ABSTRACT
The middle ages is dominated by the shining example of motherhood provided by the Virgin Mary, but on a more mundane level we should not ignore the obstacles to motherhood, many of which were dealt with in gynaecological writings that have been carefully studied by Monica Green. Some attention has been paid to issues such as obstetrics, which was mostly represented in the pre-Salernitan period by Muscio's Gynaecia, by Caelius Aurelianus, a number of Hippocratic works. Attention was also paid to embryology. In this body of literature we find detailed discussion of alterations of the womb, obstacles to conception, disorders of gestation, causes of miscarriage, difficulties of birth and associated problems. Of the comparatively rare writings in the vernacular, much of interest will be found in a hitherto unedited which was put together from a variety of sources, particularly the 'Liber de sinthomatibus mulierum' together, it appears, with an earlier draft, the 'Tractatus de egritudinibus mulierum' (TEM).
