An exploration of the changing understandings of physical impairment and disability in early medieval England: a bioarchaeological, funerary, and historical approach

Abstract

This paper explores experiences and perceptions of physical impairment and disability in early medieval England, contrasting pre-Christian (AD 5th–early 7th centuries) and Christian (AD late 8th–11th centuries) communities through a combination of bioarchaeological, clinical, funerary, historical, and theoretical analyses. By comparing understandings of physical impairment and disability in the pre-Christian and Christian periods, this paper investigates how political rearrangements and the growing power of the Church might have influenced changing contemporary perceptions of physical impairment and disability. This research has found that the funerary treatment of individuals with physical impairment in the pre-Christian period was extremely variable within and between cemeteries, and there is evidence for arguably positive, normative, and potentially negative burial treatment. Although mortuary treatment of Christian-era individuals with physical impairment was somewhat variable, this variation was much more subtle. This reflects the overall Christian-era pattern in burial form, and strongly negative or positive mortuary treatment was not identified among the individuals with physical impairment. Based on this evidence, it is proposed that administrative and judicial standardisation, conversion to Christianity, and the spread of Christian morals and doctrine influenced the reduction in mortuary variability observed in individuals with physical impairment and/or disability in the 8th–11th centuries in England.