A drawing representing Trotula. London, Wellcome Library, MS 544 (Miscellanea medical XVIII, early 14th century)
Quote: She was considered among her contemporaries (Middle Age): "Magistra mulier sapiens" (wise woman teacher)
Place of birth: Salerno, Italy
Quick bio:
Trotula had the opportunity to study in the prestigious Scholae Medica Salernitana (the first European University) and she became a physician.
She wrote treatises in dermatology and gynecology and she studied methodologies to make labor less painful (i.e. by using opiates).
Her "Trotula Major" (Passionibus Mulierum Curandorum, The Diseases of Women), was used until the XIX century. The text had a huge impact on the education of doctors because it was the only book containing information about menstruation and childbirth.
For centuries, some scholars started doubting that one woman was the author of such fundamental books for modern medicine. All of their assertions were then disproved.
The Trotula texts
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