A Plea for help!

[Rhiannon87]

Hi,

I'm a PhD student at the University of Kent studying the role of leprosy in Middle English literary texts. I'm currently making a list of texts in Middle English which have leprosy in them...at the moment even of it is just a passing reference. Though I have already got quite a list I could really use some help....so please feel free to post anything even if you're not sure if it will be useful!

Rhiannon

[kelby_lake]

Is there a significant role played by leprosy in Middle English texts? I mean, is it a similarity you've observed or an important part of the literature?

[Rhiannon87]

I have noticed that leprosy in the medieval period seems to be strangely important...in the late medieval period when the disease was in decline it appears to retain a cultural prominance in the art and literature of the age (given that it was never a very common ailment just one that was feared) and in the texts in which it appears it seems to hold a great significance (though I am still in the process of looking at the texts I have identified at the moment). Does that answer your questions Kelby?