Entre image et pouvoir : l’extériorité des remèdes naturels et la perception de leurs propriétés dans la littérature médicale

Abstract

This study focuses on the role played by color and, more generally, by the external appearance of the natural object, in pharmacology and pharmacopoeia of the Middle Ages. The question is approached by considering, in a first part, the “theoretical” approach of Avicenna, which in the second book of his Canon of medicine, offers us the principles of the evaluation of the external characteristics of a natural object (flavor, smell, color) in order to understand its internal complexion. In the second part, we analyze the “practical” perception of the external aspect of the object by the authors of herbaria (notably the Pseudo Bartholomaeus Mini de Senis and Manfredus de Monte Imperiali, both authors of a Tractatus of herbis preserved in richly illustrated manuscripts), and in particular their tendency to add elements of external description of the natural object alongside its characteristics as a medicine.

Keywords

• pharmacopeia
• Canon medicine
• complexion
• herbals
• Tractatus de herbis
• Manfredus de Monte Imperiali