Elma Brenner. Leprosy and Charity in Medieval Rouen

Elma Brenner situates her contribution by saying that “this book adds a study of an important region of medieval France” to the existing scholarship on leprosy and charity (137). In fact, this work is embedded in a research tradition inaugurated by François-Olivier Touati and developed by scholars such as Carole Rawcliffe and Luke Demaitre. These authors question the actual segregation of lepers during the high medieval period by highlighting their interaction with other sectors of society. Moreover, they underline that certain elements traditionally associated with medieval lepers (such as the fear of contagion) developed mainly from the fourteenth century onward. In her analysis, Brenner traces the multiple links between the leprosaria and the city of Rouen. Also here, the sources confirm a general trend: “in the fourteenth century, less positive responses to the leprous, as well as the fear of contagion, started to replace the compassionate charity of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries” (3). Yet, the author hints at some elements of complexity. For instance, signs of fear of contagion can be traced already to the thirteenth century, while customs such as the distribution of alms to lepers in the cathedral of Rouen during the fifteenth century indicate that the new ideas about the spread of the disease did not shape every aspect of the city life. The scant information about these social practices asks Brenner to be cautious, though. While the 1237 rules written for a leprosarium by the archbishop of Rouen suggest an early preoccupation of contagion, Brenner acknowledges the difficulty to establish whether this refers to physical contagion or spiritual impurity (100).

Ancient history · Archbishop · Fifteenth · Leprosy · Medieval studies · Middle Ages · Political science · Scholarship · Sociology · Classics · Historical Studies and Socio-cultural Analysis · History · Law · Medicine