I’m writing a story that involves a nearsighted Illuminator of manuscripts in the 1175-ish time period. The reason given for this man becoming an artist is that he can’t see anything far off, basically—he can’t be a soldier, isn’t apt as a politician, etc. (He’s the son of minor Spanish nobility, and a secret Cathar to boot.) and his parents donated a lot of cash to a monastery. Medieval Art isn’t renowned for its realism, so I thought it was plausible as a character trait. (It’s one I share, and I always wondered what I’d have done in a time before glasses!)
How likely is this, for the time? How was extreme (-5.00 or below) nearsightedness viewed back then, when (if I were a man) it would’ve kept me back from a lot of careers?
And for that matter, what about women? Women were expected to perform certain duties in that era—how was visual impairment seen in women of high and low social class?
Hi there - we're happy to approve your question related to your story, and we are happy for people to answer. However, we should warn you that many flairs have become reluctant to answer questions for aspiring novelists, based on past experience: some aspiring storytellers have a tendency to try to pump historians for trivia while ignoring the bigger points they were making, while others have a tendency to argue with historians when the historical reality does not line up with what's needed for a particular scene or characterization. Please respect the answers of people who have generously given you their time, even if it's not always what you want to hear.
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