thumbnail|london, wellcome library, ms 544 (miscellanea medica xviii), early 14th century (france), a copy of the intermediate trotula ensemble, p. 65 (detail): pen and wash drawing meant to depict "trotula", clothed in red and green with a white headdress, holding an orb. thumb|trotula transitional ensemble, paris, bibliothÃ¨que nationale de france, ms lat. 7056, mid-13th century, ff. 84v-85r, opening of the de ornatu mulierum. trotula is a name referring to a group of three texts on women's medicine, the trotula, that were composed in the southern italian port town of salerno in the 12th century. the name derives from a historic female figure, trota of salerno, a physician and medical writer who was associated with one of the three texts. however, "trotula" came to be understood as a real person in the middle ages and because the so-called trotula texts circulated widely throughout medieval europe, from spain to poland, and sicily to ireland, "trotula" has historic importance in "her" own right.monica h. green, ed. and trans. the âtrotulaâ: a medieval compendium of womenâs medicine (philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, 2001). ==the trotula texts: genesis and authorship== in the 12th century, the southern italian port town of salerno was widely reputed as "the most important center for the introduction of arabic medicine into western europe".john f. benton, "trotula, women's problems, and the professionalization of medicine in the middle ages," bulletin of the history of medicine 59, no. 1 (spring 1985), 330-53, at p. 33. in referring to the school of salerno in the 12th century, historians actually mean an informal community of masters and pupils who, over the course of the 12th century, developed more or less formal methods of instruction and investigation; there is no evidence of any physical or legal entity before the 13th century.monica h. green, ed. and trans., the âtrotulaâ: a medieval compendium of womenâs medicine (philadelphia: university of pennsylvania press, 2001), p. 10. conditions of women, treatments for women, and womenâs cosmetics are usually referred to collectively as the trotula. they cover topics from childbirth to cosmetics, relying on varying sources from galen to oral traditions, providing practical instructions. these works vary in both organization and content. conditions of women and womenâs cosmetics circulated anonymously until they were combined with treatments for women sometime in the late 12th century. for the next several hundred years, the trotula ensemble circulated throughout europe, reaching its greatest popularity in the 14th century. more than 120 copies exist today o
12th-century_Italian_people 12th-century_women_writers Italian_women_physicians Italian_women_scientists Italian_women_writers Medieval_women_physicians Medieval_writers People_from_Salerno Women_of_medieval_Italy