Trotula of Salerno

Trotula of Salerno (ca. 1090 - ????) was a female physician who wrote several influential works on women's medicine, the most prominent of which is The Diseases of Women, or Passionibus Mulierum Curandorum.

Little is known of Trotula's life. She is believed to have been a professor of medicine at the School of Salerno. Her books argued for a focus on the unique medical ailments faced by women, including menstruation and childbirth. In some ways, her writings challenged the status quo: one example is her support for giving women opiates during childbirth to ease the pain, a practice that was then denounced by almost all authorities. In other ways, her work supported the beliefs of her time: she claimed that, because of Eve's sin, women naturally were more susceptible to disease, and therefore were in greater need of special medical attention.

Nothing is known of when and where Trotula died. A few medieval scholars doubt that Trotula was a woman, and some feel that she was an entirely fictional character.