Clerical Masculinity, Ability, and Appearance: A Case Study of Ante-mortem Tooth Loss in the Late Medieval Augustinian Monastery of Skriðuklaustur, Iceland

The male body often forms an important part of masculine identity. This certainly applies to medieval clerics of higher orders, who were required to have a complete and unblemished body. Still, dispensations for bodily defects could be given by the Apostolic Penitentiary, provided that the defects posed no hindrance or caused scandal. This study focuses on oral health, and ante-mortem tooth loss, which could affect appearance and speech. A total of 124 individuals, of which 49 were male (including five canons), from the late medieval Augustinian monastery of Skriðuklaustur, Iceland, were examined. Of them, 44.4 per cent had tooth loss, and 12.1 per cent had lost eight or more teeth. The small group of clerics provides evidence of diverse oral health, including extensive tooth loss. We discuss how bodily ideals could have been negotiated in medieval Iceland within the cultural context of how tooth loss was viewed and interpreted.