A decree, issued in the year 1314, by Milo, Bishop of Orleans, shows that it was occasionally necessary to guard the examinators against being imposed on in other more serious ways, than by direct prevarications or misstatements on the part of the suspected individuals who are subjected to their scrutiny. “Whereas it happens that in the examination of lepers mistakes as to identity, and deceptions, are caused by the interposition of other persons, we enact and command that whenever any person is suspected of the infection of leprosy, he be sent at his own charge if he have effects, but if not, that two responsible men of the parish having been sworn (jurati) before the priest and the officers of the church (gajariis ecclesiae), be sent at the expense of the parish with the suspected person to obtain the examination; they shall conduct the said suspected person to the said examination, and cause him to be faithfully examined, and bring certificates to us, that it may not be possible that, for the future, collusion should take place in the aforesaid matters.”[216]
I have not hitherto been able to find any evidence showing to whom the examination and seclusion of lepers was, in olden times, entrusted in England; or to trace out in that kingdom any special laws relative to this subject. There exist, however, upon record, in reference to one English case in the fifteenth century, some details that are particularly interesting in regard to the present point of our inquiry. The details in question have been preserved in Rymer’s Fœdera. The case to which they refer appears to have been brought under the cognisance of the Crown by the neighbours of the suspected female, in consequence of her being alleged to be affected with leprosy, and yet refusing to seclude herself, as was the usual custom, from intercourse with society in consequence of it. The reigning monarch, Edward IV., issued, in 1468, a Chancery warrant for the proper medical examination of this supposed case of the disease. The royal warrant, and the medical certificate which it called forth, have both been preserved by Rymer. I append a translation of these curious documents, as illustrative both of the general dread then still entertained of the malady, and of the minute care which, in this country, was occasionally taken, in order that a just and accurate judgment might be arrived at in cases of doubt and difficulty. The documents are entered by Rymer under the title of “Medicorum Regis, super morbo Lepræ, Certificatio.” They proceed as follows:—
“To the most Excellent and most Serene Prince and Lord in Christ, Edward, by the Grace of God, King of England and France, and Lord of Ireland, We, William Hatteclyff, Roger Marshall, and Dominus de Serego, Doctors of Arts and Medicine, your physicians, and sworn to watch over the health of your Person, send due Reverence with humility and worship:—
“Whereas a Petition was made to You in Your Court of Chancery, with regard to removing Johanna Nightingale, of Brentwoode, in the County of Essex, from general intercourse with mankind (a communi hominum consortio), because it was presumed by some of her neighbours that she was infected by the foul contact of Leprosy, and was, in fact, herself a Leper: Upon which Your writ was then prepared, and afterwards directed to the Sheriff of the said county, in these words:—
“Edward, by the Grace of God, King of England and France, and Lord of Ireland, to the Sheriff of Essex, Greeting: Whereas We have heard that Johanna Nightingale is a leper, and is commonly holding intercourse with the people of the aforesaid county, and mixes with them both in public and private places, and refuses to retire to a solitary place, as is customary and befitting her (et se ad locum solitarium, prout moris est, et ad ipsam pertineret, transferre recusat), to the grievous injury and, on account of the contagion of the aforesaid disease, the manifest perils of the aforesaid inhabitants: We, willing to guard against such dangers, as far as in us lies, and as is just and customary in such cases, Do charge You, that having taken with You certain discreet and loyal men of the county of the aforesaid Johanna, in order to obtain a better knowledge of this disease, You go to the aforesaid Johanna, and cause her to be diligently viewed and examined in the presence of the aforesaid men. And if You find her to be leprous, as was reported of her, then that You cause her to be removed, in as decent a manner as possible, from all intercourse with other persons, and have her betake herself immediately (indilatè) to a secluded place, as is the custom, lest by common intercourse of this kind injury or danger should in any wise happen to the aforesaid inhabitants. Witness my hand, at Westminster, this day of July, in the eighth year of Our reign.”
“Wherefore The Reverend Father in God, Robert, by the Grace of God, Lord Bishop of Bath and Wells, Your Chancellor of England, consulted us on this subject, and determined to bring the same Johanna to us, with the intention that, according to what we have learned from our knowledge of Medicine, we should give information to Your Highness in Your Chancery, whether the said Johanna be in fact a Leper or not. We, therefore, wishing to obey Your Highness, in order that the truth on this subject might be made most plain and clear, have proceeded after this manner. First, we examined her person, and as the older and most learned medical authors have directed in these cases, we touched and handled her (ipsam tradavimus et palpavimus), and made mature, diligent, and proper investigation, whether the symptoms, indicative of this disease, were in her or not; and after an examination and consideration of each of the points, which appeared necessary to be examined and considered, in order to arrive at a true knowledge of this doubtful matter, We found that the woman neither had been nor was a Leper, nor ought, on that account, to be separated from ordinary intercourse with mankind.
“We are taught by Medical Science that the disease of Leprosy is known by many signs, also that each species of the disease, of which there are four, viz. Alopecia, Tiria, Leonina, and Elephantia, should be known and characterised by particular signs, and each should be specifically distinguished from the rest. Therefore, in the case of the woman brought before us, on going through upwards of twenty-five of the more marked (famosiora) signs of general leprosy (Leprae in communi), we do not find that she can be proved to be leprous, by them or a sufficient number of them. And this would suffice, generally, to free her from the suspicion of leprosy, since it is not possible for any to labour under the disease, in whom the greater part of these signs are not found. But, in order to give our opinion on the individual species, going through upwards of forty distinctive signs of the different varieties of leprosy, we do not find that this woman is to be marked as suffering under any of the four kinds, but is utterly free and untainted, as we have signified by word of mouth to Your Highness in Your said Chancery, and we are prepared to declare the same more fully to Your Highness by scientific process (per processum scientificum), if, and wherever, it shall be necessary.
“In testimony whereof, we, the said William Hatticlyff, Roger Marshall, and Dominus de Serego, have signed our name with our proper hands, and alternately affixed our seals.”
To the preceding document, which is one of the earliest, if not the very earliest, English medical certificate which either historical or medical records have preserved, it is added in the form of a note, “Et memorandum quod praedicti Willielmus Hatteclyff, Rogerus Marchall, et Dominus de Serego venerunt in Cancellarium apud Westmonasterium, septimo die Novembris, anno praesenti (1468), et recognoverunt scriptum praedictum, et omnia contenta in eodem, forma praedicta.”[217]