As a rule, the medieval treatise on

As a rule, the medieval treatise on hygiene was addressed to a person of high rank advising him how to live in order to remain healthy. From the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries, a large number of such books were written in Latin or in various vernacular languages. The best known work of this type is undoubtedly the Regimen sanitatis Salernitanun(The Salernitan Regimen of Health), which probably originated during the twelfth century and was published in England, Italy, and Germany as late as the middle of the nineteenth century. It was written in verse and could easily be memorized. The introductory verses in the Elizabethan translation of Sir John Harrington are indicative of the sound common sense that permeates this classic of health education: