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Medieval Disability Sourcebook: Western Europe

  • Cameron Hunt McNabb (editor)
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TitleMedieval Disability Sourcebook
SubtitleWestern Europe
ContributorCameron Hunt McNabb (editor)
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.21983/P3.0276.1.00
Landing pagehttps://punctumbooks.com/titles/medieval-disability-sourcebook/
Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/
CopyrightMcNabb, Cameron Hunt
Publisherpunctum books
Publication placeEarth, Milky Way
Published on2020-03-26
ISBN978-1-950192-73-1 (Paperback)
978-1-950192-74-8 (PDF)
Long abstractThe field of disability studies significantly contributes to contemporary discussions of the marginalization of and social justice for individuals with disabilities. However, what of disability in the past? The Medieval Disability Sourcebook: Western Europe explores what medieval texts have to say about disability, both in their own time and for the present.This interdisciplinary volume on medieval Europe combines historical records, medical texts, and religious accounts of saints’ lives and miracles, as well as poetry, prose, drama, and manuscript images to demonstrate the varied and complicated attitudes medieval societies had about disability. Far from recording any monolithic understanding of disability in the Middle Ages, these contributions present a striking range of voices—to, from, and about those with disabilities—and such diversity only confirms how disability permeated (and permeates) every aspect of life.The Medieval Disability Sourcebook is designed for use inside the undergraduate or graduate classroom or by scholars interested in learning more about medieval Europe as it intersects with the field of disability studies. Most texts are presented in modern English, though some are preserved in Middle English and many are given in side-by-side translations for greater study. Each entry is prefaced with an academic introduction to disability within the text as well as a bibliography for further study. This sourcebook is the first in a proposed series focusing on disability in a wide range of premodern cultures, histories, and geographies.
Print length500 pages
LanguageEnglish (Original)
Dimensions178 x 254 mm | 7" x 10" (Paperback)
LCCN2020934559
THEMA
  • NHDJ
  • JBFM
BIC
  • HBLC1
  • JFFG
BISAC
  • LIT011000
Keywords
  • disability
  • Middle Ages
  • accessibility
  • literary studies
  • identity
  • embodiment
  • illness
Contents

Frontmatter

(pp. 1–11)
  • Cameron Hunt McNabb

Introduction

(pp. 13–21)
  • Cameron Hunt McNabb

York Cause Paper E.92: Redyng c. Boton (1366–67)

(pp. 25–55)
  • Alison Purnell

Mental Competency Inquisitions from Medieval England (ca. late 12th c.–early 15th c.)

(pp. 56–68)
  • Eliza Buhrer

Nuremberg Town Records: Select Entries Pertaining to the “Mad” and Intellectually Disabled (1377–1492)

(pp. 69–76)
  • Anne M. Koenig

Tax Relief Requests from Medieval Dijon (1389–1449)

(pp. 77–84)
  • Anne Galanaud
  • Pierre Galanaud

Examining for Leprosy in the Fifteenth Century (ca. 1430–1500)

(pp. 85–102)
  • Lucy Barnhouse

Ortolf of Baierland, “Arzneibuch,” “On Madness” (ca. 1300)

(pp. 103–109)
  • Anne M. Koenig

Selected Episodes on Healing and Disability from the Vulgate Bible—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (ca. 382)

(pp. 113–137)
  • Will Eggers

Miracles in Apocryphal Infancy Narratives (ca. 550–13th c.)

(pp. 138–146)
  • Brandon W. Hawk

Ælfric of Eynsham, "Catholic Homilies" 1.10 (ca. 989–ca. 992)

(pp. 147–156)
  • Brandon W. Hawk

Augustine of Hippo, "The City of God against the Pagans" (413–26)

(pp. 157–161)
  • Leah Pope Parker

William of Canterbury, "A Miracle of Thomas Becket: De puero syntectino" (Concerning a boy suffering from a wasting disease) (1172–77)

  • Rose A. Sawyer

"Njáls Saga" (13th c.)

(pp. 168–172)
  • Kolfinna Jónatansdóttir

Thomas of Monmouth, "The Life and Passion of William of Norwich" (1152–70)

(pp. 173–180)
  • Sarah Edwards Obenauf

Testimony from the Canonization Proceedings of Charles of Blois (1371)

(pp. 181–185)
  • Leigh Ann Craig

Bernard Gui, On a Miracle of Saint Thomas Aquinas (ca. 1325)

(pp. 186–189)
  • Leigh Ann Craig

Bede, The Prose "Life of Cuthbert" (ca. 721)

(pp. 190–205)
  • Marit Ronen

Bede, The Miracles of King Oswald from "Ecclesiastical History" (late 9th c.)

(pp. 206–209)
  • Heide Estes

The "Life of St. Margaret of Antioch" (11th c.)

(pp. 210–219)
  • Leah Pope Parker

"Life of Mary of Oegines (Oignies)" (ca. 15th c.)

(pp. 220–230)
  • Kisha G. Tracy
  • Alicia Protze

Marie de France, "Bisclavret" (ca. 12th c.)

(pp. 233–241)
  • Kisha G. Tracy

Alain Chartier, "The Book of Hope" (ca. 1429)

(pp. 242–246)
  • Julie Singer

Geoffrey Chaucer, The "Merchant’s Tale" from "The Canterbury Tales" (ca. 1387–1400)

(pp. 247–259)
  • Moira Fitzgibbons

Geoffrey Chaucer, The "Man of Law’s Tale" from "The Canterbury Tales" (ca. 1387–1400)

(pp. 260–275)
  • Paul A. Broyles

Geoffrey Chaucer, The "Wife of Bath’s Portrait," "Prologue," and "Tale" from "The Canterbury Tales" (ca. 1387–1400)

(pp. 276–291)
  • Tory V. Pearman

"Dame Sirith" (ca. 1272–82)

(pp. 292–303)
  • Danielle Allor

Tale of Constance (1380–90)

(pp. 304–312)
  • Will Rogers

Thomas Hoccleve, "Complaint" (1419–21)

(pp. 313–323)
  • Will Rogers

The "Book of Margery Kempe" (ca. 1450–1500)

(pp. 327–340)
  • M.W. Bychowski

Bede, Menstruation, Infirmity, and Religious Observance from "Ecclesiastical History" (late 9th c.)

(pp. 341–344)
  • Heide Estes

Bede, Physical Disability, Muteness, Pregnancy, Possession, and Alcoholism from "Ecclesiastical History" (ca. 731)

(pp. 345–364)
  • Maura Bailey
  • Autumn Battista
  • Ashley Corliss
  • Eammon Gosselin
  • Rebecca Laughlin
  • Sara Moller
  • Shayne Simahk
  • Taylor Specker
  • Alyssa Stanton
  • Kellyn Welch
  • Kisha G. Tracy

Evadeam, The Dwarf Knight from the "Lancelot-Grail Cycle" (ca. 1220–30)

(pp. 365–378)
  • Kara Larson Maloney

"Morkinskinna" (ca. 1220)

(pp. 379–392)
  • Ármann Jakobsson

Snorri Sturluson, "Ólafs saga helga" from "Heimskringla" (ca. 1230)

(pp. 393–410)
  • Ármann Jakobsson

Snorri Sturluson, The "Prose Edda" (ca. 1220–40)

(pp. 411–415)
  • Kolfinna Jónatansdóttir

"The Cure of the Blind Man" from the "Chester Cycle" (ca. 1531–75)

(pp. 419–427)
  • Kurt Schreyer

"Christ and the Leper" from the "Chester Cycle" (ca. 1531–75)

(pp. 428–433)
  • Kurt Schreyer

"The Entry into Jerusalem" from the "York Cycle" (ca. 1377)

(pp. 434–447)
  • Frank M. Napolitano

The "Nativity" from the "N-Town Plays" (ca. 1460–1520)

(pp. 448–457)
  • Jeffery G. Stoyanoff

Croxton "Play of the Sacrament" (ca. 1461–1546)

(pp. 458–470)
  • Cameron Hunt McNabb

The Smithfield Decretals (ca. 1300–1340)

(pp. 473–475)
  • Rachael Gillibrand

Visible and Invisible Impairments in Images of Medieval Musicians

(pp. 476–484)
  • Karen M. Cook

Thematic Table of Contents

(pp. 487–489)
  • Cameron Hunt McNabb

Contributors

(pp. 490–495)
  • Cameron Hunt McNabb
Contributors

Cameron Hunt McNabb

(editor)

Cameron Hunt McNabb is an associate professor of English at Southeastern University. Her primary research interests include disability studies and early drama, and she has published in numerous journals, including Early Theatre, Neophilologus, Studies in Philology, and Pedagogy. Her chapter “Staging Disability in Medieval Drama” in forthcoming in the Ashgate Research Companion to Medieval Disability Studies (Routledge, forthcoming). She is a strong advocate for undergraduate research, and she and her students have contributed two entries to the Medieval Disability Glossary.