Alison Torn investigates the strange case of Margery Kempe
The influence of conflicting medieval church and social discourses on individual consciousness : dissociation in the visions of Hadewijch of Brabant
October 10, 2014 By
This article examines the influence of the conflicting dis- courses in the medieval church and its social context on the subconscious experiences of Hadewijch of Brabant, a 13th century Flemish visionary, mystical author, vernacular theologian and Beguine leader
A Medieval Dream and its Interpretation
October 5, 2014 By
Medieval people were also interested in dreams, and they attempted to figure out what they meant. Often a dream would be interpret as a sign of future events, or a divine warning that someone needed to change their ways.
Melancholia in medieval Persian literature: The view of Hidayat of Al-Akhawayni
July 16, 2014 By
This paper aims to review Al-Akhawayni’s 10th century knowledge on melancholia which can represent the early concept of this disorder in the Near East.
Dreams in Old Norse-Icelandic Royal Biographies as Representations of the Dynastic Identity: The Case of the Fairhair Dynasty
July 6, 2014 By
King Hálfdan dreams one day, in a pigsty, that he becomes a man with the finest hair, although the color and length of each ringlet vary. One curl excels in color, brightness and length, signifying St. Olaf, national saint of Norway.
Dreams in medieval Saints’ lives: Saint Francis of Assisi
June 15, 2014 By
How do medieval descriptions of dreams or visions reflect spiritual growth? What images are used as rhetorical or hagiographical means? And what can we learn from the interpretation of these spiritual images in a late medieval literary context?
Opicinus de Canistris: Yesterday and today
February 8, 2014 By
Opicinus is the first maker of anthropomorphic maps of the countries around the Mediterranean, and the first psychotic cartographer and imaginative writer in the historical field of the Psychopathology of Expression.
An outside for the inside : a psychoanalytic reading of The Book of Margery Kempe
February 3, 2014 By
It is evident in Margery Kempe’s visions of holy family life that Virgin and Christ dyad is an oedipal fantasy of the child who is the father of himself.
Plague and Persecution: The Black Death and Early Modern Witch Hunts
January 27, 2014 By
The century or so from approximately 1550 to 1650 is a period during which witch-hunts reached unprecedented frequency and intensity. The circumstances that fomented the witch- hunts—persistent warfare, religious conflict, and harvest failures—had occurred before, but witch-hunts had never been so ubiquitous or severe.
Anesthesia Drugs in the Medieval Muslim Era
January 25, 2014 By
In the Middle Ages, Christian Europe was in a state of intellectual stagnation and the theological doctrine that pain serves God’s purpose and must not be alleviated militated against the improvement in methods of narcosis. Nuland points out that the Middle Ages in Europe were dark ages so far as advances in the pharmacology of anesthesia were concerned.
Experience and Meaning in the Cathedral Labyrinth Pilgrimage
January 15, 2014 By
A medieval design based in Sacred Geometry principles, this unicursal path through concentric circles is a metaphorical container for spiritualjourneying.
Incubus: the medieval nightmare disease
January 3, 2014 By
Some people have nightmares of being crushed to death, either by a person or a thing. In the Middle Ages this type of dream was so common that had it a name: incubus (which means ‘the crusher’ in Latin).
Saint Francis of Assisi: An Exorcist of Demons
December 4, 2013 By
Saint Francis was considered such a model of Christian virtue that he was able to perform miracles as an agent of Jesus. Among them, the description of demoniacs and exorcisms are particularly interesting for the history of psychiatry.
Fasting Girls: Then and Now
November 1, 2013 By
Fasting Girls: Then and Now Lecture by Joan Jacobs Brumberg Given at Cornell University, on February 16, 2012 Why do we hear about – and see – so much anorexia nervosa these days? Once a medical curiosity of only anecdotal significance, the disorder may now afflict as many as one million young women a year […]
Manuel II Palaiologos: Interpreter of dreams?
September 4, 2013 By
Discussion on the origin of dreams and the art of dream interpretation always fascinated the Byzantines and other medieval people as it is evident, not only within the numerous texts on the subject, but also in hagiographical and historiographical sources.
Women and Hysteria In The History Of Mental Health
August 21, 2013 By
Hysteria is undoubtedly the first mental disorder attributable to women, accurately described in the second millennium BC, and until Freud considered an exclusively female disease.
Fasting and the female body : from the ascetic to the pathological
August 17, 2013 By
Importantly, the dietary practices of the early Christians cannot be understood as a single corpus of ideas or practices. It could mean going without food altogether, as in the case of one of the desert fathers, Simeon Stylites, who ate nothing for the whole of lent.
The role of mythical and imaginary figures in the mental framework of medieval society
August 16, 2013 By
It is crucial to evaluate also whether or not medieval people distinguished the fiction from reality, and if they did, does this have an impact on the roles which certain figures performed?
The Miracles of Saints Cosmas and Damian: Characteristics of Dream Healing
July 27, 2013 By
Cosmas and Damian were trained physicians, already famous during their lives, but their great career as healers started after they suffered martyrdom in 287 or 297.
Erotic Dreams and Nightmares from Antiquity to the Present
June 21, 2013 By
Do erotic dreams result from divine intercession, an immoral life, or recent memories? Are they products of the self for which the individual dreamer may be held responsible? Or are they determined by a force majeure such as original sin, or human physiology?
Feeding the Dogs: The Queer Prioress and Her Pets
May 28, 2013 By
Everybody knows what we should think about the Prioress’ love for animals. She steals from the poor by feeding her ‘smale houndes’ roast meat and good bread. And she’s breaking the rules just by keeping pets.
Civic and Religious Understanding of the Mentally Ill, Incompetent, and Disabled of Medieval England
May 20, 2013 By
This brief summary covered the fourth paper given at KZOO’s Mental Health in Non-medical Terms. It covered ways in which theologians, like Thomas Aquinas, tried to categorize mental disability. Aquinas also tried to prove that the mentally impaired were able to receive sacraments depending their lucidity and where they fit in his four categories. It was an interesting and enjoyable paper.
Mental Disability and Intellectual Impairment in the Middle Ages: Some Preliminary Research Findings
May 19, 2013 By
This interesting paper was one of the four given in the Mental Health in Non-medical Terms session at KZOO. It looked at philosophy, iconography and the way mental disability was viewed in the Middle Ages.
Going Mad in French: Royal Notaries and Charles V’s Translation Project
May 19, 2013 By
This was another interesting paper from the Mental Health in Non-medical Terms session at KZOO on notaries, and how crimes committed under “mental duress” were processed.
Dancing plagues and mass hysteria
April 28, 2013 By
John Waller on how distress and pious fear have led to bizarre outbreaks across the ages
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