The Leper in England: with some account of English lazar-houses Part 1

The Leper in England: with some account of English lazar-houses.

by Robert Charles Hope.

FORESPEECH.

The subject matter embraced within these covers, consists chiefly of notes, made for a lecture delivered in Christ Church Schoolroom, Scarborough, on Thursday, March 5th, 1891, and is published by special request.

No claim for originality is made. The works of the late Sir James Y.

Simpson, Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, (Archaeological Essays, Vol. II.); Sir Risdon Bennett, M.D., LL.D., F.B.S., "Diseases of the Bible"; Dr. Greenhill, in "Bible Educator"; Leland's "Itinerary"; Dugdale's "Monasticon," &c., &c., have been freely drawn upon, and to these writers, therefore, it is the desire here to acknowledge the indebtedness which is due.

Various Notes will be found in the Appendix, which it is hoped will prove of interest.

THE LEPER IN ENGLAND.

There is perhaps no subject of greater interest, nor one which awakens more sympathy, than that of the Leper; it affords a most curious, though painful topic of enquiry, particularly in the present day, when so much has been said and written, as to the probability and possibility of the loathsome scourge again obtaining a hold in this, our own country.

Much confusion and ignorance exists, as to what true Leprosy really is. I do not pretend, nor do I a.s.sume, to be in any way an authority on the disease, nor to be at all deeply versed in the matter; my remarks will consist chiefly in retailing to you, some of the many and curious circ.u.mstances connected with the malady, with which I have become acquainted in studying the various Lazar Houses and Leper Wells, once so liberally scattered all over the country, from an antiquary's point of view, and in examining the writings of those competent to express an opinion, from personal and other observations.

Your kind indulgence is, therefore, asked for any shortcomings on my part.

THE LEPROSY OF THE BIBLE.

It is necessary at the outset, to state clearly, that the disease known as Leprosy in Holy Scripture, was an entirely and altogether different disorder, to that, which, in the Middle Ages, was so terribly prevalent, not in this country only, but over the whole Continent of Europe.

Sir Risdon Bennett tells us the Leprosy of Scripture was a skin disease known to the medical faculty as _Psoriasis_. The use of the Greek and Latin word _Lepra_, to signify both kinds of Leprosy, has no doubt contributed largely to the confusion existing as to these two disorders. The Leprosy of the Bible was _Psoriasis_, that of the Middle Ages _Elephantiasis Graecorum_.

There are six cases only, which include nine instances of Leprosy, recorded in the Old Testament:--

Moses--Exodus, iv., 6. } Miriam--Numbers, xii., 10. } Miraculously Gehazi--2 Kings, v., 27. } afflicted.

Uzziah--2 Chronicles, xxvi., 19. } Naaman--2 Kings, v., 1.

Four Lepers--2 Kings, vii., 3.

In the New Testament we have but three cases, involving twelve persons, viz.:--

(1) Man, recorded by St. Matthew, viii, 2; St. Mark, i., 40; St. Luke, v., 12.

(2) Ten Lepers, St. Luke, xvii., 12.

(3) Simon, St. Matthew, xxvi., 6; St. Mark, xiv., 3.

The first account or mention of the disorder in the Bible, is to be found in Leviticus; nearly three chapters, xiii., xiv., xv., being devoted to the examination and cleansing of the afflicted, with the minutest detail.

In chapter xiii., we are told that "if a man has a bright spot deeper than the skin of the flesh, the hair on which has turned white, or the white spot has a raw in it, and the scab be spread in the skin--then shall the priest p.r.o.nounce him _unclean_." But, if he have all the above symptoms, and "the scabs do not spread, or, if he be covered from head to foot--as white as snow--with the disease, then shall the priest p.r.o.nounce him _clean_." It should be observed, that whereas the "_unclean_" Leper "shall dwell alone," no such restriction was placed upon the "clean or White Leper," who was free to go about as he desired, and also to mingle with his fellow-men. This is clear from the accounts given us of Gehazi conversing with the King; of Naaman performing his ordinary duties as captain of the host of the King of Syria; we are told he was "a great man with his master, and honourable, because by him the Lord had given victory unto Syria; he was also a mighty man of valour," and also, from the instance of our Blessed Lord being entertained in the house of Simon the "Leper." On no other ground than this a.s.sumption, can these instances be reconciled with the Levitical Law.

In the Levitical, and in every other account of the disease, it is significant that there is no mention, or hint, of any loss of sensation in connection with the disorder, of any affection of the nerves, nor of any deformity of the body; no provision is made for those who were unable to take care of themselves, nor is there a t.i.ttle of evidence, or the barest hint given, that the disease was either contagious or dangerous. Only two persons in the whole of the Bible are stated to have died from the disease, and in each of these cases, it was specially so ordained by the Almighty, as a specific punishment for a particular sin. Cures were not only possible, and common, but they were the rule. Josephus speaks of Leprosy in a man as but "a misfortune in the colour of his skin." S. Augustine said that when Lepers were restored to health, "they were _mundati_, not _sanati_, because Leprosy is an ailment affecting merely the colour, not the health, or the soundness of the senses, and the limbs."

It is a most curious, and interesting problem which has yet to be solved, why a man should be "unclean" when he was but partially covered by the disease, and yet, when he was wholly covered with it, he should be "clean."

That no argument in support of contagion can be drawn simply from the sentence of expulsion from the camp, is evident from Numbers v., 2-4; for Lepers, and non-Lepers, are equally excluded on the ground of "uncleanness." The laws of seclusion applied as rigorously to the uncleanness induced by _touching_ a leper, or even a dead body, as well as in other cases, where no question of contagion could exist. It appears more than probable that the "cleansing" was merely a ceremonial, ordained for those attacked by the disease at a certain stage, implying some deeper meaning, than I for one, am able to discern. I therefore leave it to the theologian to whom it appertains, rather than to a humble and enquiring layman as myself.

That the descriptions of the various forms of skin disease were intended, not to denote differences in their nature or pathology, but to enable the priests to discriminate between the "clean" and "unclean" forms, is manifest. They were intended purely for practical use.

The first allusion--the only one in the Bible--we have to a Lazar, or Leper house, occurs in 2 Kings, xv., 5, "And the Lord smote the King so that he was a Leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a _'several' house_."

THE LEPROSY OF THE MIDDLE AGES.

The Leprosy of the Middle Ages known as _Elephantiasis Graecorum_, _Lepra Arab.u.m_, and _Lepra tuberculosis_, is not yet extinct. It is very curious that whilst _Lepra Arab.u.m_ is the same as _Elephantiasis Graecorum_ or true Leprosy, the _Elephantiasis Arab.u.m_ is a totally distinct disease. The former is the most loathsome and revolting of the many awful and terrible scourges, with which the Almighty, in his wisdom, has seen fit, from time to time, to visit mankind.

It is, I believe, a singular fact, that the Jews, "the chosen people of G.o.d," have a special immunity from the disease, being less predisposed than other races. Dr. V. Carter says that during a period of seventeen years, out of a very large number of cases in Bombay, he had seen only four cases, and but one death among Jews, that is of _Elephantiasis Graecorum_.

Belcher on "Our Lord's Miracles," says that in Tangiers at the present day, the two diseases are found, the _Lepra Hebraeorum_ prevailing chiefly among the Jewish residents, and presenting exactly the symptoms as described in Leviticus. On the other hand, in Syria, _Elephantiasis Graecorum_ is unknown among the Jews.

It appears to have been very prevalent in this country; but when, and how it was introduced, is not known. Some certify it was brought back by the Crusaders, being the only thing they ever did bring back. But it existed here long anterior to the days of the _first_ crusade. The City of Bath is said to have originated from an old British King afflicted with Leprosy, who being obliged, in consequence, to wander far from the habitation of men, and being finally reduced to the condition of a swineherd, discovered the medicinal virtues of the hot springs of Bath, while noticing that his pigs which bathed therein were cured of sundry diseases prevailing among them.

The following epigram on King Bladud, who was killed 844, B.C.,--father of King Leir, or Leal, d. 799, B.C.,--was written by a clergyman of the name of Groves, of Claverton:--

"When Bladud once espied some hogs Lie wallowing in the steaming bogs, Where issue forth those sulphurous springs, Since honour'd by more potent kings, Vex'd at the brutes alone possessing What ought t' have been a common blessing, He drove them, thence in mighty wrath, And built the mighty town of Bath.

The hogs thus banished by their prince, Have lived in Bristol ever since."

Many Lazar or Leper Houses were built in England during the early part of the reign of William the Norman, who founded several.

The medical writers of the 13th and 14th centuries, which include the names of Theodoric, the monk, a distinguished surgeon of Bologna; the celebrated Lanfranc, of Milan and afterwards of Paris; Professor Arnold Bachuone, of Barcelona, reputed in his day the greatest physician in Spain; the famous French surgeon Guy de Chauliac; Bernhard Gordon; and our own countrymen Gilbert, _c._ 1270; John of Gaddesden, Professor of Medicine in Merton College, Oxford, and Court Physician to Edward II., minutely describe the disease.

It was the custom in those affected days, when a medical man or anyone wrote a book on medicine or a medicinal subject, to call it either a "rose" or a "lily," as "_Rosa Angelica_," "_Lilium medecinae_."

The following description of the malady is from the _Lilium medecinae_, by Bernhard Gordon, written about 1305 or 1309. He gives three stages or cla.s.ses of the disease, viz., the (1) occult, (2) the infallible, and (3) the last, or terminating signs. None of these indications are laid down in Leviticus for the guidance of the Jewish Priests.

(i.) "The occult premonitory signs of Leprosy are, a reddish colour of the face, verging to duskiness; the expiration begins to be changed, the voice grows hoa.r.s.e, the hairs become thinned and weaker, and the perspiration and breath incline to foetidity; the mind is melancholic with frightful dreams and nightmare; in some cases scabs, pustules, and eruptions break out over the whole body; disposition of the body begins to become loathsome, but still, while the form and figure are not corrupted, the patient is not to be adjudged for separation; but is to be most strictly watched."

(ii.) "The infallible signs, are, enlargement of the eyebrows, with loss of their hair; rotundity of the eyes; swelling of the nostrils externally, and contraction of them within; voice nasal; colour of the face glossy, verging to a darkish hue; aspect of the face terrible, and with a fixed look; with ac.u.mination or pointing and contraction of the pulps of the ear. And there are many other signs, as pustules and excrescences, atrophy of the muscles, and particularly of those between the thumb and forefinger; insensibility of the extremities; fissures, and infections of the skin; the blood, when drawn and washed, containing black, earthy, rough, sandy matter. The above are those evident and manifest signs, which, when they do appear, the patient ought to be separated from the people, or, in other words, secluded in a Lazar House."

(iii.) "The signs of the last stage and breaking-up of the disease, are, corrosion and falling-in of the cartilage forming the septum of the nose; fissure and division of the feet and hands; enlargement of the lips, and a disposition to glandular swelling; dyspnoea and difficulty of breathing; the voice hoa.r.s.e and barking; the aspect of the face frightful, and of a dark colour; the pulse small, almost imperceptible." Sometimes the limbs drop off, piecemeal or in their entirety.

All the writers agree in urging most earnestly that no one ought to be adjudged a Leper, unless there manifestly appears a corruption of the figure, or, that state indicated as _signa infallibilia_.

LAZAR HOUSES.

The period from its introduction into this country, as far as we know, to its final or nearly final extinction, may be embraced within the 10th and 16th centuries. It was at the zenith of its height during the 11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. As early as A.D. 948 laws were enacted with regard to Lepers in Wales by Howel Dda, the Good--the great Welsh King, who died 948.

The enormous extent to which it prevailed during that period may be gauged from the fact, that there were above 200 Lazar Houses in England alone, probably providing accommodation for 4,000 at least, and this, at a time when the whole population of England was only between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 of persons; being something like two in every thousand.