Hippiatrics and Colours in the Anonymous Chirurgia Equorum (= Albertusvorlage, XIII sec.)

Abstract

The paper focuses on the presence of colours in the anonymous hippiatry Chirurgia equorum, also called Albertusvorlage (13th century), since it was the main source of Albertus Magnus’ De equis. Colours are present mainly in the chapters on diseases. Theoretical basis of the treatise is the humoral pathology: not only humans, but also animals have in their bodies four fluids (blood, phlegma, yellow bile, black bile), whose imbalance determines various diseases with specific chromatic features.