A stained glass depiction of Elias the leprous monk, Trinity Chapel, Canterbury Cathedral © Annaliza Gaber

Disability in the medieval period 1050-1485

This section describes the life of people with disabilities in the medieval period. It also explains how monasteries and convents cared for sick and disabled people and became the hospitals we use today.

In this section

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Overview: Disability from 1050-1485 (current page)

This section describes the life of people with disabilities in the medieval period.
Disability in Medieval Hospitals and Almshouses

First hospitals which sprang out of a long tradition of medieval religious orders caring for their own communities and sheltering passing pilgrims.
The Time of Leprosy: 11th Century to 14th Century

How leprosy became endemic in England by the 11th century, medieval attitudes towards the disease and how sufferers were cared for.
From Bethlehem to Bedlam - England's First Mental Institution

The origins of the 'Bethlem', England's first hospital for the mentally ill.
Disability in the Medieval English Community

How most disabled people remained in the community, working or supported by others, or sometimes begging on the streets.

'William heals a blind woman' York Minster © Historic England

Everyday life

In medieval England, the 'lepre', the 'blynde', the 'dumbe', the 'deaff', the 'natural fool', the 'creple', the 'lame' and the 'lunatick' were a highly visible presence in everyday life. People could be born with a disability, or were disabled by diseases such as leprosy, or years of backbreaking work.

Attitudes to disability were mixed. People thought it was a punishment for sin, or the result of being born under the hostile influence of the planet Saturn. Others believed that disabled people were closer to God - they were suffering purgatory on earth rather than after death and would get to heaven sooner.

Lazar House, Sprowston Road, Norwich, 1951. © Historic England

Provision and care

There was no state provision for people with disabilities. Most lived and worked in their communities, supported by family and friends. If they couldn't work, their town or village might support them, but sometimes people resorted to begging. They were mainly cared for by monks and nuns who sheltered pilgrims and strangers as their Christian duty.

Care for sick and disabled people was based on the Church's teachings. The monks and nuns would follow the seven 'comfortable works' which involved feeding, clothing and housing the poor, visiting them when in prison or sick, offering drink to the thirsty, and burial. The seven 'spiritual works' included counsel and comfort for the sick.

Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, destroyed by Henry VIII during the dissolution of the monastries.

Rievaulx Abbey in Yorkshire, destroyed by Henry VIII during the dissoluation of the monastries. © Historic England DP027681

The first hospitals

Over this period a nationwide network of hospitals based in (or near) religious establishments began to emerge. Specialised hospitals for leprosy, blindness and physical disability were created. England's first mental institution, later known as 'Bedlam', was originally the Bethlehem hospital in the City of London. At the same time, almshouses were founded to provide a supportive place for the disabled and elderly infirm to live.

General view across countryside at sunset where residents of the leper house mutinied in 1297, West Somerton, Somerton, Norfolk, 1956. © Historic England

Acting for themselves

We know that disabled people made pilgrimages on foot to holy sites such as the shrine of Thomas Becket in Canterbury in search of a cure or relief. Sometimes disabled people had to battle injustice. In 1297 the residents of the leper house in the Norfolk village of West Somerton mutinied against the thieving abbot and his men, looting and demolishing the buildings and killing the guard dog.

The medieval legacy

The people, religious institutions and towns and cities of the medieval period were pioneers in terms of providing a specialised response to disability. Only a small number of their buildings remain, but over the next 500 years their early professional approach would eventually develop into our modern system of public services.