Care in the Medieval community

Abstract

Evidence from a Medieval parish cemetery in Norwich, England, suggests the presence of a caring, supportive community. As well as episodes of healed trauma and the presence of chronic infectious disease, two severely disabled individuals survived into adulthood. Number 439 (presented at Göttingen in 1994 and extensively discussed since) was at first thought to be suffering from a dysplasia. The general consensus now, however, suggests a juvenile polyepiphyseal disease with arthropathy. Number 253, a young adult male, had widespread osteopenia, with a twisted face, scoliosis, flexion contractures and fused joints; the lesions suggest a neuromuscular disease with paraplegia, possibly cerebral palsy. The presence of these two adults and others suffering from trauma and disease in the cemetery of the poorest parish in Medieval Norwich, strongly suggests that the associated community was a caring one, where physically disabled individuals were supported and those needing nursing were cared for. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.