A Medieval Guide for Health, by John Lydgate (Title commonly given by specialists: The Dietary).

Abstract

The Dietary (or in my free translation A Medieval Guide for Health) was written by John Lydgate in the 15th century and became an almost immediate success at that time after its emergence. This text is preserved in fifty-seven manuscripts, some of them printed by wellknown printers such as Caxton himself, de Worde and Pynson. When this brief guide was composed, two different types of medicine were practised in the 15th century England. First of all, there was a type of medicine which was based upon the Greek writings of Galen, and was practised or applied by physicians that had obtained their medical education in different universities. This type of medicine was mainly targeted at members of the nobility and the aristocracy; secondly, there was a type of medicine based upon popular sources and traditions from the Roman, Anglo-Saxon, and Arab cultures employed by a high number of people. This latter type of medicine emphasised that any sort of medical treatment could be avoided by maintaining a balanced diet supplemented by regular exercise. Lydgate’s poem is virtually a translation of the 12th century Latin text Flos medicinae, that is intended to act as an eminently didactic guide in terms of disease prevention and, in turn, as a practical guide that prevents a sick person from spending quite a considerable amount of money on a rather expensive physician who had been trained at university. The Latin text seems to contain information about household medicine related to daily hygiene and diet matters. Lydgate’s text, which has been commonly referred to as The Dietary by modern scholars, and as Medicina stomachi in William Caxton’s earliest edition, instructs readers in a pragmatic fashion on how to keep oneself healthy through moderation and temperance in terms of food, alcohol drinking, labour, sleeping, physical activity, sexual intercourse, and uneasiness due to daily worries.