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The Poisoned Arrows of Amor: cases of syphilis from 16th-century Iceland

2011; Routledge; Volume: 36; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03468755.2011.608483

1502-7716

Steinunn Kristjánsdóttir,

Colonialism, slavery, and trade

Abstract While syphilis spread rapidly in Europe during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, scholars have doubted that the disease reached Iceland at that time. Still, discoveries of nine cases of venereal and congenital syphilis during a recent excavation on a monastic site, Skriðuklaustur (1496–1554) in East Iceland, indicate that the disease became an epidemic there, as it did worldwide. These findings may also be regarded as an important source of information on the contacts and communications of a country, which is commonly regarded as having been socially isolated from the outer world, with its neighbouring countries during the medieval times. Keywords: syphilisMedieval IcelandSkriðuklausturmonastery, communication Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the osteologists, Guðný Zoëga, Elsa Pacciani, Cecilia Collins, Glenn Ricci and Christina Brandt for their identifications, the archaeologist Vala Gunnarsdóttir for helping with the figures, historian Gísli Kristjánsson for useful comments, and archaeologist Albína Hulda Pálsdóttir for reading over the final version of the text. This research was made possible by the University of Iceland, the National Museum of Iceland, the Institution of Gunnar Gunnarson, the Leonardo da Vinci Fund, Archaeology Fund and the University Research Fund. Notes 1 Steinsson, 'Saga munklífis á Skriðu'. 2 Hallgrímsdóttir, 'Húsakostur Viðeyjarklausturs'; Mímisson ad Einarsson, 'Ora et labora'. 3 Kristjánsdóttir, Skriðuklaustur – híbýli helgra manna. 4 Kristjánsdóttir, 'The Tip of the Iceberg'. 5 Harðarson, 'Klausturgarðar'; Kristjánsdóttir, 'Skriðuklaustur Monastery – a Medical centre of Medieval Iceland'; and Kristjánsdóttir, 'Icelandic Evidence for Late-Medieval Hospital'. 6 Zoëga, Fornmeinafræðileg rannsókn á fimm beinagrindum; Pacciani, Anthropological Description of Skeletons from Graves No. 4, 62, 63, 65, 66, 67 and 68; Pacciani, Anthropological Description of Skeletons from Graves No. 5, 17, 27, 34, 54, 74 and 75; Pacciani, Anthropological Description of Skeletons from Graves No. 83, 84, 85, 87, 88, 95, 96, 97 and 99; Pacciani, Anthropological Description of Skeletons from Graves No. 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 141, 142, 143, 145 and 146; Brandt, Osteological Analysis; Ricci, Osteological Analysis; Kristjánsdóttir and Collins, 'Cases of Hydatid Disease in Medieval Iceland'; and Collins, An Osteological Analysis. 7 Kristjánsdóttir and Collins, 'Cases of Hydatid Disease in Medieval Iceland'; Kristjánsdóttir, 'The Tip of the Iceberg', 54–8. 8 Kiple, 'The History of Disease', 25; Waldron, Palaeopathology, 103. 9 Waldron, Palaeopathology, 103, 106. 10 Hackett, Diagnostic Criteria for Syphilis; Waldron, Palaeopathology, 103, 106. 11 Waldron, 106–8. 12 Crosby, 'The Early History of Syphilis: a Reappraisal'; Kiple, 'The History of Disease', 31–2; and Waldron, Palaeopathology, 104–5. 13 Waldron, Palaeopathology, 104–5. 14 Anderson, et al., 'Suspected Endemic Syphilis'. 15 Buzhilova, 'Medieval Examples of Syphilis'. 16 Mays, Crane-Kramer, and Bayliss, 'Two Probable Cases of Treponemal Disease'. 17 Møller-Christensen, Æbelholt kloster, 196–8; Rasmussen, et al., 'Mercury Levels in Danish Medieval Human Bones'. 18 Hutchinson and Weaver, 'Two Cases of Facial Involvement'. 19 Crosby, 'The Early History of Syphilis: A Reappraisal'; Waldron, Palaeopathology, 105; see also cases mentioned earlier from North Carolina in Hutchinson and Weaver, 'Two Cases of Facial Involvement'; and Mays, Crane-Kramer, and Bayliss, 'Two Probable Cases of Treponemal Disease'. 20 See, for example, Crosby, 'The Early History of Syphilis: a Reappraisal'; Waldron, Palaeopathology. 21 Kiple, 'The History of Disease', 18. 22 Crosby, 'The Early History of Syphilis: a Reappraisal', 218. 23 Pacciani, Anthropological Description of Skeletons from Graves No. 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 141, 142, 143, 145 and 146, 54–8. 24 Rawcliffe, Leprosy in Medieval England; Magilton, Lee, and Boylston, 'Lepers Outside the Gate'; and Gilchrist and Sloane, Requiem. The Medieval Monastic Cemetery in Britain, 154–6. 25 Møller-Christensen, Æbelholt kloster, 196. 26 See, for example, Møller-Christensen, Æbelholt kloster, 190–3; Gilchrist and Sloane, Requiem. The Medieval Monastic Cemetery in Britain, 63–6, 72, 205–6; and Metzler, Disability in Medieval Europe. 27 Møller-Christensen, Æbelholt kloster, 136. 28 Gilchrist and Sloane, Requiem. The Medieval Monastic Cemetery in Britain, 63. 29 Shorter, 'Primary Care', 108–9; Rasmussen, et al., 'Mercury levels in Danish Medieaval Human Bones'. 30 Þorláksson, 'Frá kirkjuvaldi til ríkisvalds', 124; Ísberg, Líf og lækningar, 162. 31 See Ísberg, Líf og lækningar, 162–3. 32 Crosby, 'The Early History of Syphilis: a Reappraisal', 218–20. 33 Stefánsson, 'Kirkjuvald eflist', 81–5; Sigurðsson, Det norrøne samfunnet, 161–76. 34 Þorláksson, 'Frá kirkjuvaldi til ríkisvalds', 30–48. 35 Sveinbjarnardóttir, Leirker á Íslandi/Pottery Found in Excavations in Iceland, 131–2. 36 Gilchrist and Sloane, Requiem. The Medieval Monastic Cemetery in Britain, 63.