The (Un)Healing Leprosy of Cresseid in Henryson’s Testament of Cresseid

Robert Henryson, the medieval Scottish poet, wrote the Testament of Cresseid as a sequel to Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde. Chaucer treated the disloyalty of Criseyde to Troilus with respect to the circumstances that did not put all the blame on her. Henryson, however, depicts Cresseid as an arrogant, lustful and disloyal character who behaves disrespectfully against Eros and Venus. She is punished for her sins by contracting leprosy and at the end of the poem, she is disfigured and when she begs for alms from Troilus he does not even recognize her. In the Middle Ages it was believed that moral depravity and spiritual corruption were the reasons for leprosy. It was strongly associated with pride and lustfulness. Hence, Cresseid’s pride and arrogance lead her to insult the gods and she was punished by leprosy. Her leprosy caused her disfigurement, that is, her bodily beauty, and her pride and arrogance were tamed when she had to beg for alms. Finally, at the end of the poem, which is specified to be a tragedy, she came to the realization of her fault and sins. Leprosy in the Middle Ages was also regarded as a divine favor, as it purified the soul and although the leper suffered bodily in this world s/he would win her/his wealth in the other world. In this poem, Henryson presents leprosy not only as an illness but employing medieval medical knowledge and myths turns the illness into a healing agent in the recognition and spiritual growth and perhaps salvation of Cresseid.