Indice: List of illustrations. Acknowledgments. Abbreviations. Introduction. 1. Creating the medieval leper: some myths and misunderstandings 2. The body and the soul: ideas about causation 3. The sick and the healthy: reactions to suffering 4. Priests and physicians: the business of diagnosis 5. Medicine and surgery: the battle against disease 6. A disease apart? The impact of segregation 7. Life in the medieval leper house. Conclusion. Bibliography. General index. Index of leper houses, hospitals and almshouses