"If an elf or a goblin come, smear his forehead with this salve, put it on his eyes, cense him with incense, and sign him frequently with the sign of the cross."
"For a fiend-sick man: When a devil possesses a man, or controls him from within with disease, a spew-drink of lupin, bishopswort, henbane, garlic. Pound these together, add ale and holy water."
And again: "A drink for a fiend-sick man, to be drunk out of a church bell: Githrife, cynoglossum, yarrow, lupin, flower-de-luce, fennel, lichen, lovage. Work up to a drink with clear ale, sing seven masses over it, add garlic and holy water, and let the possessed sing the Beati Immaculati; then let him drink the dose out of a church bell, and let the priest sing over him the Domine Sancte Pater Omnipotens."(346)
(346) See Cockayne, Leechdoms, Wort-cunning, and Star-Craft of Early
England in the Rolls Series, vol. ii, p. 177; also pp. 355, 356. For the
great value of priestly saliva, see W. W. Story's essays.
Had this been the worst treatment of lunatics developed in the theological atmosphere of the Middle Ages, the world would have been spared some of the most terrible chapters in its history; but, unfortunately, the idea of the Satanic possession of lunatics led to attempts to punish the indwelling demon. As this theological theory and practice became more fully developed, and ecclesiasticism more powerful to enforce it, all mildness began to disappear; the admonitions to gentle treatment by the great pagan and Moslem physicians were forgotten, and the treatment of lunatics tended more and more toward severity: more and more generally it was felt that cruelty to madmen was punishment of the devil residing within or acting upon them.
A few strong churchmen and laymen made efforts to resist this tendency. As far back as the fourth century, Nemesius, Bishop of Emesa, accepted the truth as developed by pagan physicians, and aided them in strengthening it. In the seventh century, a Lombard code embodied a similar effort. In the eighth century, one of Charlemagne's capitularies seems to have had a like purpose. In the ninth century, that great churchman and statesman, Agobard, Archbishop of Lyons, superior to his time in this as in so many other things, tried to make right reason prevail in this field; and, near the beginning of the tenth century, Regino, Abbot of Prum, in the diocese of Treves, insisted on treating possession as disease. But all in vain; the current streaming most directly from sundry texts in the Christian sacred books, and swollen by theology, had become overwhelming.(347)
(347) For a very thorough and interesting statement on the general
subject, see Kirchhoff, Beziehungen des Damonen- und Hexenwesens zur
deutschen Irrenpflege in the Allgemeine Zeitschrift fur Psychiatrie,
Berlin, 1888, Bd. xliv, Heft 25. For Roman Catholic authority, see Addis
and Arnold, Catholic Dictionary, article Energumens. For a brief and
eloquent summary, see Krefft-Ebing, Lehrbuch der Psychiatrie, as above;
and for a clear view of the transition from pagan mildness in the care
of the insane to severity and cruelty under the Christian Church, see
Maudsley, The Pathology of the Mind, London, 1879, p. 523. See also
Buchmann, Die undfreie und die freie Kirche, Bresleau, 1873, p. 251.
For other citations, see Kirchoff, as above, pp. 334-346. For Bishop
Nemesius, see Trelat, p. 48. For an account of Agobard's general
position in regard to this and allied superstitions, see Reginald Lane
Poole's Illustrations of the History of Medieval Thought, London, 1884.
The first great tributary poured into this stream, as we approach the bloom of the Middle Ages, appears to have come from the brain of Michael Psellus. Mingling scriptural texts, Platonic philosophy, and theological statements by great doctors of the Church, with wild utterances obtained from lunatics, he gave forth, about the beginning of the twelfth century, a treatise on The Work of Demons. Sacred science was vastly enriched thereby in various ways; but two of his conclusions, the results of his most profound thought, enforced by theologians and popularized by preachers, soon took special hold upon the thinking portion of the people at large. The first of these, which he easily based upon Scripture and St. Basil, was that, since all demons suffer by material fire and brimstone, they must have material bodies; the second was that, since all demons are by nature cold, they gladly seek a genial warmth by entering the bodies of men and beasts.(348)
(348) See Baas and Werner, cited by Kirchhoff, as above; also Lecky,
Rationalism in Europe, vol. i, p. 68, and note, New York, 1884. As to
Basil's belief in the corporeality of devils, see his Commentary on
Isaiah, cap. i.
Fed by this stream of thought, and developed in the warm atmosphere of medieval devotion, the idea of demoniacal possession as the main source of lunacy grew and blossomed and bore fruit in noxious luxuriance.