This book examines social and medical responses to the disfigured face in early medieval Europe, arguing that the study of head and facial injuries can offer a new contribution to the history of early medieval medicine and culture, as well as exploring the language of violence and social interactions.
Patricia Skinner is Research Professor in Arts and Humanities at Swansea University, UK. She is the Director of the Effaced from History project, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust, and has previously published books on gender, medicine, and health, in addition to the social history of southern Italy.
1.Introduction: Writing and Reading about Medieval Disfigurement.2. The Face, Honor and 'Face'.3. Disfigurement, Authority and the Law.4. Stigma and Disfigurement: Putting on a Brave Face?.5. Defacing Women: the Gendering of Disfigurement.6. Ways of Seeing: Staring at and Representing Disfigurement.7. Paths to Rehabilitation? The Possibilities of Treatment.8. Conclusion.- Appendix I.- Appendix II.- Bibliography.- Index.