Madness, Polemic and Compassion: the Stigmatisation of Spiritual Affliction in the Life-writings of Dionys Fitzherbert

Paula Barros

Jump to Content

Chapter 2 Madness, Polemic and Compassion: the Stigmatisation of Spiritual Affliction in the Life-writings of Dionys Fitzherbert

于The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

著者：

Paula Barros

Paula Barros
Search for other papers by Paula Barros in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed

类型:: 章节

Page Range:: 29–50

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004745247_004

Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):

€42.00€35.00 excl. VAT

Add to Cart

找回访问令牌

Abstract

In the early months of 1608, Dionys Fitzherbert (c.1580–c.1641) suffered a profound spiritual crisis, which resulted in a severe form of mental illness. Focusing on the narrative she wrote after her recovery, this chapter explores some of the connections between religion, emotion and mental distress in early modern English Protestantism. It looks closely at the dynamics of Fitzherbert’s cultural and religious environment, the web of expectations she was enmeshed in, and the pressures she had to face and tried to negotiate in and through her writings. Fitzherbert’s manuscript is a unique first-person narrative recording an experience of physical, mental and spiritual breakdown. While existing scholarship examines her writings mostly as the record of a personal ordeal, this chapter considers the ways in which Fitzherbert addresses mental distress as a public issue, in the discursive context of anti-Calvinist controversy. It argues that Fitzherbert’s narrative is best read as a response to the stigmatisation of spiritual affliction, whose disastrous consequences on vulnerable individuals it underlines. Focusing on the connection between religious and medical discourse, the chapter aims to contribute to the understanding of the cultural heritage of psychiatry through a contextualised analysis of an early Stuart experience of religious and mental distress.

引用信息

Save
Cite
Email this content

Share Link

Copy this link, or click below to email it to a friend
Email this content
or copy the link directly:

https://brill.edhh.ma/abstract/book/9789004745247/BP000012.xml
The link was not copied. Your current browser may not support copying via this button.

Link copied successfully

折叠
展开
回到页面顶端

The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

Middle Ages to the Present

丛编： Narratives and Mental Health, 卷： 4

Cover The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

ISBN:: 9789004745247

出版社:: Brill

印刷出版日期:: 13 Nov 2025

Subjects

Front Matter

Back Matter

ProCite

RefWorks

Reference Manager

BibTeX

Zotero

EndNote

统计数据

	全部期间	过去一年	过去30天
摘要浏览次数	234	234	18
全文浏览次数	1	1	0
PDF下载次数	1	1	0

African Studies	Education	Media Studies
American Studies	History	Middle East and Islamic Studies
Ancient Near East and Egypt	Human Rights and Humanitarian Law	Musicology
Art History	International Law	Philosophy
Asian Studies	International Relations	Religious Studies
Biblical Studies	Jewish Studies	Slavic and Eurasian Studies
Biology	Languages and Linguistics	Social Sciences
Book History and Cartography	Life Sciences	Theology and World Christianity
Classical Studies	Literature and Cultural Studies

Subjects

AppBar-Authors 2025

AppBar-Open Access 2025

AppBar-Product Information 2025

AppBar-Company 2025

AppBar-Contact 2025

Chapter 2 Madness, Polemic and Compassion: the Stigmatisation of Spiritual Affliction in the Life-writings of Dionys Fitzherbert

Abstract

引用信息

Share Link

The Cultural Heritage of Psychiatry and Its Literary Transformations

Middle Ages to the Present

目录

参考资料

统计数据

统计数据