WITCHCRAFT AND LEPROSY - 2 STRATEGIES OF EXCLUSION

The analysis of witchcraft accusations is here extended to the case of persons carrying infection. Inaccurate medical knowledge allows the charge of spreading infection to be used as grounds for exclusion in the same way as the charge of doing harm by witchcraft. In Western Christendom in the mid-twelfth century the social effect of being identified as a leper was loss of civic status; the accused, regarded as a sinner, was removed from public office and not allowed to inherit property or to make legacies. By contrast, in the Eastern Kingdom of Jerusalem during the same period, lepers' civic rights were protected, no association with sin or immorality was attached to the disease, and medical diagnosis was accurate by modem standards. The contrast is explained through an analysis of the social structure and culture of three periods, comparing the strategies of rejection deployed in each.