Archaeologists have discovered skeletons of five 10th century warriors with traces of leprosy on their bones during excavations in Ireland. Three of them belonged to immigrants from Scandinavia, that is, the Vikings.
After it was confirmed that all these warriors were sick with leprosy and two strains of the disease were identified, archaeologists concluded that it was the Vikings who were responsible for the origin of leprosy in Ireland.
Very little is known about the history of leprosy in Ireland; it is not known how it originated in the early Middle Ages and how it spread. This disease, also called leprosy or Saint Lazarus disease, has always been a kind of taboo. The sick were expelled from the villages and were forced to live as outcasts of society.
The thing is that Christian believers interpreted leprosy as a punishment for sins and considered it primarily a disease of the soul.
During the period of the Roman Empire, leprosy penetrated into various cities and countries with Roman legions, and in its later and widespread distribution in the Middle Ages, according to one of the versions of historians, the Vikings, who were then the most mobile part of the European population, even reached the coast, could really be to blame North America.
Of the five skeletons found with traces of leprosy, three were excavated in Dublin and belonged to people of Scandinavian origin. The other two skeletons were dug up in Counties Kildare and Antrim and belonged to people from the territory of Britain or the north of Ireland.
Sick leprosy illustrated in a medieval book.
After examining bone samples, two different strains of leprosy were identified, similar to those that spread across mainland Europe.
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But the Vikings left a significant mark on Irish soil. They first invaded here in 795 AD, raiding coastal monasteries. In the next century, raids and robberies continued even more actively, but even by the 10th century, the Vikings did not manage to seize any Irish territory and acted only as pirates.
In 968, the Vikings finally gave a worthy rebuff at the Battle of Limerick and did so by the High King of Ireland Brian Boru, who unified the Irish kingdoms under his rule.