Born: Unknown (1300s), Italy
Died: Unknown
Country most active: Italy
Also known as: Abella of Castellomata
1300s Italian physician and writer Abella of Salerno studied and taught at the Salerno School of Medicine. This was the first university to admit women, and the Mulieres Salernitanae (women of Salerno or Salernitan wives) were renowned for their learning and practiced medicine, taught at the school of medicien and wrote texts. Along with Abella, this included Trota of Salerno, Mercuriade, Rebecca de Guarna, Maria Incarnata, and Constance Calenda.
As a professor, Abella taught students about standard medical practices, bile and women’s health and nature. Specialising in the study of embyros with Rebecca de Guarna, she published two treatises, De atrabile (On Black Bile) and De natura seminis humani (on the Nature of the Seminal Fluid), though neither has survived to modern day.