Dis/ability and Byzantine Hagiography
I will discuss first the differences in the narrative teatments of disability by various hagiographers, and their attempts at explaining its source or reason depending on their religious and moral agendas.
Blinding as punishment and enforced disability, with Jake Ransohoff
A conversation with Jake Ransohoff on the practice of blinding in Byzantium. Why and how was it done? Why was it more prominent in some periods rather than in others? And how did its victims cope with this disability that the state had imposed on them for (usually) crimes of treason?
How Did Deaf and Non-Speaking People Communicate in Medieval Iceland?
In my research on deaf and non-speaking people in medieval Iceland, one question that particularly stuck with me was whether those who could not or did not want to engage in verbal communication had any other tools at their disposal.
Disability in Byzantium, with Christian Laes
What might count as a disability in a Byzantine context? What social consequences did it have? How was it represented in texts? How did people try to cope with their disabilities?
Medieval Disabled Bodies
Lucie Laumonier talks to Adelheid Russenberger about medieval disabilities and what it meant, in the Middle Ages, to be disabled.
St. Francis, Disability, and Illness, with Donna Trembinski
One of the world’s most well-known and beloved medieval saints is, of course, St. Francis, a man who faced many tribulations in the form of physical illness and disability. This week on The Medieval Podcast, Danièle speaks with Donna Trembinski about what we can learn about the person behind the saint by studying how his physical life affected his spiritual life.
Children of a One-Eyed God: Impairment in the Myth and Memory of Medieval Scandinavia
This thesis counters scholarly assumptions that the impaired were universally marginalized across medieval Europe. It argues that bodily difference in the Norse world was only viewed as a limitation when it prevented an individual from fulfilling roles that contributed to their community.
Disabilities in the Middle Ages with Kisha Tracy
How did medieval people deal with physical and mental challenges? Danièle speaks with Kisha Tracy of Fitchburg State University on why its important to talk about disabilities in the Middle Ages and what evidence we have for how people cared for each other when there was physical or mental disabilities.
“In the resurrection, no weakness will remain”: Perceptions of disability in Christian Anglo-Saxon England
This paper will focus on perceptions of physical impairment in the later Anglo-Saxon period (c. 800–1066 AD).
Companions, Servants or Signifiers?: The Role of Assistance Dogs in the Late Middle Ages
Medieval dogs as companions were most valuable in providing humans with emotional and material support.
Sickness, Disability, and Miracle Cures: Hagiography in England, c. 700 – c. 1200
By analysing a selection of miracle-cure narratives from the main period of miracle writing in England, from the age of Bede to the late twelfth century, this project considers the social significance of such stories.
Allegories of Sight: Blinding and Power in Late Anglo-Saxon England
The practical necessity of sight to effective participation in Anglo-Saxon life is reflected in the multifaceted depictions of punitive blinding in late Anglo-Saxon literature.
The Medieval Magazine: Disabilities in the Middle Ages (Volume 2 Issue 11)
This week we look at disability studies and the Middle Ages, the death of Richard the Lionheart, Rounded Churches, and knights in Harlem.
Making the Medieval Relevant: Crossing Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Studies on Disease and Disability
A summary of a paper given by Professor Christina Lee at the University of Nottingham’s “Making the Medieval Relevant” Conference.
Neither Cursed Nor Possessed: Mental Abnormality in the Late Middle Ages
I plan to address the more formal ecclesiastical proscriptions regarding mental abnormality.
To what extent has the concept of ‘deformity’ affected Richard III’s image and character?
This essay will adopt a chronological approach in an attempt to assess when, how, and why the concept of ‘deformity’ or disfigurement became so integral to the central argument surrounding Ricardian historiography, and whether Richard was a ‘good’ or ‘bad’ king.
Monsters: An etymological and cultural reading of the ‘freak’ in the Middle Ages
That the medievals did not interpret ‘freaks’ as an insult to creation is the theme of this paper, showing that medieval thought on the disabled body was not as ‘backward’ as the Dark Ages school of popular historical perception teaches
Physical Disability and Marriage in Later Medieval (c. 1200–1500) Miracle Testimonies
In September 1470, a man called Laurencius Rawaldi from Linköping in Sweden was struck by a severe condition in his eyes. The illness left him blind for three years, during which he—according to his own testimony—was useless for both himself and others.
Accepting Fools as Heroes
What sociocultural attitudes towards the intellectually disabled – commonly referred to as fools – were prevalent during the Viking Age?
Drug Overdose, Disability and Male Friendship in Fifteenth-Century Mamluk Cairo
Shihab al-Din al-Hijazi (1388-1471) was an unexceptional legal student in Mamluk Cairo, who, at the age of 24, overdosed on marking nut, a potent plant drug valued for its memory-enhancing properties
Integrative Medicine: Incorporating Medicine and Health into the Canon of Medieval European History
Hitherto peripheral (if not outright ignored) in general medieval historiography, medieval medical history is now a vibrant subdiscipline, one that is rightlyattracting more and more attention from ‘mainstream’ historians and other studentsof cultural history.
Illness and Disability in Twelfth and Thirteenth-Century Notarial Documents in Medieval Toledo
Their documents are symbolic not only of the transition from Muslim Al-Andalus to Christian Spain, but also give us insight into the real-time everyday interactions and events of transitional Toledo after the year 1085 AD between peoples of different cultures, religions, backgrounds and identities.