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Although majority of disabled figures in medieval visual culture appear in images of miraculous healing, disability was not the end of one’s life. Textual and paratextual (such as family and street names) sources reveal the presence of disabled bodies in the medieval society. While disability (in medieval and modern understanding) is more than just physical, this miscellany only shows this aspect.
While late medieval European conception of disability was linked to (sometimes sanctified) loss, bodies with physical infirmities could be and were augmented by assistive technologies. These took the form of braces, crutches and trestles that allowed near-full mobility to the disabled person, who then could go on and be heroes or supportive characters.
Man with supportive brace holds audience Sachsenspiegel (Germany, c.1375) Herzog August Bibliothek, Cod. Guelf. 3.1 Aug. 2°, f.20v
More often, disabled bodies were marginal not only in society but also in textual context. Nonetheless, it could be argued that depiction in marginalia counts as representation, and therefore normalisation, of these nonnormative bodies. In the margins of this important monastery bible, a peg-legged man appears twice, going about his usual business.
Peg-legged man runs after rabbit Bury St Edmunds Bible (England, c.1130) Cambridge, Corpus Christi, Parker Library, MS 2 f.1v
Prostheses could be combined to maximize mobility of the disabled person. In this German missal, the disabled old man missing a leg, begging at the feet of St Martin’s horse (a visual motif where most of the medieval visual representations of disability come from) is using two tall crutches and two slightlyelevated knee-braces shaped like trestles.
Knee-trestles and crutches Missal (Germany, c.1481) Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Clm 15712 f.32v
These trestle-shaped prostheses could vary in quality and use. While the ones used by the man in the previous image are concave, shaped to accommodate his legs and ostensively attached to his own body by white straps, the old man in this French breviary is using the same kind of wooden trestles to aid his crawling and protect his hands from further injury.
Hand-trestles used for mobility BrĂŠviaire de Belleville (France, 1323-1326) Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Latin 10484 f.218v
A variation of the supportive braces-and-peg-leg prosthetics shown in images 1 and 2, these trough-like braces were worn by people who could not use both of their legs. These knee braces extended to the shins and had wedged soles resembling those of contemporary pattens, protecting the leg from abrasions while the person walked half-upright.
Trough-like knee braces Prayer book of Mechthild von Hessen (Germany, c.1489) Bayerische Staatsbibliothek, Cgm 84 f.365v
While some disabled people were still able to move by themselves, assisted by prostheses, others were too weak to support their own bodies, therefore had no independent mobility. That generally meant that the only time they could leave the house was on feast days, when they could enlist the help of other people in the hope of miraculous healing.
Stretcher for sick woman praying Vita Christi (Italy, c.1320) Morgan Museum, MS M.643 f.19v
Not everybody unable to move by themselves was neglected and left at home. In several manuscripts, disabled children and adults are carried around in purposefullymade three-wheel-barrows. Unlike the workman’s one-wheeled barrow, these disabled-friendly vehicles kept a straight profile of the seat, so that the person inside is comfortable.
Three-wheeled wheelbarrow Book of Hours (France, 1475-1500) Bibliotheque Nationale de France, Latin 1173 f.4v
The ingenuity of the disabled people in the middle ages pushed them to augment their bodies with external resources and technologies similar to those available to modern people. A marginal doodle in this book of hours shows a precursor of the wheelchair, a four-wheel vehicle that the person sitting inside could propel and steer without help from anyone else.
Self-propelled wheeled vehicle Book of Hours (France, c.1418) Morgan Museum, MS M.919 f.113v
If you want to learn more:
Pocket Miscellanies #9: Disability Singer (2010) Toward a Transhuman Model of Medieval Disability, postmedieval Eyler (2010) Disability in the Middle Ages (2016) Prosthesis in Medieval and Early Modern Culture, Textual practice Wheatley (2010) Blind: Medieval Constructions of a Disability
COVER: St Martin blesses man in crutches Book of Hours (French, 1480) Langres, Bibliotheque municipale, MS 4 f.149r
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