Leprosy and Identity in the Middle Ages

Elma Brenner is Research Development Specialist (Medieval and Early Modern) at Wellcome CollectionFrançois-Olivier Touati is Professor at the Université François Rabelais (Tours)

'This highly illuminating collection of original essays does more than cast light on the image and experience of persons affected by leprosy in medieval western Europe. By examining the depth and complexity of the impact of this one disease, it should also enhance our understanding of issues of life and health in our own time. The contributing authors represent a variety of American and European institutions as well as a diverse mix of disciplines, methodologies, and generations. A thoughtful and informative introductory essay sets the stage, followed by studies that range from description of the excavation of a single British leprosarium to a profusely illustrated essay on the medieval iconography of leprosy. Essays focus additionally on, e.g., linguistics, bioarchaeology, medical institutions, and religion. The volume concludes with an examination of the historiography of leprosy in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Extensive notes are included at the end of each essay, while a thorough, detailed index provides cumulative access at the end of the volume. There is no general bibliography. This collection should serve the interests of instructors in history, sociology, medicine, and religion, providing a useful model of interdisciplinary study.--C. D. Kay, emeritus, Wofford CollegeSumming Up: Recommended. Lower- and upper-division undergraduates. Graduate students, faculty, and professionals.Reprinted with permission from Choice Reviews. All rights reserved. Copyright by the American Library Association.

• Introduction – Elma Brenner and François-Olivier TouatiPart I: Approaching leprosy and identity 1 Reflections on the bioarchaeology of leprosy and identity, past and present – Charlotte Roberts2 Lepers and leprosy: connections between East and West in the Middle Ages – François-Olivier Touati3 The disease and the sacred: the leper as a scapegoat in England and Normandy (eleventh–twelfth centuries) – Damien JeannePart II: Within the leprosy hospital: between segregation and integration4 ‘A mighty force in the ranks of Christ’s army’: intercession and integration in the medieval English leper hospital – Carole Rawcliffe5 Saint Mary Magdalen, Winchester: the archaeology and history of an English leprosarium and almshouse – Simon Roffey6 Diet as a marker of identity in the leprosy hospitals of medieval northern France – Elma BrennerPart III: Beyond the leprosy hospital: the language of poverty and charity7 Good people, poor sick: the social identities of lepers in the late medieval Rhineland – Lucy Barnhouse8 The clapper as 'vox miselli': new perspectives on iconography – Luke DemaitrePart IV: Religious and social identities9 Kissing lepers: Saint Francis and the treatment of lepers in the central Middle Ages – Courtney A. Krolikoski10 From pilgrim to knight, from monk to bishop: the distorted identities of leprosy within the Order of Saint Lazarus – Rafaël Hyacinthe11 Connotation and denotation: the construction of the leper in Narbonne and Siena before the plague – Anna M. PetersonPart V: Post-medieval perspectives12 ‘Our loathsome ancestors’: reinventing medieval leprosy for the modern world, 1850–1950 – Kathleen Vongsathorn and Magnus VollsetIndex