Author: Mediolano, Joannes de
Biography:
MEDIOLANO, Joannes de (fl c. 1100)
A possibly apocryphal late-medieval physician to whom the didactic Latin poem Regimen sanitates Salerni was—and is still--attributed. His English name is John of Milan. The translator for this version, William Combe (q.v.), reiterates commonplace claims of authorship and of the legendary connection between the composition for the text c. 1100 and the recovery from illness of Robert, Duke of Normandy, eldest son of William the Conqueror. He describes Mediolano as “the most celebrated physician of the age, and one of the professors of medicine and philosophy” at the famous medical school of Salerno, Italy. The poem circulated in manuscript for 300 years before its first printing about 1480 and was translated into most European languages, including English. Combe aimed to update it in a version that might appeal to young people in his own day. It contains practical advice about matters such as diet and hygiene: “Rise after meals, sleep after dinner shun;/ When nature moves to ease, her will be done.” HJ