>She was an anchoress, a woman who was walled into a cell to live a life of
prayer and contemplation, who lived at All Saints Church in Fishergate
in York, the researchers said.
>
>Dr McIntyre said the woman had septic arthritis and advanced venereal syphilis, which would have left her disfigured.

Yeah, great lifestyle

[removed]

[removed]

well if this is correct, it is a huge discovery as afaik syphilis hasn't been verified in Europe this early. see link on history of syphilis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_syphilis

How do you get syphilis if you’re walled into a cell to live a life of prayer and contemplation?

Probably contracted it before, or was abused by someone with it before she became a nun. Lots of women that were victims of abuse were shuttered away in convents to hide what was done, or were sent there for their own protection. Not a good time to be a woman

How? Be chained in a Christian church.

History shows us it's rarely a good time to be a woman.

From your link:

>In the Apple Down cemetery in West Sussex, UK archaeologists uncovered the skeleton of a young man with extensive damage to both his skull and long bones, a combination typical of syphilis. He died in the sixth century AD. Ref 16 - Cole, G. and T. Waldron (2011) “Apple Down 152: a putative case of syphilis from sixth century AD Anglo-Saxon England.” American Journal of Physical Anthropology Jan;144(1):72-9. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21371. Epub 2010 Aug 18. PMID 20721939.

putative?

[removed]

To be fair, they didn't say it revealed a fun lifestyle, just a lifestyle.

It would definitely call into question that it was brought to Europe by Columbus and his crews. I had always been told that syphilis was a New World disease. It’s sounding like it was more a case of being endemic and not recognized.

They often hypothesized that it was related to yaws, another new world spirochete. But syphilis could have been one of those diseases lumped in with leprosy and such. Poorly understood

And with disease like that, maybe the lifestyle allowed her to at least be taken care of.

[removed]

[removed]

History being, I cannot think of a time ever when it was really that great for a woman. Like how did humans even keep existing? We suck

I think that was debunked. Syphilis is actually present in all regions, and previously spread throughout eurasia.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3956094/#:~:text=Throughout%20the%20centuries%2C%20syphilis%20has,prevention%20programs%20control%20the%20disease.

I learned a bit reading here. It was more mild according to that write-up, but evolved to become more brutal. Interesting point, it mentions that in Europe it was mistaken for leprosy, so she may have decided to be sealed in due to the similarities in her condition. Hard to say.

We don't even have to go back in time far to explain that. In 1969 a nun at a Catholic all girl's high school in Baltimore was murdered for helping the victims of sexual abuse at her school. Turns out multiple priests were sexually abusing the underage students and prostituting them out to others, and the nun was the only one who listened and wanted to help. No one was ever charged with a crime.

Now imagine it's medieval Europe, there's nowhere to run, and Monsieur Pedo has the power to imprison you and have you tortured.

Is this the story that they made the Netflix show "The Keepers" about?