The average life expectancy in the Middle Ages was around 30 years. Endemic diseases included tuberculosis (“languor”), the dreaded leprosy, abscesses, gangrene, scabies, ulcers, tumors, cancers, eczema (St. Lawrence’s Fire), erysipelas (St. Silas’s Fire), shingles, epilepsy (St. John’s Disease), and St. Vitus’s Dance.
