Conny Waters – AncientPages.com – The discovery of a man’s skeleton, exhibiting a severe dislocated knee fracture, in a cemetery located in Lund, Scania County, in southern Sweden, offers significant insights into medieval society.
These human remains from the late medieval period provide researchers with valuable insights into the complexities surrounding social attitudes toward individuals with disabilities during that era.
The femoral fracture in grave 2399 with the tibia repositioned to show the 45-degrees angulation. CreditNelly Hercberg, Cultural Museum in Lund.
The study led by Blair Nolan of Lund University, Sweden and colleagues, is the first to apply traditional osteological methods and 3D modelling – a cutting-edge technique for viewing and studying traumatic injury and related skeletal changes, in medieval remains in the Nordic region.
This type of advanced analysis, incorporating contextual information from historical texts and digitized excavation records, enables a better understanding of disability and care in historical contexts.
The skeleton, referred to as individual 2399, belonged to a man of about 30 years of age who lived in the late Middle Ages (1300–1536 CE). At some point in his twenties, his left femur (thigh bone) was badly broken at the knee joint, leaving him unable to walk unaided until his death. The injury could have been caused by a kick from a horse or a heavy object falling on the knee, such as stone while working on a building.
For the remainder of his life, he required a mobility aid to get around, such as crutches or a leg stand.
The analysis of the man’s skeleton revealed tha he received considerable short- and long-term care. Following his injury, he was likely given forms of pain relief available at the time, such as ointments made of lavender oil, opium and alcohol, and would have required help to clean and dress the wound. He also required regular treatment for inflammation of the bone marrow – osteomyelitis – which probably included opening the wound to drain the pus.
Thanks to historical records, the team could deduce the social impacts of individual 2399’s disability, and in this way, they uncovered a very complex picture.
During that period, religious perspectives on physical disability were complex. Disabilities could be viewed as either a punishment from God or a divine test that necessitates penance. Despite these views, the Church actively engaged in collecting and distributing alms for those with disabilities. Additionally, monasteries played a crucial role as the primary providers of institutionalized medical care.
Cultural attitudes of the period can be inferred from the legal codes in place at that time. For instance, punitive measures often involved the amputation of body parts such as hands, feet, eyes, nose, or ears. This practice occasionally resulted in a correlation between disability and criminality. Furthermore, the degree of severity attributed to a disability was determined not solely by the extent of impairment but also by its visibility.
Injuries that could be obscured by hair or clothing were deemed less severe.
Despite prevailing negative cultural perceptions of disability, individual 2399 maintained a sufficiently high social status that allowed access to long-term medical care and secured a prominent burial site in the cemetery.
Individuals of elevated socioeconomic standing, including those belonging to the burgher class, sought to secure burial sites near the church. Notably, individual 2399 was interred atop the foundation stones at the base of a church tower. Consequently, it is plausible that his elevated social status superseded considerations regarding his disability.
“Deducing social norms regarding physical impairment and disability from religious and legal texts is difficult because it presents an idealized perspective. We can enrich our understanding of disability and identity through detailed osteological and archaeological analysis,” Nolan said.
The research is published in De Gruyter Brill’s Open Archaeology
Written by Conny Waters – AncientPages.com Staff Writer
