In this context, the royal confessor could perform an important work as personal advisor and a loyal subject to the person of the king in so many activities. This is well-known for Modern Age and also fort the reign of transition between this period and the precedent: the period of Catholic Kings. But it isńt for the times backwards...

Tear Secretion Induced by Selective Stimulation of Corneal and Conjunctival Sensory Nerve Fibers

Purpose. To measure the increase in tear secretion evoked by selective stimulation of the different populations of sensory receptors of the cornea and conjunctiva by using moderate and intense mechanical, chemical, and cold stimuli. Methods. Six healthy subjects participated in the study. Tear secretion was measured in both eyes by the Schirmer’s test conducted under control conditions and after stimulation of the center of the cornea and the temporal conjunctiva with a gas esthesiometer. Mechanical stimulation consisted in three pulses of 3 seconds’ duration of warmed air (at 34°C on the eye surface) applied at moderate (170 mL/min) and high (260 mL/min) flow rates. Cold thermal stimulation was made with cooled air that produced a corneal temperature drop of −1°C or −4.5°C. Chemical (acidic) stimulation was performed with a jet of gas containing a mixture of 80% CO2 in air. Results. The basal volume of tear secretion increased significantly (P < 0.05, paired t-test) after stimulation of the cornea with high-flow mechanical stimuli (260 mL/min), intense cooling pulses (−4.5°C), and chemical stimulation (80% CO2). The same stimuli were ineffective when applied to the conjunctiva. Moderate mechanical (170 mL/min) and cold (−1°C) stimulation of the cornea or the conjunctiva did not change significantly the volume of tear secretion. Conclusions. Reflex tear secretion caused by corneal stimulation seems to be chiefly due to activation of corneal polymodal nociceptors, whereas selective excitation of corneal mechanonociceptors or cold receptors appears to be less effective in evoking an augmented lacrimal secretion. Conjunctival receptors stimulated at equivalent levels do not evoke an increased tear secretion.