Abstract
This article contributes to knowledge on medical training and careers at a time of change driven by Enlightenment ideas, but also a time of conflict between age-old structures and new legal frameworks. By analyzing an individual trajectory in interaction with other individuals and institutions, the contradictions of the historical context that constrained the life of José Pinto de Azeredo are brought to light. The circumstances surrounding his professional activity are analyzed – an aspect of this physician’s trajectory that was until now unstudied. Some hypotheses are formulated to explain why he did not reach the objectives he set for himself.
medical careers; José Pinto de Azeredo (1764-1810; Universidade de Coimbra; chief physician of the kingdom; eighteenth to nineteenth centuries