Madness, Medicine and Miracle in Twelfth-Century England

Abstract

This monograph provides a fresh perspective on how madness was defined and diagnosed as a condition of the mind in the Middle Ages and what effects it was thought to have on sufferers. Records of miracles that were believed to have been performed by saints reveal details of illnesses and injuries that afflicted medieval people. In the twelfth century, such records became increasingly medicalized and naturalized as the monks who recorded them gained access to Greek and Arabic medical material, newly translated into Latin. Nonetheless, by exploring nuances and patterns across the cults of five English saints, this book shows that hagiographical representations of madness were shaped as much by the individual circumstances of their recording as they were by new medical and theological standards.