Abstract

Gilles de Corbeil figures as the initiator of the scientific teaching of medicine in Paris at a time when medicina became physica. He studied medicine at the famous school of Salerno, and his teaching was based upon Salernitan theories and practice. He showed himself very concerned with teaching methods and attached great importance to memorizing. This explains why he composed medical poetry so as to provide a mnemonic aid for his students. As a teacher, he took care of his students' reading, offering them advise. He insisted on the importance of a personal relationship between teacher and student, evoking his own relationship with his Salernitan masters, but repeatedly criticized the students of his time