The chapter analyses the meanings of ‘illness’ and ‘incapacity’ in early modern Swedish criminal investigations. In so doing, it challenges the prevalence of humoral theory in previous scholarship regarding popular notions of sickness and health. The chapter shows that people described themselves as ill and ‘incapacitated’ as a way of emphasising that their bodies were of less use to them for purposes of work. Corresponding to illness and incapacity were specific measures of abledness, in relation to which a person’s varied ability to perform normal routines were assessed. It is thus argued that notions of health were based on people’s reliance upon their bodies for purposes of subsistence, and, in conclusion, that people embraced a functional understanding of both ill and good health.