Francisco Lobato del Canto (c. 1530 - 1589). Biografía de un técnico castellano del siglo XVI

Abstract

Francisco Lobato del Canto (c. 1530 - 1589) was the author of a manuscript whose folios are attached to a copy of Ptolemy’s Geography published in Rome in 1508. Its contents consist of notes on thetechnique of that time, autobiographical accounts and chronicles of his town and his countrymen. In this work we present a biography of the technician in whose episodes we will see that he traveled through southern Spain and took notes of the mills he visited, worked on technical matters in Medina del Campo where he met personalities such as Gómez Pereira and was involved in the rebellion of the Alpujarras, among other notable actions. It is, therefore, the biography of an unusual figure in 16th century Castile, whose handwritten notes are an invaluable contribution to the knowledge of the technique and daily life of an inventor.