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This is the first book devoted to the cultural history in the pre-modern period of people we now describe as having learning disabilities. Using an interdisciplinary approach, including historical semantics, medicine, natural philosophy and law, it considers a neglected field of social and medical history and makes an original contribution to the problem of a shifting concept such as 'idiocy'. Medieval physicians, lawyers and the schoolmen of the emerging universities wrote the texts which shaped medieval definitions of intellectual ability and its counterpart, disability. In studying such texts, which form part of our contemporary scientific and cultural heritage, we gain a better understanding of which people were considered to be intellectually disabled and how their participation and inclusion in society differed from the situation today.

People with mental disabilities --- Intellectual disability --- Social history --- History --- Handicapés mentaux --- Déficience intellectuelle --- Histoire sociale --- Histoire --- Intellectual Disability --- Middle Ages. --- Developmental disabilities --- history. --- Western society. --- childishness. --- classical antiquity. --- classical law courts. --- foolish behaviour. --- historical semantics. --- human soul. --- idiocy. --- infancy. --- intellectual disability. --- legal agency. --- medicalised traits. --- medieval court fools. --- medieval medicine. --- medieval natural science. --- mental illness. --- natural philosophy. --- social dominance theories. --- Handicapés mentaux --- Déficience intellectuelle