Leprosy, or Hansen’s Disease, was a scourge for many throughout the European Middle Ages. Although it spreads slowly throughout a population, it was pervasive enough in England between the 11th and 15th centuries that at least 320 caretaking facilities for lepers were established during this time. In its advanced expression, leprosy causes lesions, sores, and rotting tissue, which historically has turned sufferers into social pariahs. However, their treatment was complicated: before the Bubonic Plague of the mid-14th century, there was a sort of prestige one could gain by giving assistance to lepers, so that many hospitals were funded by charitable alms. Because those afflicted with the disease suffered so overtly, many people thought lepers were “paying” for their sins on earth (unlike able-bodied people), and that the diseased would go straight to heaven upon death. However, as the Middle Ages wore on (especially after the Bubonic Plague of the 14th century), leprosy was increasingly seen with disgust, and those afflicted were treated increasingly worse by society.
Source(s): Picture is of a person with Hansen’s begging for alms. 1425 English pontifical. Lansdowne 451, for. 127r.
