A well-known disease, now treatable, but which when untreated caused horrible disfigurement; it was much feared in medieval times when leper colonies were established in out of the way places. Those infected were considered unclean; most feared contagion, though it is not highly contagious. Lepers (also referred to as lazars) were known as 'Christ's special sufferers', like the insane, who were also thought to have been specially touched. -
Cf. Seely
Dictionary of Medieval Terms and Phrases. Christopher Coredon with Ann Williams.