Un handicap institutionnalisé : la lèpre au Moyen Âge

Abstract

In the archaeology of disability, the leper of the medieval period is almost an archetype. Physically affected by the disease, the leper has an ambiguous position, fluctuating between care in specialised institutions and exclusion. As leprosy is identifiable by distinctive skeletal lesions, archaeology can document the biological and social repercussions of this disease. However, unlike what could be expected, large-scale investigations of institutions for the care of medieval lepers remain rare in France. This article presents the examples of leprosariums studied in Normandy (the French region where most of the archaeological studies of these institutions are concentrated) and the study conducted on the population of the Saint-Lazare leprosarium in Tours. Results highlight the great potential of these sites to provide new data to characterize disabilities associated with leprosy in the Middle Ages.

Keywords

• leprosy
• Middle Ages
• Normandy (France)
• Tours
• isotopes
• disability