For most people, in most places, and most times in history, disease has been a mystery. What causes sickness? Why does one person get sick while another remains healthy? What causes outbreaks of disease? What can we do to keep them at bay? Given all this uncertainty, it should not surprise us that many people connect health with the divine and the supernatural, or that healers should take on a semi-sacred status.

Keep this in mind as you review the boxed features on page 341 (Women and Medicine in Twelfth-Century Salerno) and page 373 (Plague and Public Health) of your textbook. When you're finished reviewing, take a look at a hypertext archive of historical records documenting the plague in Italy. When you're done, consider the questions below.

1. How would you describe Trota's approach to medicine? Why were so many people reluctant to believe that a woman could have written the Trotula?

2. What explanations were offered for the arrival and spread of the plague? What steps were taken in response? Were authorities willing to experiment with new policies and treatments?