Treatments
- Carry religious relics
- Use natural herbs and oils
- Bloodletting to balance black bile
- Soil from ant-hills
- Lilly flowers
- Spiritual interventions
Contrary Beliefs
- Suffering was sent from God and was not a punishment
- Lepers were holy and could become saints
- The suffering endured was similar to what Christ endured, and brought them closer to Christ
Meanings of Leprosy in the Middle Ages
Leprosy
"rules"
- Not permitted to enter a church or marketplace
- You were to carry a bell if you had leprosy, in order to warn those around you of your diseased state
- Could not touch anything or anyone without gloves and lesions needed to be generally covered
- You were to walk on the other side of the street depending on the wind
- Could not inherit anything
- Priests made decisions
Leprosy
stigma
Leprosy
- "Lepers" were predominantly shunned from society
- It was a common belief that they were being punished by God for some sort of sin they had committed or that they had engaged in sexual acts before marriage
today
- Leper Houses gave refugee to those with leprosy, but were often a far distance away from town
- Most people were afraid to come into contact with someone infected, because the mode of transmission was truly unknown
Leprosy (Hansen's Disease) is a slowly progressing bacterial infection that affects the skin, peripheral nerves in the hands and feet, and the mucous membranes of the nose, throat, and eyes.
- You were considered "unclean" if you had leprosy
Leprosy
in the Middle Ages
- Those with leprosy were called "lepers"
- Anyone with a skin deformity was labeled as a leper
- Social stereotypes associated with leprosy were similar to the human response of plague outbreaks and more recently, the HIV epidemic