"By AD 1000, leprosy was fairly widespread in Norway. The clergy and nuns usually cared for lepers, and a few hospitals emerged to provide sanctuary to lepers. One such center was St Jørgen Hospital, founded around 1400 in Bergen.

It was at St Jørgen that Hansen's predecessor, Daniel Cornelius Danielssen, embarked on leprosy research in 1839. In 1840, Danielssen began a collaboration with Carl Wilhelm Boeck. This partnership culminated in the celebrated work “Om Spedalskhed (On Leprosy)”, putting Bergen in the forefront of leprosy research."

Cited from: V Jay, "The Legacy of Armauer Hansen", Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, 124.4 (2000): 496–7.