The research, published in Frontiers in Environmental Archaeology, analyzed 939 adult skeletons from five medieval cemeteries in Denmark, dating from approximately 1050 to 1536 AD. The findings provide a more nuanced understanding of how medieval societies responded to chronic infectious diseases like leprosy and tuberculosis, suggesting more compassion and complexity than previously thought.
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Challenging the Stigma of Disease
For centuries, it was widely assumed that individuals with leprosy in the Middle Ages were treated as social outcasts, banished from their communities and buried in separate, unconsecrated grounds. However, this study indicates a more complex reality. While leprosaria, or leprosy hospitals, did exist and housed many with the disease, the new evidence shows that not all sufferers were segregated. Wealthy families could still secure a prestigious burial for their loved ones within the main church cemetery, close to the altar, which was believed to ensure a better fate in the afterlife.
Lead author Dr. Saige Kelmelis of the University of South Dakota commented on the surprising findings.
“When we started this work, I was immediately reminded of the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, specifically the scene with the plague cart,” she said. “However, our study reveals that medieval communities were variable in their responses and in their makeup. For several communities, those who were sick were buried alongside their neighbors and given the same treatment as anyone else.”
This suggests that while the physical signs of leprosy were apparent, social standing remained a powerful factor in death as it was in life.
Skeleton, mature female, showing effects of leprosy. (Wellcome Collection/CC BY 4.0)
The Role of Wealth and Status in Medieval Burials
The study examined cemeteries in both urban and rural settings, including the towns of Ribe and Viborg. The researchers found no consistent pattern of segregation for individuals with leprosy or tuberculosis. Instead, the most significant factor determining burial location was social and economic status.
“There is documentation of individuals being able to pay a fee to have a more privileged place of burial,” explained Dr. Kelmelis. “In life, these folks — benefactors, knights, and clergy — were also likely able to use their wealth to secure closer proximity to divinity, such as having a pew closer to the front of the church.”
This practice extended to the grave, where proximity to the church and its holy relics was a commodity. The findings from a medieval burial ground show that even with a physically debilitating and stigmatized disease, the wealthy could afford a burial that reflected their earthly status. The study also noted that individuals with tuberculosis, a less visibly obvious disease, were found in high numbers across all cemeteries, with those in high-status graves showing signs of having lived with the disease for longer, likely due to better living conditions afforded by their wealth.
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Cleansing of the ten lepers, from Codex Aureus Epternacensis, c. 1035-1040. (Public Domain)
A More Compassionate Middle Ages?
This research contributes to a growing body of evidence that revises our understanding of life and death in the Middle Ages. Rather than being universally shunned, it appears that people with diseases like leprosy were often integrated into their communities, with their social and economic contributions still valued. The existence of charitable institutions and the evidence from these Danish cemeteries paint a picture of a society that, while fearful of disease, did not entirely abandon its afflicted members, especially those of high standing.
The study ultimately concludes that while the fear of contagion was real, the social rules governing death were complex. The desire for a holy burial and the power of wealth created a system where status could, in many cases, overcome the stigma of disease. This fascinating glimpse into medieval funerary practices reminds us that the past is often more nuanced than the grim portraits painted by popular culture.
Top image: Statue in Danish church graveyard, Copenhagen. Source: bitmedia.dk/Adobe Stock
By Gary Manners
References
Kelmelis, S., Kristensen, V. R., Larsen, L. A., Knudsen, M., Mollerup, L., Seeberg, L., & Pedersen, D. D. 2026. Closer to godliness: a contextual study of osteoarchaeological and spatial patterns of diseased individuals in medieval Danish cemeteries. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/environmental-archaeology/articles/10.3389/fearc.2025.1699370/full
Frontiers. 2026. Rich medieval Danes bought graves ‘closer to God’ despite leprosy stigma, archaeologists find. Available at: https://www.frontiersin.org/news/2026/02/12/rich-medieval-danes-bought-graves-closer-to-god-despite-leprosy-stigma-frontiers-environmental-archaeology
