The Royal House of Mercy is one of the main legacies of the Enlightenment in Tudela. An institution with more than two centuries of history, initially created as a hospice for the poor and now converted into a modern residency program for the elderly. Behind its foundation is María Huarte y Francia (1695-1780), who gave shape agreement to the Enlightenment ideas on the remedy of poverty and did not hesitate to donate in life all her property so that it could be carried out. Her conduct then caught the king's attention and today her city remembers her with a street, called María Ugarte, as her name was transcribed on the registration that presides over the front of the old Misericordia mansion.

During the Age of Enlightenment, a select group of women achieved a prominent role in public life by presiding over the salons, informal gatherings where they discussed everything from politics to literature, which would become centers for the dissemination of Enlightenment ideas. In Spain, some of the hostesses, such as the Countess of Montijo or the Countess-Duchess of Benavente, took a step further in their active presence in social life and applied for membership in the Sociedad Matritense de Amigos del País, one of the first economic societies promoted by the government to involve the elites in its reformist policies. Although founded in 1775, the admission of women would not materialize until 1787 and not as members at the level of men, but forming a separate group called board of Ladies of Honor and Merit.

This board became position of the workshop schools for training for underprivileged girls, with such success that they were able to open new ones. No lesser results were achieved in the direction of the Real Inclusa de Madrid, where the improvements introduced drastically reduced the mortality rate of the children.

With these activities, women gave ample proof of their skill ability to carry out traditionally masculine tasks, something that had already been defended in the discussion on their admission maintained among the members of the Matritense. Men and women had the same capacities and, if women could not develop them, it was because they had not received an adequate Education . Manuel Marín advocated their participation, because this would allow them to face "the satires, invectives and admonitions, with which up to now, for lack of encouragement and of a proportionate occasion to use their outstanding talents and admirable dispositions, they have been treated in theaters and conversations and reprimanded in the sacred pulpits". For his part, Jovellanos emphasized the appropriateness of their virtues in the deliberations of the Society: "greatness of spirit, liveliness of wit, generosity of heart, humanity, charity, beneficence".

In Tudela there was no such participation of women in the public sphere, a rather aristocratic and Madrid phenomenon. However, it was the resolution of a woman, María Huarte, that would allow the Real Sociedad Tudelana de los Deseosos del Bien Público to carry out its main initiative: the house of mercy.

This Society of Friends of the Country, founded in 1778, was one of the pioneers. It had already been operating for some years before in the form of a gathering, following the model of the first of all, the Sociedad Bascongada. Called the "Conversation", it was entirely male, with the Marquis of San Adrián as host to eight notables from Tudela. Their goal was to put on internship the ideals of the Enlightenment, among which they focused their attention on the opening of a hospice, where to intern the idle poor who begged in the streets and dedicate them to a official document to contribute to the wealth of the country. In those years, begging had come to be considered a problem of public order, so that the confinement of the poor and their conversion into productive subjects took precedence over traditional religious considerations of Christian charity. The Marquis of San Adrian himself had published in 1755 a treatise on this issue, graduate Casa de Misericordia.

María Huarte's husband, Ignacio Mur, was well acquainted with the ideas of the Marquis, because he was among the signatories of the dedication that headed his treatise. It is not surprising that the couple, lacking descendants, intended to bequeath their substantial patrimony to the poor. In order to reach their decision, they proceeded to "consult, treat and confer with learned and experienced men", who advised them to create a house of mercy. It was María Huarte, after the death of her husband in 1770, who would establish in her will the foundation of a hospice, where both the real poor and "the idle and vagabonds, who with pretended and supposed evils usurp the alms", "would be gathered and employed in that kind of work that seems more convenient".

In the years that followed, the benefactress discussed the implementation of her ideas with the "Conversation" group. For example, they agreed to send the architect José Marzal to Zaragoza to study the plans for the recently opened house of mercy. In this way, Maria Huarte would have had knowledge of their debates and aspirations to solve the great problems that afflicted the country. Imbued with her enlightened values, she decided to vary the will with a codicil, by which she entrusted the execution of the project to the newly created Society: "a Patriotic Society of diverse gentlemen, who zealous for the public good dedicate their talents and corporal fatigues in favor of the common advantages". This disposition meant setting aside the already designated patrons, the city council and the ecclesiastical chapter, to place their trust in the institution that best represented the progress of reason in the city.

A test of the close relationship between María Huarte and the Tudela enlightened is that the Society held the first board of its history in her house. She would never be admitted as a member and was only given the courtesy of being invited to the first public board , in which the friends of the country presented the objectives of their institution to the city. However, in a general context of unequal relations between men and women, it must be emphasized that the educated and enlightened minority of Tudela considered María Huarte perfectly capable of understanding their reformist ideas on the issue of poverty. They held a transparent and direct dialogue with her, in which they explained to her all the steps that the project was taking. It should not be forgotten, however, that the foundress was a respectable elderly woman of noble origin and that caring for the poor was a task socially understood as more appropriate for women.

The inheritance that served to establish the Casa de Misericordia consisted of 279 robos of olive groves, 112 of vineyards and 120 of white lands, as well as six houses. The origin of this heritage is explained by the economic and social strength of the Huarte lineage during the 18th century. The palace on Herrerías Street -currently Library Services and file municipal-, built by a brother of the founder, and the degree scroll of the Marquis of Huarte, granted to a nephew in 1796, are proof of this. For her part, María Huarte received a succulent dowry of 20,500 ducats on the occasion of her marriage, which would later be invested in the training of the aforementioned patrimony.

Once Doña María's wishes were known, the Tudela architect José Marzal was commissioned to draw up the plans for the hospice. The floor plan was defined by two courtyards with a church in the central axis, following the outline typical of hospital architecture, which guaranteed a strict separation between men and women. The vicissitudes surrounding the project made it necessary to submit these plans to the approval of the Chamber of Castile, whose architect was the famous Ventura Rodríguez. Despite Marzal's prestige, Rodríguez made several changes, especially to the façade - the only thing that has survived to the present day - to which he gave its definitive appearance, with the distinctive sobriety of academic architecture.

Ventura Rodríguez visited Tudela in 1780, taking advantage of his trip to Pamplona to examine the land through which the water supply would run. During his stay he was able to see the initial state of the works and explain his criteria to Marzal, who was appointed to direct the construction. The result is a unique building in Navarre, combining an unusual typology, the hospice, with the aesthetic ideals of the Enlightenment disseminated by the Academy of San Fernando, of which Rodriguez was director.

María Huarte did not get to see the Casa de Misericordia in operation, as it opened in 1791, although she had put all her efforts into getting the works started as soon as possible. To this end, she moved into modest quarters in the company of a servant girl and left her home free, so that the income from her lease and the sale of its contents could swell the funds of project.

The echoes of her attitude reached the Court, where it was immortalized by Tomás Anzano in his treatise Elementos preliminares para poder formar un sistema de gobierno de hospicio general, published in 1778. The author put María Huarte as model of the true alms, the one that was given in life:

"A great spirit, and a truly strong woman, who renounces the sweet possession of an estate for the public good, and longs for the solid happiness that is acquired with a glorious sacrifice. The courage of this matron exceeds that of many of her sex who aspired to heroism, because there is no braver resolution than the disappropriation of goods in time that can be enjoyed peacefully (...) So let her be honored as famous and great, and let her virtue serve as a stimulus to imitate her".

King Charles III had knowledge of the content of this work and wanted to know more about what was said there. In his name, the Secretary of State, Count Floridablanca, addressed the Tudela Society to ask about the founder, because if all this news were true, "His Majesty could not fail to express his esteem for the great example she has given of well-understood charity and patriotic zeal".

This would not be the only intervention of the king. By means of the Royal Resolution of April 19, 1779, he settled the disputes over the board of trustees, formed from then on by the Tudela Society, the town council, the ecclesiastical chapter and the Huarte family. In addition, the monarch took the establishment under his royal protection, which from then on would adopt the name of Real Casa de Misericordia de Tudela, and expressed to María Huarte "his royal satisfaction and pleasure", "for her zeal, charity and love of country".

This recognition by the king was the finishing touch to the meritorious actions of María Huarte. Her figure, through her association with the most modern institution of the time, the Society of Those Desirous of the Public Good, demonstrates that women also participated in the purposes of reform and progress characteristic of the Enlightenment spirit.