Author

ZHAO Xiurong (School of History, Renmin University of China)

Abstract

From Ancient Greece to the 17 th century, hysteria was thought to be associated with the womb, so it had been considered as a disease specific to women. In early modern England, hysteria was intertwined with witchcraft. In 1602, the puritan family girl Mary Gloves appeared to have hysteric symptoms, and her neighbor, Elizabeth Jackson, was accused of witchcraft. Although the result of the case was that Elizabeth was convicted of witchcraft, doctors represented by Edward Jorden believed that the hysteria symptoms were caused by disease and were not demonic possession. From this case we can draw a conclusion that, in early modern England the recognition of hysteria was still in the transition period from demonic possession to physical disease. Hysteria had not yet become a separate category of diseases, and doctors had been trying to medicalize it and peeling off its coat of supernaturalism.

Published on Economic and Social History Review, Issue 3, 2021.