Physician to The Bruce: Maino De Maineri in Scotland

This article pieces together evidence from fourteenth-century Scottish royal records to identify one of the physicians to King Robert I as the Milanese Maino de Maineri (ca 1295-1368), regent master of the University of Paris and later court physician and astrologer to the Visconti rulers of Milan. The implications for the history of medicine in medieval Scotland are significant, suggesting that, at least at court level, Scots demanded and could afford and attract a high quality of medical treatment. Also emphasised are the strong links that existed between Scotland, Ireland and continental Europe, through the travels of physicians and the transmission of medical literature. Three fifteenth-century manuscripts of one of Maino's works are used as an example of just this type of transmission. The article urges a reevaluation of medical culture in medieval Scotland.