Madame Trota Tells it All

Quick recap:

Europe, stuck in the dark ages, has only a few second hand medical texts from the good old days of Rome. Mostly Hippocratic “common knowledge” rules the day; Soranus, that great obstetrician of antiquity, has been largely forgotten; Galen has disappeared into the Byzantine Empire.

Sudden contact with the Arab world during the crusades brings to Europe copies of Galen, as well as a few good ideas from Muslim physicians.

In the midst of this chaos, one city rises to rule all medical knowledge for the next several hundred years–Salerno, Italy.

Salerno was truly gifted in terms of its geography. Situated very close to Sicily, which was controlled by Islam, swift trading routes developed. Exotic medicines and spices could be obtained. Knowledge could be traded.  Jews  were even available.

The “Salerno school” was not really a medical institution so much as it was a loose association of apprenticeships. Nonetheless, its reputation spread far and wide. Having a Salerno physician was a status symbol throughout Europe; traveling Salernians could command massive fees from nobles who found themselves in need of medical assistance.

From this milieu arose the most famous obstetrician of the Middle Ages. This physician produced a three-volume compendium of medical knowledge, covering theory (Conditions of Women), practical therapy (Treatments for Women), and by far the most important, medically relevant volume, Women’s Cosmetics.

Together, these three volumes are named for their supposed author. Known as the Trotula, it was available widely throughout Europe for several hundred years. It was on the bedstand of virtually every woman in the European Middle Ages, or at least the ones who could read (so, the bedstands of the nobility, and the occasional educated midwife).

Somewhere along the line, the marketing decision was made to produce the author of these volumes. HER name, you see, was Madame Trota.

Here’s the problem: Two of the books were undoubtedly written by men.

There were, apparently, some well known female healers in Salerno. Trocta, or Trotta, was a common female name in this largely Germanic community. And at least some scholars believe that the second volume, Treatments for Women, reflect the actual practical practices of those female healers. So, maybe, Madame Trota wasn’t a complete fabrication.

She was, however, famous. If you were a healer in the Middle Ages, and you were called to take care of a woman, you had better be ready to quote Madame Trota. Minstrels wrote songs about her. Chaucer mentions her (Dame Trot) in the Wife of Bath’s Tale.

Since the Trotula is by far the greatest influence on women’s medicine for at least 500 years, we will examine each volume in detail. Bet you can’t wait for those cosmetic secrets.

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