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In 1203 in the King’s Court, a dispute was heard respecting a piece of land in Sudton, Kent, between two kinswomen—Mabel, daughter of William Fitz-Fulke, and Alicia, the widow of Warine Fitz-Fulke. Among the pleas, it was urged by Alicia, that Mabel had a brother, and that his right to the land must exclude her claim, whereupon Mabel answered that her brother was a Leper[q].

It was certified to King Edward I. in 1280, that Adam of Gangy, deceased, of the county of Northumberland, holding land of the King in chief, was unable to repair to the King’s presence to do homage, being struck with the Leprosy[r].

In the reign of Richard II. c. 1380, William, son of Robert Blanchmains, being a Leper, founded the Lazar House, dedicated in honour of S. Leonard, outside the town of Leicester, to the north[s].

Richard Orange, a gentleman of noble parentage, and Mayor of Exeter in 1454, was a Leper. In spite of his great wealth he submitted himself to a residence in the Lazar House of S. Mary Magdalene in that city, where he died, and was buried in the chapel attached. A mutilated inscription still remains over the spot where he is interred[t].

Some of the Lazar Houses were specially endowed for persons above the lower ranks who happened to become affected with the disease. In 1491, Robert Pigot gave by will to the Leper House of Walsingham, in the Archdeaconry of Norwich, a house in, or near that town, for the use of two Leprous persons “of good families.”

Before considering the Royal Lepers, it will not be out of place to mention the death of S. Fiacre from Leprosy, in 665. He was the reputed son of Eugenius IV., King of Scotland, and is canonised in the Roman branch of the Church Catholic[u].

Amongst Royal Lepers, the case of Adelicia or Adelais, daughter of Godfrey, Duke of Louraine, and niece of Calextus II., Bishop of Rome, 1118; the second Queen of Henry I. of England, and afterwards wife of William de Albion, to whom she was tenderly attached; stands first in order of state. Being stricken with leprosy, she left him and entered a convent, where she died of the disease, 1151. This reputed instance, it is right to mention, requires confirmation. The above is mentioned by a contributor to Notes and Queries, 7, S. viii., 174, but no authority is given.

Baldwin IV., King of Jerusalem, a direct descendant like the Royal Plantagenets of England, from Fulk, Count of Anjou and Touraine, died of Leprosy in 1186, leaving a child nephew to succeed him; the consequence being, the loss of the Holy Land, and the triumph of Saladin after eighty-eight years of the Christian kingdom[v].

Henry III. is said to have been a Leper.

Edward the Black Prince, used to bathe in the Holy Well at Harbledon, near Canterbury, for his Leprosy, and Robert Bruce, King of Scotland, had a licence at one time from the King of England to bathe in the waters of S. Lazarus’ Well on Muswell Hill, near where now stands the Alexandra Palace. The well belonged to the Order of S. John, Clerkenwell, a hospital order for Lepers. Three years before his death, he was unable to undertake the command of the army in its descent upon the northern counties of England, by reason of his Leprosy, of which he died in 1329, at the age of 55[w].

Henry IV. King of England, was a Leper without doubt[x].

Margaret of Anjou, Queen of Henry VI. of England, is reputed, like her ancestor Baldwin IV., to have died a Leper[y].

Louis the XIV., is said to have died of the disease in 1715. It is also recorded, that in order to effect a cure, recourse was had to a barbarous superstitious custom, once unhappily common in Brazil, that of killing several fine healthy children, eating their hearts, livers, &c.; then washing in their blood, and annointing the body with grease made from the remains. Let us at least hope this impious and inhuman act is but “legend[z]”.

SUMMARY.

It is trusted that the fact has been established that the Leprosy of the Bible, and of the Middle Ages, were entirely different diseases. The only essential characteristics in common being that both were cutaneous and neither was contagious, excepting by innoculation by a wound or a cut. Both were possibly hereditary, though this is denied by some.

The Biblical Leprosy never ended in death, whereas that of the Middle Ages always did. In one case there was little suffering, in the other usually a great deal.

In one the isolation was temporary only, in the other permanent.

The origin of the Mediæval Scourge is enshrouded in impenetrable mystery. The cure is as enigmatical.

The late Father Damian, who gave his life to ministration and alleviation of the sufferings of the 2,000 Lepers of Hawaii, in the island of Molakai, no doubt caught the disease of which he died, owing to the fact, that Lepers only handled and cooked the food, kneaded and baked the bread, washed the clothes, etc. The whole surroundings being Leprous, it is difficult to see how the good Father could well have avoided contamination. Still, the disease is not contagious if reasonable precautions are taken.

Two remarkable meetings were held in London in 1889, under the presidency of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales. At the first one, held in Marlborough House, June 17th, the Prince of Wales made the startling and unwelcome announcement of the case of Edward Yoxall, aged 64, who was carrying on his trade as butcher, in the Metropolitan Meat Market, from whence he was subsequently removed.

At the second meeting held in the rooms of the Medical Society, Chandos Street, Cavendish Square, two Lepers were exhibited. The verdict of the medical men present was, “There is no curative treatment of Leprosy.” Dr. Thornton, of the Leper Hospital of Madras, said:—That his experience showed him that Leprosy was contagious, and that it was likely to spread to this country; that the