Disability & War in the Middle Ages
So badly disfigured that he will ever be an object of pity, and unable to gain a living, except in seclusion from society
Infos
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onflict-related wounds leading to physical and mental impairment often entail social disability, social exclusion or reduced participation, especially for those injuries which have visible physical and behavioural manifestations. While physical impairments may more easily be ascertained from skeletal effects, mental impairment is more difficult to identify directly from the analysis of human remains, but are just as likely to lead to long-term disability that may have been recognized in the past and influenced community reactions. These can sometimes be inferred from grave contexts, their location, and funerary treatments. To identify mental impairment from head trauma requires argument from analogy with more recent cases documenting consequences of comparable injuries reported in the medical literature. Advancements in diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation of modern cases weakens their use for the past, however. Historical documents, which are more prominent from the Classical and Medieval periods, and, especially, those of early modern date, are more germane due to the absence of antibiotics that alleviate post-injury and post-surgical infections—a great danger in the pre-antibiotic era— while facilitating healing. Survivors of head injury provide unique insights into the nature of long-term incapacity. This presentation considers some examples of conflict-related trauma from archaeological and historical perspectives.
(“So badly disfigured that he will ever be an object of pity, and unable to gain a living, except in seclusion from society.” = Quotation from a medical description of a facially wounded soldier who had received an early form of reconstructive surgery in Barnes, J.K. (1870). The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion (1861-1865). Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, page 368.)
Conférence de Christopher KNÜSEL (University of Bordeaux, France) – “So badly disfigured that he will ever be an object of pity, and unable to gain a living, except in seclusion from society.”
Organisation & inscriptions
Christophe MASSON (F.R.S.-FNRS/ULiège)
Ninon DUBOURG (F.R.S.-FNRS/ULiège)
