Greco-Roman Infanticide
As the primitive Church developed in the first to fourth century it had a distinctive valuation of human life and this had a direct effect upon the treatment of children born with disabilities. As esteemed scholar Bruce Shelley (2008) notes:
Unlike his pagan neighbor the Christian refused to take his weak and unwanted children out in the woods and leave them to die or be picked up by robbers. If a Christian woman was married to a pagan and a girl baby was born, the father might say, “Throw her out,” but the mother would usually refuse (40).
A first century Christian moral text known as The Didache or The Teaching Of The Twelve Apostles (although it was not actually written by them) (Gonzalez, 2010), also takes time and precious writing materials to note that “you shall not murder a child by abortion nor kill that which is born” (Stinton, 2008). And as the famous second century Christian author Justin Martyr commented in his opus First Apology, Christians “have been taught that to expose newly born children is the part of wicked men, lest we should do anyone an injury and lest we should sin against God” (Leeson, 2008).
This is a landmark in properly understanding how people with disabilities were viewed in the world. Unlike in pagan Rome, the Church, when it came to power, had an approach which disallowed infanticide. This fundamental shift in the understanding of personhood and the rights inherent thereto will underscore everything that follows. Although representations of people with disabilities have not been perfect in either medieval or modern media, the belief that those who are infirm should not be killed as infants will remain constant.
Although this monumental shift in European understandings of personhood occurred well before the medieval period is typically considered to have begun, it is essential that it be discussed because the teachings of the early Church formed the cosmological, ontological, and theological framework upon which all later thinking would be based, even down to the present.
Leeson, David. (Oct 20th, 2008). The First Apology Of Justin Martyr. [audiobook]. Retrieved from https://librivox.org/the-first-apology-by-martyr/.
Shelley, Bruce L.. (2008) Church History In Place Language. (Nielson House: Dallas).
Shepherd, Terry. (2007) Infinite Diversity In Infinite Combinations: Portraits Of Individuals With Disabilities In Star Trek. TEACHING Exceptional Children Plus. 3(6). Retrieved Jan. 20th, 2016. http://escholarship.bc.edu/education/tecplus/vol3/iss6/art1.
Stinton, Sam. (May 30th, 2008). The Didache. [audiobook]. Retrieved from https://librivox.org/the-didache-from-the-roberts-donaldson-translation/.
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The First Hospitals
Peregrine Horden (2005), an important historian of hospitals and Western medicine has noted that the earliest hospitals known to have been constructed were built by the clergy of the early fourth century, coinciding with the legalisation and nationalisation of the Church. These early hospitals, Horden explains, were built by Churchmen such as Basil of Caesarea and St. Pachomius of the desert. Some were designed merely to succour the local cenobites, while others were open to the public.
As Perez et al. (2012) note, this idea of a hospital was borrowed into the Islamic world where they developed along a different trajectory than the institutions did in Europe. By the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, Perez et al. (2012) argue that mental institutions, first constructed in the Islamic world and then introduced to Christendom during the Reconquista, were being founded.
While this does not directly relate to the subject of how mental disability was portrayed in the pre-modern world, it is an essential piece of background information. These hospitals were likely primitive in nature, but they were, nonetheless, a space created specifically for the service of those in need of aid (Horden, 2005), and their existence shows that a belief was developing that the construction of such munificent institutions was an important moral obligation.
Horden, Peregrine. (2005) The Earliest Hospitals In Byzantium, Western Europe, and Islam. The Journal Of Interdisciplinary History. 35(3). 361-389 .
Perez, Jesus; Baldessarini, Ross, J., Undurraga, Juan.. (2012) Origins Of Psychiatric Hospitalization In Medieval Spain. Psychiatric Quarterly. 83(4). 419-430.
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Salvian the Presbyter (of Marseilles) (5th C.)
As the Roman Empire imploded in the fifth century and the laments of Saints Jerome and Augustine of Hippo were heard across the known world, another Christian voice entered the fray, a voice opposed to the eschatological tone of the day. This voice was that of Salvian the Presbyter (400-490). In his monumental, yet often overlooked work, On The Governance Of God, the Presbyter decried the excesses of the rich, the tyranny they exerted over the poor, and the notion that the Romans and their subjects did not deserve the fall of the Roman Empire. As Olsen (1982) observes “Salvian very starkly drew the contrast between the piety of the apostolic age and the decadence of the present” (7).
Throughout his work, Salvian uses the term ‘madness’ to describe those -usually the rich- ruled by their lusts and avarice and thereby relates ‘madness’ to sins. However, about midway through his tome, he suddenly shows himself to be rather sympathetic toward those with mental illnesses. While discussing the sins of wealthy landlords, he states
Of all these [sins], madness is the least culpable, because the will does not intend crime where sin is committed in madness. But how much more blameworthy are those about whom I speak, because they acted as madmen, even though in their right minds (Salvian, 1947; 171).
Thus, Salvian, who is usually quick to associate sin and impiety with misfortune, shows himself to be rather sympathetic toward those with mental disabilities: because they cannot control their illness, they cannot be held accountable for their actions as others would be. However, he also uses this as a means of rebuking those who feign madness, because they are not possessed of such an alibi.
Paradigm Placement – Sinful, victimhood.
Salvian, as a number of others, is difficult to place into a category with respect to his (tangential) discussion of mental illness. As an author, he had other more pressing concerns, but the above quoted piece of text does give the modern reader a window into what the low ranking fifth century clericature thought of mental illness. The allowance offered those suffering with mental ill health is similar to modern legal thought on the subject. Thus, it can be assumed that Salvian viewed those with disabilities as victims, unable to control their actions and therefore not to be held accountable for what they might do. As Kroll and Bachrach (1984) observe, many medieval authors seem to have noted a connexion between sin and illness only when it suited their ends, or when describing a political, social, or ideological opponent, and seeking to besmirch his or her name. Salvian appears to be no exception to this rule in his somewhat confusing association of madness and sin, yet his consideration of those with mental illness as victims who do not exercise agency even over their own actions.
Olsen, Glenn, W., (1982) Reform After The Pattern Of The Primitive Church In The Thought Of Salvian Of Marseilles. The Catholic Historical Review. 68(1). 1-12.
Salvian, of Marseilles (the Presbyter). (1947). The Writings Of Salvian The Presbyter. (Jeremiah Sullivan, Trans.). Washington, D.C.: Catholic University Press.
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St. Giles (6th/7th C.)
Little is actually known for sure of the life of St. Giles (known in Latin as Aegidius) (Watkins, 2002; Farmer, 2011). It is thought that he was a hermit who lived in the 6th or 7th century and, having been granted land by king Wamba, founded a monastery (Watkins, 2002; Farmer, 2011). He was allegedly wounded by that same king when he accidentally shot St. Giles mistakenly, aiming for a stag which had taken refuge with the hermit (Farmer, 2011). He is reported to have visited the pope and to have successfully prayed on behalf of Charlemagne (Farmer, 2011). Many legends circulated throughout the middle ages and St. Giles became exceedingly popular, having over 160 Churches named for him in England alone (Watkins, 2002; Farmer, 2011). He has been dubbed the patron of cripples, beggars, and blacksmiths, and is usually pictured with a crutch, a deer and an arrow in his side, all appertaining to the aforementioned story (Watkins, 2002). His feast day is September 1st (Watkins, 2002; Farmer, 2011).
Paradigm Placement – Charity/concern.
The importance of St. Giles to understanding medieval conceptions of disability is immense. Many may critique this assertion because of the hagiographical and uncertain nature of his Vita, however, that he was celebrated for such actions is far more telling of medieval ethics and the attitude of the Church and her people toward those with physical handicaps. The fact that the Church ordained an official patron for impaired persons, and that this physically handicapped saint bore such popularity, speaks to the prominence and potential for upward mobility of which disabled persons were possessed. It also alludes to the fact that there was a sense that cripples, like most other people, needed a protector, and this protector seems to have been very popular.
Various. (2002). The Book Of Saints: A Comprehensive Biographical Dictionary. 7th Ed. (Dom. Basil Watkins, Ed. [on behalf of “the Benedictine monks of St. Augustine Abbey. Ramsgate). Vizcaya, Spain: A & C Black Publishers.
Farmer, David. (2011). Oxford Dictionary Of Saints. 5th Ed. Online: http://www.oxfordreference.com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/view/10.1093/acref/9780199596607.001.0001/acref-9780199596607-e-729?rskey=3prlYC&result=1 Oxford University Press.
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