As I mentioned in “A kingly rule of health,” Arnald included a chapter specially for James II on hemorrhoids, which the king suffered from. Arnald advised the king to follow a moderate and healthy diet, staying away from foods that were too salty or sweet, since those foods could cause flare-ups.
The Regimen sanitatis [Salernitum] falls under the genre of ‘advice literature,’ just like the Regimine regum et principum (see this earlier post).
Giles of Rome’s De regimine regem et principum falls under the ‘mirror for princes’ genre. The ‘mirror for princes’ genre is advice literature, meant to instruct rulers in governance, and the morals and ethics found in good government. This genre dates as far back as ancient Greece, and became popular in Western Europe during the high Middle Ages. Giles of Rome’s De regimine – if we can take extant manuscripts as evidence – was seemingly more popular than any other ‘mirror for princes’, with the exception of the pseudo-Aristotle’s Secretum secretorum.
