‘The light of my eyes’: medieval motherhood in the mediterranean [1]

Unpicking a Myth: The Infanticide of Female and Disabled Infants in Antiquity

“…There is also evidence from Medieval societies -hardly known for their compassion and tolerance -that those with deformities were allowed to function as part of the community. A study by Skinner (1997) of adult nicknames in use in Mediterranean communities has identified the use of S'U:rdo (deaf), Gardapedem (looking at feet), Monoculum (one-eyed), and St'ultus (mad). That some of these deformities may have originated in birth defects is suggested by the work of Crawford on Anglo-Saxon cemetery data: she concludes that the adolescents found with birth defects , and artefacts such as a pot specially adapted for a child with a cleft palate, reveal that infants with obvious deformities were raised in Medieval society.…”