of southern Italy, the title "Trotula" was soon misunderstood as an author's name, and “Trotula” came to be seen as the singular author of all three texts in the Trotula ensemble. Whatever of Trota's fame endured beyond the 12th century seems to have been fused with the textual persona "Trotula". In contrast to the wide popularity of the Trotula texts—which are found in nearly 140 extant copies of the Latin originals, and about 60 copies of vernacular translations—the authentic works of Trota survive in only a handful of copies. Hence, in modern scholarship, it is crucial to separate the historical woman Trota from the fate of the Trotula texts, because their historical importance and impact were quite distinct. Debates about whether "Trotula" really existed began in the 16th century, generated in part out of the inherent inconsistencies in the assembled work that circulated under "her" name. Those debates persisted into the later 20th century, when the discovery of Trota's Practica secundum Trotam ("Practical Medicine According to Trota") and philological analysis of other works associated with her allowed the real historic woman Trota to be seen independently from the textual creation "Trotula". Life and works No independent biographical information on Trota of Salerno exists beyond information that can be gleaned from writings associated with her. That information allows us to place her sometime in the first half of the 12th century. Additionally, a comprehensive concordance of all textual witnesses to Trota's writings and practices, published in 2007, allows an estimation of the full scope of her work. It is likely that she wrote more than can yet be documented by extant witnesses. In the 12th and 15th centuries, the Trota's texts were repeatedly published in various cities and had a broad audience throughout western Europe despite the competition of other texts focusing on gynecology and women's health. She also promoted the ways of living a healthy and long life. It was advocated to incorporate exercise, a good diet, a low stress life, and cleanliness into the daily life. Trotula also wrote content on how to take care of personal hygiene and care including lessons about make-up, suggests the way to be unwrinkled, remove puffiness from face and eyes, remove unwanted hair from the body, lighten the skin, hide blemishes and freckles, wash teeth and take away bad breath, dying hair, wax, treat lips and gums chaps. Practica secundum Trotam (Practical Medicine