Stephen

Stephen asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

"Ivar Ragnusson, better known as Ivar the Boneless. He was born, so it is said, with ‘only gristle where his bones should have been’. Ivar almost certainly suffered from osteogenesis imperfecta. He would have been very short, unable to walk without aid and with badly deformed limbs and spine. " (Sykes, Blood of the Isles). He led a Danish attack on Britain in 865! Another Miles?

Lois McMaster Bujold
Ivar is new to me, but you have to figure, every medical condition that exists now existed in the past, if with different names and explanations. (Except the ones that used to kill at birth or early on.) Thankfully many old killers have been rendered more rare by sanitation, immunizations, sterile technique (ferex tetanus used to take out a lot of infants from dirty cuts of the umbilical cord) and better understanding of nutrition. Grant you, osteogenesis imperfecta isn't one of those "easy" fixes.

Ta, L.

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Lois McMaster Bujold

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