The Middle Ages in Europe was a fascinating era, full of invasions, growing cities, and the ever‑present grip of the Roman Catholic Church—an age that produced many medieval outcasts.
1 Leprosy
Leprosy is caused by a bacteria, and it leads to skin lesions, muscular weakness, and nerve damage. One of the most unusual symptoms of untreated leprosy is the slow decay of your nose as the cartilage breaks down—so yeah, people were pretty freaked out, especially when they noticed that the disease could spread just by contact with a leper.
In the Early Middle Ages, lepers were pitied; later they were hated and feared. They were usually banished to enclosed colonies and hospitals, forced to wear special clothing in public, and in the 1400s civil leaders declared lepers legally dead, stripping their rights and confiscating their possessions.
Even the Church held funeral Masses for lepers who were, in fact, not dead. Saint Francis of Assisi caused a medieval scandal by working among lepers and even kissing them in greeting.
Today there are thousands of leper colonies worldwide, over 1,000 in India alone. Although a cure exists, modern society still ostracises the diseased.
2 Cripples
Here’s an incredible video of a disabled man breakdancing. In the Middle Ages, that same man would have been beaten, rejected, and left to beg on the streets.
According to the book Other Middle Ages: Witnesses at the Margins of Medieval Society, cripples were split into two categories: “regular” cripples, who shared the same low status as criminals and the poor, and “untreatables”—the blind, one‑armed, or completely lame. The second category also included lepers, showing the medieval mindset that blamed afflictions on demons or sinful behavior.
3 Muslims
Muslims (spelled Moslems at the time) played a dual role. The Islamic Golden Age produced dazzling innovations in art and science, yet Muslim invasions of Catholic territories and the ensuing Crusades strained Christian‑Muslim relations.
Crusaders were blessed by Pope Urban II and granted a plenary indulgence—lifting minor sins—so they wouldn’t have to spend time in purgatory. The Pope sparked the first Crusade after an eight‑month campaign preaching the evils of Muslims, firing up the Christian community for an invasion of Jerusalem.
4 Excommunicated
Excommunication was one of the most severe punishments—worse than immediate execution. It meant being completely cut off from the Church, which in the Middle Ages also meant a total severing of social ties.
Those excommunicated were forced to live among people who were not even allowed to greet them on the street. If they died while excommunicated, they were guaranteed a one‑way ticket to hell, and their bodies would not be buried in a consecrated churchyard.
The Catholic Church continues to excommunicate members publicly even today.
5 Heresy (Medieval Outcasts)
Heresy is defined as any belief contrary to the authorized teachings of a church. The punishment could be death or imprisonment, because the government and the Church were essentially the same institution, so heresy was often treated as treason.
In the thirteenth century, Pope Innocent IV sanctioned the use of torture against supposed heretics. Contrary to popular belief, most heretics weren’t burned at the stake; execution was seen as a defeat because it proved the heretic could not be forced to repent.
Innocent Bernard Gui executed only forty‑two heretics in roughly fifteen years. While the Church no longer hands heretics over to the state, it still punishes dissenters—e.g., six nuns were excommunicated for believing in reincarnation.
6 Prostitutes
Prostitutes occupied a fickle place in medieval society—sometimes tolerated, sometimes reviled. The Church and state reluctantly tolerated prostitution because it prevented other evils like rape and masturbation, labeling it a “necessary evil.”
Nevertheless, prostitutes were often looked down upon due to associations with disease and their low‑class origins. Some families even sold their daughters into prostitution to survive.
7 Jews
Jews endured perhaps the harshest persecution of any group in the Middle Ages. Myths such as the blood libel—accusing Jews of using Christian children’s blood in rituals—spread widely.
During the Black Death, many blamed Jews for poisoning wells, leading to violent mobs and thousands of deaths. Jews were forced to wear distinctive badges, attacked, and eventually expelled from England, France, Italy, and Germany in the early fourteenth century.
8 Vagrants
Medieval entertainers fell into two camps: court jesters and minstrels who performed for nobles, and wandering vagrants who entertained on the streets.
Vagrants were dirty, poor, and usually deemed criminals—even without a specific charge. By the end of the 1400s, a vagrant could be arrested simply for “suspicious wandering.”
9 Witches
People have always hated the idea of witches. Surprisingly, the medieval Catholic Church was relatively lenient, calling witchcraft a superstition and even stating that witches didn’t exist.
Nevertheless, common folk blamed everything—from disease to flooding—on witches. Mobs attacked, tortured, and burned them at the stake. Toward the violent end of the Middle Ages, the Church began handing witches over to the state for execution alongside heretics, making sure they were “purified” (still alive) before the flames.
Witch hunts continue today in some nations—India sees an average of 200 witches killed each year, with even higher numbers in Sub‑Saharan Africa.
10 Saints
Saints were perhaps the most condemned and mistreated people of the Middle Ages. Their suffering often turned into miracles that secured their sainthood. Joan of Arc, for example, was burned alive and her body burned two more times to ensure she was truly dead.
Saint Francis of Assisi was also disliked because he demanded that his monks take a vow of poverty and reject worldly goods. Today, he is one of the most famous saints, and the Franciscan order is arguably the only monastic order most people can name off the top of their heads.
These ten medieval outcasts reveal how fear, superstition, and power could turn ordinary humans into societal pariahs.