Ebook: Trauma in Medieval Society

The edited volume, Trauma in Medieval Society, draws upon skeletal and archival evidence to build a picture of trauma as part of the literary and historical lives of individuals and communities in the Middle Ages. The idea for this volume grew out of a series of discussions over many years between the two editors, primarily at international conferences. The first, the Workshop on Disease, Disability, and Medicine, is the brainchild of Christina Lee and Sally Crawford (Oxford) and organized by Lee from the University of Nottingham. This decade old institution, which has travelled to Europe, America, and across the UK, brings together scholars working on disease studies and disability studies from a multitude of times and places. It is a rich forum for questions such as, what does it mean to be 'abled' across space and time? Another conference that influenced this volume is really more of a collection of conferences, workshops, and conversations surrounding the Creative Unit: Homo Debilis at the University of Bremen under the direction of Cordula Nolte. There, an international group of scholars and scientists began investigating dis ability, but ended up asking questions about illness, injury, humanness, unique ness, and individuality. We owe a debt to the participants at both of these conferences and to others who have attended our panels and influenced our thinking, especially at the International Congress of Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI, and the International Medieval Congress at Leeds University in the UK.