Social History of Disability in the Middle Ages

Irina Metzler studied Classical and Medieval History, gaining a doctorate from the University of Reading, honorary research affiliations with the universities of Bristol and Swansea, and was awarded a Wellcome Trust fellowship (2012). She has published widely on cultural, religious and social aspects of disability in the European Middle Ages.

• Introduction. 1. Law 2. Work 3. Ageing 4. Charity. Conclusion.

“In her introduction, Metzler states her intention to ‘tease out from the many disparate sources some inkling of the “lived experience”; she has certainly achieved this …this volume (like Metzler’s previous book- the two should ideally be read as a pair) serves as an important addition to the existing literature on medieval disability, and as an important corrective to conventional assumptions that the medieval world was full of disabled individuals who lived lives of great suffering…this is a work which will be essential reading for anyone interested in the experiences of the physically impaired in pre-modern Europe, and will also be of value to historians whose work focuses on one or more of its key themes.” - Dr. Katherine Harvey, King’s College London"With Disability Studies on the rise in academia, Irina Metzler’s comprehensive study of the cultural aspects of disability in the Middle Ages is a welcome and will be a well-appreciated addition to the field of study.Metzler’s research is quite clearly exhaustive, and her use of a wide variety of sources—legal, clerical, literary—gives her work a clear sense of definitiveness. Through her thorough and meticulous consideration of the sources on the cultural ramifications of disability in the Middle Ages, Metzler skillfully argues her assertion of the liminality of the medieval disabled." -Rachel Levinson-Emley, UC Santa Barbara, USA