Geoffrey Parker Featured in Spanish Newspaper, ABC

Geoffrey Parker, Andreas Dorpalen Professor of History, was interviewed in a recent issue of the "Culture" section of the Spanish newspaper ABC about his new book, "Carlos V. Una nueva vida del Emperador (Barcelona: Planeta, Jan. 2019)."

An interesting item in the book is the evaluation of a mummified finger thought to be that of Carlos V.

From the article:

Interviewer: "There is an appendix on the pathology of the mummy's finger that was torn off."

Prof. Parker: "I handle all sources, from documents to the finger! (Laughs) In El Escorial there is a small coffin with a little finger that, it is said, was cut from the emperor's mummy, after the Gloriosa, around 1870. A guard must have made it a souvenir for a foreign visitor. A malaria expert, Julián de Zulueta, asked permission to examine the finger in 2004. Although DNA could not be studied, I think it is from Carlos V. There are three evidences: it is from a mummy, from someone who died of malaria and with very, very, advanced gout ..."

The full article is available at here.