Servants within elite households are also illustrated, especially in the chapters about various foods and their health benefits.īoth men and women are shown sifting rice, making wine and managing livestock. Credit: Bibliothèque nationale de France.Īcross "Régime du corps" manuscripts, upper-class women are presented with clothing, objects and gestures that convey authority, often in dialog with those who are shown as laborers of various kinds. What's fascinating to me about the "Régime du corps" is how it depicts the responsibilities of women in wealthy medieval households-and how domestic management advice was passed down among them.Ī potential wet nurse is assessed by another woman. I'm an art historian who recently published a book called "Visualizing Household Health: Medieval Women, Art, and Knowledge in the Régime du corps" about these magnificent illustrated copies. They offer a window into many aspects of everyday medieval life-from sleeping, bathing and preparing food to bloodletting, leeching and purging. ![]() ![]() Over 70 unique manuscripts survive today. Known as the "Régime du corps," or "regimen of the body," the book was widely copied and became extremely popular across Europe in the late Middle Ages, specifically between the 13th and 15th centuries. Scholars believe that around 1256, a French countess commissioned the creation of a health manual to share with her four daughters just as they were forming their own households. Why would such an opulent art form depict such a mundane topic? Known as an illustrated manuscript, it was made entirely by hand, as virtually all books were before the adoption of the printing press. ![]() It might surprise you to learn this scene is found in a luxurious book from the Middle Ages made with the highest-quality materials, including abundant gold leaf.
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