Leprosy is a chronic infectious disease which attacks the skin, peripheral nerves and mucous membranes (eyes, respiratory tract).
Produced by Mycobacterium leprae, it was not scientifically identified until 1874, and the cause for the disease was not
proven until the 1960's. Leprosy is also known as Hansen's disease because the bacillus which causes it was discovered by G.A. Hansen
in 1873. It is difficult to diagnose even today; therefore, there must have been much confusion surrounding the disease in the
Middle Ages. Those classified with leprosy, especially during the Middle Ages, did not necessarily exhibit any of the common symptoms.
The classification 'leper' was given to many social deviants. Consequently, for purposes of studying lepers in the Middle Ages, we will
define lepers as R.I. Moore does in Formation of a Persecuting Society, as "those who were called lepers and treated as such."
It is most common in warm, wet areas in the tropics and subtropics.
The general characteristics of the disease include, but are not limited to:
-loss of sensation at the nerve ends
-destroyed blood vessels, ligaments and skin tissues
-eroded bones
-sores
-ulcers
-scabs
As of 1940, a treatment using dapsone is currently being used to supress leprosy. Seldom is leprosy completely removed from the body;
it can only be halted using a multi-drug treatment. Of the approximately two million cases (and half a million more each year), only
one million are being treated in this way.
In addition, patients are taught to take care of themselves using a kind of visual check if they have significant nerve damage.
Without the sensations of pain to identify cuts and bruises, patients must watch themselves constantly or be subject to dangerous
infection.
Leprosy is characterized by multiple lesions accompanied by sensory loss in the affected areas. Usually, sensory loss begins in the
extremities (toes, fingertips). In many advanced cases, gangrene sets in, causing parts of the body to 'die' (necrosis) and become
deformed.
Leprosy in all ages has been considered one of the more despicable diseases, and victims have been despised throughout history and
kept in separate places (leper colonies, sanitariums). Even today, most people with leprosy are shunned by their neighbors and are
held at arm's length.
Although lepers were isolated and treated differently from other members of society in both religious cultures, the medieval treatment
of lepers in Islamic society seemed to be less harsh than in Christian societies. There are common religious interpretations in both
Christian and Islamic societies regarding leprosy, but the effect of such interpretation appeared to be less 'marginalizing' in Islamic
societies. In Islamic society, there was little evidence of lepers being required to wear distinctive clothing. The association of
lepers with the 'unclean' is seen in the popularity of baths as a treatment for leprosy, but this occurred mostly in areas of
Christian influence, such as the Crusader states.
There are several interpretations regarding the thirteenth-century Mass of Separation, and the Catholic Church's view towards the
leper. According to Father Martinus Cawley, civil leaders declared lepers legally dead so that they could confiscate the leper's
goods; the Church expected a spouse to honor the sacramental bond and serve the leper until his/her death. The leper was considered
a kind of Nazarite (from the Hebrew Bible, a warrior who has taken special vows), who must be protected by the church. There was a list
of garments and utensils that the leper must be given, and each was blessed before the leper received it, much like was done at
clerical ordinations. The religious texts in Martene's De Antiquis Ecclesiae Ritubus clearly forbid the incorporation of
funeral liturgy. Yet Lateran III's ritual of separation was clearly modeled on the ritual of the dead, and
in many places, the leper was actually required to stand in an open grave while the ritual was read to the accused.
The general characteristics of the disease include, but are not limited to: