Avi Ohry
Tel Aviv, Israel

In the Bible, we read that “a man with physical deformities or ailments, or who is a hunchback or a dwarf, or who has any eye defect, or who has festering or running sores or damaged testicles” (Leviticus, 21:20) was not permitted to serve at the altar as a priest.

In ancient Greece and Rome, people with a hunched back or other physical deformities were often contrasted with ideals of beauty and athleticism and were stigmatized. They sometimes served as servants, comic characters, or entertainers.

Dylan Thomas (1914–1953) wrote:

The hunchback in the park
A solitary mister
Propped between trees and water
From the opening of the garden lock
That lets the trees and water enter
Until the Sunday sombre bell at dark

Eating bread from a newspaper
Drinking water from the chained cup
That the children filled with gravel
In the fountain basin where I sailed my ship
Slept at night in a dog kennel
But nobody chained him up…¹

Some historically famous people may have had spinal curvature. Adam de la Halle, or le Bossu d’Arras (“the hunchback from Arras”), was a thirteenth-century Frenchpoet-musician who composed songs, choral compositions, and other works. It is unknown whether he truly had a vertebral deformity. “Le Bossu” may have been a family nickname or surname rather than a description of his body.^2,3 Le Bossu was a hugely popular French adventure novel whose hero, Henri de Lagardère, disguises himself as a hunchback. The novel became one of the classics of French popular literature and was adapted many times for stage, film, and television.

“Pepin the Hunchback” (Pépin le Bossu, 768/769–811), was a Frankish prince, the eldest son of Charlemagne and Himiltrude.⁴ In 792, he revolted against his father with a group of leading Frankish nobles. Charlemagne commuted Pepin’s death sentence, instead having him tonsured and exiled to Prüm Abbey.

Richard III (1452–1485) was immortalized by Shakespeare and was portrayed as a hunchback with a limp and a withered arm.⁴

Alexander Pope (1688–1744), an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era had severe spinal tuberculosis (Pott’s disease), which left him with a markedly curved spine and short stature.

There are two iconic hunchbacks in classic literature, Manthara and Quasimodo.⁵ Manthara (“the hunchbacked” in Sanskrit) is an important character in the Indian epic Ramayana who was the maid to Queen Kaikeyi. Quasimodo, of the French novel The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831) by Victor Hugo, serves as the bellringer for Notre Dame Cathedral in fifteenth-century Paris.^6,7 Hugo describes Quasimodo’s form as “a twisted grimace: his huge head was an enormous hump, which had a corresponding projector in front; his legs were so strangely made they could touch only at the knees, like two sickles with their handles joined; his feet were immense and his hands were monstrous.”⁸

The librettos of several famous Romantic operas contain references to spinal deformities, including Rigoletto (1851) by Giuseppe Verdi and La Esmeralda (1836) by Louise Bertin.¹⁰ The spinal deformities of Rigoletto and Quasimodo are central to their storylines. Medical historians might argue that Quasimodo had von Recklinghausen’s neurofibromatosis, while Rigoletto had adolescent idiopathic scoliosis.

In many literary works, “the hunchbacks are ridiculed and excluded from the society due to their deformity… Although both Rigoletto and Quasimodo show an intense love, at the end of each opera, they are defeated by loss of this love.”¹⁰

References

1. Thomas D. The Hunchback in the Park. PoetryVerse. https://www.poetryverse.com/dylan-thomas-poems/hunchback-in-park
2. Adam de la Halle. The Kennedy Center. https://www.kennedy-center.org/artists/d/da-dn/adam-de-la-halle/
3. Adam de la Halle. Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_de_la_Halle
4. Pepin the Hunchback. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepin_the_Hunchback
5. Seshadri KG. Hunches on hunchbacks. Indian J Endocrinol Metab. 2012 ;16(2):292-4. 
6. Cox J. Quest for Quasimodo (V. Hugo). Br Med J (Clin Res Ed). 1985;291(6511):1801-3.
7. Guilleminault C, Kurland G, Winkle R, Miles LE. Severe kyphoscoliosis, breathing, and sleep: the “Quasimodo” syndrome during sleep. Chest. 1981 Jun;79(6):626-30.
8. Hugo V. The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Bair l (translated), London, Bantam Books, 1981.
9. Ohry A. The Hunchback in the Park. Orthopedic Review, 1984;13 (11): 100-101.
10. Andreotti M, Caruso G, Massari L, Riva MA. Spinal Deformities in Romantic Operas. Spine (Phila Pa 1976). 2018 ;43(22):1617-1618.