The Alhambra’s pharmacy and moorish

Abstract

In the Hospital of the Alhambra there was an apothecary’s shop during the 16th century, run since the mid Century by the apothecaries Charles de Ripa father and son. The latter sometimes would lend the dispensed medicines to his clients, both old Christians and Moors. A documentary annex records a document from 1561 transcribing how the aforementioned apothecary begged the authorities to pay him for a series of medicines supplied to Moorish women neighbors of the town of Notáez, located in the Alpujarra of Granada. This is an exceptional case of the relationship between Moors with scarce resources and an important Christian institution such as the apothecary’s shop of the Alhambra.