Medieval literature help!

[Chris Zacher]

Hello All!

I'm new to this forum, but I could really use some help. I am currently writing an honors thesis at Seton Hall University and have hit a roadblock in my research of deafness during the Middle Ages. In particular, I am unable to locate examples of deaf characters in Medieval literature with the exceptions of the Wife of Bath and people referred to as deaf in a figurative sense. I have been working with several professors, and they are at a loss as well. Please, if you have come across deaf characters in Medieval literary works, please let me know. Your assistance is very much needed. Thank you!

[Eman Resu]

Given the consideration that the deaf were generally confined to asylums, or were treated as those possessed by dæmons from the end of the Postclassical right into the fifteenth century throughout most of Europe, the pool of resource material will be small, and much smaller still if you confine yourself to English language sources. Presuming you've already exhausted Irina Metzler's excellent A Social History of Disability in the Middle Ages, Donald Maddox' Fictions of Identity in Medieval France and Tory Pearman's Women and Disability in Medieval Literature as secondary sources, you're probably down to primary Latin sources.

Aside: as you know, the 'Wife of Bath' was made deaf in only one ear, owed to her husband's wrath after she, "rente out of his book a leef." And thus, to all defilers of books, anathema sit.

[Chris Zacher]

Thank you for the reply!

I am quite familiar with those works and have been working with them, as well as a wealth of other relevant secondary source material, since my project's inception. While I have found a great deal of primary source material in law codes, medical texts, biblical texts, Dante's Il Convito, saints lives, and work by medieval theologians such as St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, there is certainly a paucity of examples of the deaf in Medieval Literature. I have found this scarcity to exist throughout the whole of medieval texts in general, as I am not limiting myself to literature from English language sources only, but rather have been combing through French, Latin, Arabic, and Norse sources as well to no avail. I am certainly at a disadvantage with half of these sources as I am not proficient in Arabic or Norse languages and instead rely upon translations of these sources.

On a side note, I was well aware going into this project that there appears to be a lack of portrayals of deafness in the Middle Ages. I find the fact that this shortage exists in the first place is itself indicative of medieval attitudes toward the Deaf population. That said, before I admit defeat or present this opinion formally, I want to try to exhaust all avenues.

[Eman Resu]

On a side note, I was well aware going into this project that there appears to be a lack of portrayals of deafness in the Middle Ages. I find the fact that this shortage exists in the first place is itself indicative of medieval attitudes toward the Deaf population. That said, before I admit defeat or present this opinion formally, I want to try to exhaust all avenues.


For Heaven's sake, never admit defeat. What would have been the outcome had The Customer at The Pet Shoppe admitted defeat? He'd have been stranded in Bolton (or Ipswitch), still clutching that Norwegian Blue, that's what.

Though you've not disclosed whether your Thesis is for an MA, MS or MR programme, I'd advise in any case that you sit down with your Advisor and - after discussing the dearth of primary source material - "renegotiate" the outline, offering to forge ahead using the available source material, carefully cited, and an extrapolation, perhaps as a comparitor to the 'treatment' of deafness as a disability in Modern literature - precisely as you might were this a Doctoral dissertation. Assuming this is toward a Medieval History or a Medieval Literature Magister, I can't imagine your Advisor denying a change to the outline - despite that you were, "well aware going into this project." If the intent is to fulfill a Master of Research degree or an M.Phil. be prepared to argue a bit more, but never admit defeat.

[Chris Zacher]

Ha! I am sorry if I misled you, but I am far from the Customer at the Pet Shoppe! This is a small portion of my thesis and I am using the lack of primary sources of this type as proof of a larger trend. I just want to make sure there isn't some fantastic source with a portrayal of the deaf that I have missed. Such sources would help me fulfil my "wishlist" of sources.

My paper is related to the social ideas of deafness and, while these sources are not completely necessary to the completion of my thesis, if more exist they could prove insightful. My defeat therefore, is not giving up but rather a partial abandonment of this direction and refocusing on other areas more pertinent to my argument.

[Eman Resu]

Best of luck. By the way, don't waste too much wine pouring it over old shoe nails - it's better taken internally.