Greatest among them was Trotula, who lived in the eleventh century, and whose learning is reputed to have equalled that of the greatest physicians of the day.

She is accredited with a work on Diseases of Women, still extant, and many of her writings on general medical subjects were quoted through two succeeding centuries.

If we may judge from these writings, she seemed to have had many excellent ideas as to the proper methods of treating diseases, but it is difficult to determine just which of the writings credited to her are in reality hers.

Indeed, the uncertainty is even greater than this implies, for, according to some writers, "Trotula" is merely the title of a book.

Such an authority as Malgaigne, however, believed that such a woman existed, and that the works accredited to her are authentic.