Leprosy and identity in the Middle Ages : from England to the Mediterranean / edited by Elma Brenner and François-Olivier Touati.

Date:
2021
  • Books

About this work

Description

"For the first time, this volume explores the identities of leprosy sufferers and other people affected by the disease in medieval Europe. The chapters, including contributions by leading voices such as Luke Demaitre, Carole Rawcliffe and Charlotte Roberts, challenge the view that people with leprosy were uniformly excluded and stigmatised. Instead, they reveal the complexity of responses to this disease and the fine line between segregation and integration. Ranging across disciplines, from history to bioarchaeology, Leprosy and identity in the Middle Ages encompasses post-medieval perspectives as well as the attitudes and responses of contemporaries. Subjects include hospital care, diet, sanctity, miraculous healing, diagnosis, iconography and public health regulation. This richly illustrated collection presents previously unpublished archival and material sources from England to the Mediterranean."--From publisher.

Publication/Creation

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2021.

Physical description

xix, 400 pages : black and white illustrations ; 23 cm.

Series

Contributors

Contents

Introduction -- Part I: Approaching leprosy and identity -- 1. Reflections on the bioarchaeology of leprosy and identity, past and present -- 2. Lepers and leprosy: connections between east and west in the Middle Ages -- 3. The disease and the sacred: the leper as a scapegoat in England and Normandy (eleventh-twelfth centuries) -- Part II: Within the leprosy hospital: Between segregation and integration -- 4. 'A mighty force in the ranks of Christ's army': intercession and integration in the medieval English leper hospital -- 5. Saint Mary Magdalen, Winchester: the archaeology and history of an English leprosarium and almshouse -- 6. Diet as a marker of identity in the leprosy hospitals of medieval northern France -- Part III: Beyond the leprosy hospital: the language of poverty and charity -- 7. Good people, poor sick: the social identities of lepers in the late-medieval Rhineland -- 8. The clapper as vox miselli: new perspectives on iconography -- Part IV: Religious and social identities -- 9. Kissing lepers: Saint Francis and the treatment of lepers in the central Middle Ages -- 10. From pilgrim to knight, from monk to bishop: the distorted identities of leprosy within the Order of Saint Lazarus -- 11. Connotation and denotation: The construction of the leper in Narbonne and Siena before the plague -- Part V: Post-medieval perspectives -- 12. 'Our loathsome ancestors': reinventing medieval leprosy for the modern world, 1850-1950.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Languages

Subjects

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    FIF.3.AA2
    		Open shelves

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Identifiers

ISBN

  • 9781526127419
  • 1526127415