01460nas a2200193   4500000000100000008004100001260003100042653001200073653002400085100001800109700001100127700001300138700001800151700001100169245010700180856016100287300001000448520080800458       2018                            d  bDe GruyteraBerlin, Boston10aleprosy10aMedieval literature1 aNyffenegger N1 aRupp K1 aRhodes S1 aNyffenegger N1 aRupp K00aLegible Leprosy: Skin Disease in the Testament of Cresseid, Chaucer’s Summoner, and Amis and Amiloun  uhttps://books.google.nl/books?hl=nl&lr=&id=3I1uDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA77&dq=leprosy&ots=ZTZI22f8LB&sig=sbrK6OwovxgK5XsBI9nXNhXVRqQ#v=onepage&q=leprosy&f=false  a77-933 a<p>Three Middle English poetic texts - the Testament of Cresseid, the characterisation of the Summoner in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, and Amis and Amiloun - illustrate the social function performed by skin disease, ‘leprosy,’ in medieval literature. Skin marred by disease marks questionable characters such as Cresseid, Amiloun, and the Summoner as the perpetrators of grave sins. Consequently, we can read their skin, and presumably contemporary readers did, as evidence of and special emphasis on the sinful state of the physically marred characters’ souls. Such texts demand that we read the skin of leprous characters as an indication of their misdeeds. Moreover, they suggest that anyone that follows the bad example of such characters risks having their own face inscribed with sin.</p>