IDIOTS,IMBECILES AND INTELLECTUAL IMPAIRMENT by Catherine Slater, M.A. Cantab
A History of Mental Handicap/Learning Difficulties from 1000AD to 2000AD-

This site is about the history of people who have been described over the years as fools and intellectually impaired, mentally retarded and developmentally delayed, mentally handicapped and learning disabled, They have faced oppression and prejudice in the past but now are beginning to be recognised as individuals who should be included , respected and valued who have equal civil rights and who are unique indivuduals who can offer a great deal and live rich fulfilled lives just like anyone else.I apologise to anyone who objects to my use of terminology that was used in the past but I need to use the old terms when I am describing the old times.

Children with mental disabilities could be born to anyone rich or poor. Medieval society was based on the preserving and transfer of landed wealth .If the heir to property were mentally disabled , the King wanted to make sure that he was protected during his life time ( or her lifetime) and that the property then went to the rightful successor.

During the second half of the 13th century a law was passed. It distinguished between "natural fools" , people mentally disabled from birth and those who were "non compos mentis" who had a mental illness and might recover or have periods of lucidity. The King used to "contract out" care of mentally disabled people to private individuals. In fact often private individuals would tell the king about a mentally disabled person so that they might get custody It was a private but monitored guardianship. They would pay the King a lump sum called a fine and annual rents and they would enjoy the revenue from the land and provide the person with the necessities of life until they died and the land passed to their heirs For a mentally ill person, especially one who had periods of lucidity they had to be kept at the economic level suited to his rank and the guardian could not have the surplus revenues. If f they recovered the guardian no longer looked after the estate

An inquisition would be set up by Royal commission to determine whether the person said to be a lunatic or idiot was mentally disabled. If so from what time , how and in what manner, and did he have lucid intervals. What land did he possess. Who and how old was his next heir?

A record of an Examination of Emma de Beston in Cambridge 1383.exists.Emma was asked whence she came, said she didn’t know. She knew there were seven days in the week but could not name them. She said she had had 3 husbands but couldn’t name one. She was asked how many shillings there were in 40 pence. she did not know. Asked if she would take 40 silver groats or 40 pence she said they were the same value. They found she was not of sound mind having neither sense nor memory nor sufficient intelligence to manage herself her lands and her goods. By inspection she had the face and countenance of an idiot.

.Because of this 80% of cases coming to the court described the heir as a fool rather than a madman because the guardian got more revenue from a fool. When the law was changed in the 16th century the number of people described as mentally disabled coming before Courts of Wards dropped to 30% in 1640.There was no dramatic decline in mental handicap. It is simply that when it was no longer advantageous to the guardian to have custody of someone who was disabled rather than mad , more people were recognised as mentally ill rather than mentally disabled.

Another document from the thirteenth century clearly distinguishes mentally ill from mentally disabled people. It stated that "women, serfs, people under 21, open lepers, idiots, attorneys, lunatics, deaf-mutes, those excommunicated by a bishop and criminal persons" were all barred from becoming judges.

However during this time we see the beginnings of social welfare in towns Pious benefactors were beginning to found hospitals. Monasteries already provided hospitality for travellers and for old people, and this was widened to include the foundation of hospitals for orphans, widows, old folk, sick people and lepers. In due course hospitals became specialised centres of social welfare. St Bartholomew’s hospital had been founded in 1142 and soon after St Thomas Hospital. In 1247 St Mary of Bethlehem was founded first as a priory and became a hospital. King Edward III granted a protection to it. It was a hospital for distracted person It is now the oldest psychiatric hospital in the world having recently celebrated its 750th anniversary .It was first founded as a general hospital but by 1377 "distracted " patients were being looked after here. They were kept chained to the wall by leg or ankle and when violent ducked in the water or whipped. A 1398 inventory lists 4 pairs of manacles, 11 chains of iron, six locks and keys and two stocks for 20 patients. 1403 Visitation of Bethlem hospital mentions six insane men "viri mentecapti" and three others who were sick.

John Stowe describes how near St Martins in the Field in the liberty of Westminster. "Then had you one house, wherein sometime were distraught and lunatic people, of what antiquity founded or by whom I have not read , neither of the suppression but it was said sometime a king of England not liking such a kind of people to remain so near his palace caused them to be removed further off to bethlem without Bishopsgate of London and to that hospital ;the said house by Charing Cross doth yet remain. It was probably Richard II(1367-1400) who asked for the transfer of the Charing Cross lunatics. This very first mental hospital in London stood where Landseer’s lions now preside over Trafalgar Square.

In 1376 in Hamburg mentally retarded persons were confined to a tower in the city walls called the idiots cage. In Gheel in Belgium there was a saints shrine said to cure the mentally ill and afflicted. Many mentally handicapped and mentally ill people went there. Eventually an adult care scheme grew up where families fostered people with mental handicaps. This is still going on.

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