Tale of Trotula

Time has not been kind to the woman known as Trotula Plataerius, Trotula di Ruggiero or Trotula of Salerno. Was she the author of the famous 11th century De passionibus mulierum (On the Diseases of Women) or was she a mythical.

Now the controversy continues with this article from :

The first female physician, and the thousand-year campaign against her

These arguments came to a head in the 1500s, when historians and doctors announced that there never was a Trotula in the first place. Since then, she's become a semi-mythical figure. Even those who believe in her existence sometimes doubt her work. The few facts that anyone has pertaining to the woman - that she may have been from a noble family, that she may have had a physician for a husband or a son - have been used to attribute the book to male relatives who used her name as a cover.

See article from

International Journal of Cosmetic Science - Volume 30, Issue 2, pages 79–86, April 2008

(Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1468-2494.2007.00414.x/full )

Among these women, there was Trotula de Ruggiero (11th century), a teacher whose main interest was to alleviate suffering of women. She was the author of many medical works, the most notable being De Passionibus Mulierum Curandarum (about women’s diseases), also known as Trotula Major. Another important work she wrote was De Ornatu Mulierum (about women’s cosmetics), also known as Trotula Minor, in which she teaches women to conserve and improve their beauty and treat skin diseases through a series of precepts, advices and natural remedies. 

See also: Women of History - Trotula Plataerius and Trotula di Ruggiero - The First Beauty Blogger

From Google Books:

The Trotula: An English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women's Medicine edited by Monica H. Green

Trotula and Hildegard: Reflections of Female Medieval Medicine by Christine Dombourian Rinck

Trotula di Ruggiero – The First Beauty Blogger

From Colin's Beauty Pages:

The first person to write on the science of beauty was an eleventh century Italian woman called Trotula di Ruggiero (often called just Trotula of Salerno – a bit easier to spell and remember). She worked in Salerno in one of the earliest medical schools. She is most famous as the first person to write about women’s medical problems in De Passionibus Mulierum Curandarum. But her De Ornatu Mulierum (about women’s cosmetics) is just as interesting.

Salerno at the time must have been a fascinating place to operate in. The medical school consciously drew on the traditions of the Arabs, the Jews and the Greeks as well as the local knowledge of herbal beauty treatments. It was also a place where women seem to have played a major role in developing knowledge. The local produce and the sophisticated Mediterranean trade routes also provided a rich variety of raw materials.

Trotula Plataerius

(11th Century AD)
Professor & Doctor

Trotula was an Italian woman who achieved fame in the medical profession. She was considered the most knowledgable of all women physicians of her time (and after).

Based at the medical school at Salerno, Trotula was a leading gynacologist and obstetrician, and also specialised in the study of dermatology and epilepsy. It was in the specialist field that Trotula became noted for her unique diagnostis methods: she used skilled questioning and close observation, and experience, to recognise the symptoms (a practice that was unheard of a the time).

Trotula was famed for her much-copied book on obstetrics and gynaecology. At the medical school of Salerno, Trotula was considered the most knowledgable of all the teachers (male and female) by her students, who included Rudolph Malecouronne, who studied under her (1040-1056) and went on to become the most important physician in Western France.

~~~ Melisende (first pub: 1998 Women of History)