Tacuinum Sanitatis – Paris Codex

In the 11th century, the doctor Ibn Butlan composed the medical work Taqwīm as siḥḥah. Arising from the foundations of this work is the Latin book series Tacuinum Sanitatis. These were exquisite illustrated codices from Vienna, Rome, Lüttich, and Paris. The Paris Codex contains particularly fine and appealing miniatures. The manuscript is a medical guidebook with suggestions for a healthy lifestyle. Each page of the work is illuminated with an elaborate miniature, which is accompanied by a clarifying text. The lordly picture book is found today in the French National Library in Paris.

Medicine in the Middle Ages

Ibn Butlan’s health guide is an interesting and historically significant source about medicine and everyday life in the Middle Ages. In his mind, various elements were important for a healthy lifestyle: proper diet, activity and enough sleep, and a balanced emotional state. He recommended a life in harmony with nature, which guarantees people health and well-being. The miniatures depict typical medieval dishes as well as production of various foodstuffs and important material goods.

Inventive Illustration

In the miniatures of the Paris Codex, the gifted but unfortunately anonymous illuminator could live out his full, fantastic power of imagination. He painted pictures of a confectionary, in which one could buy the most beloved sweets of the Middle Ages, with colorful vessels and sparkling glass bottles. Other miniatures show women producing cheese, noodles, or butter and baking healthy black bread. He depicted merchants selling salt, poultry, oil or candles, and silk fabric. His charming illustrations describe a boundless spectrum of medieval everyday life.

An Influential Work

The Arabic codex by Ibn Butlan was first translated into Latin in the 13th century at the court of King Manfred of Sicily in Palermo, and in doing so made it accessible to a huge readership. In Lombardy at the end of the 14th century, the tractate was furnished with an elaborate and luxurious illustration cycle. From here the codex was widely disseminated over the boundaries of Italy. The Parisian edition arose in the Rhineland and contains some of the highest quality miniatures of German Gothic book art.