Madness and Demonic Possession

To begin this study of the connection between demons and the mad, it is necessary to survey the pilgrims who were possessed or otherwise tormented by demons in Benedict and William's collections, and the ways in which demons were recorded as having affected their health.

This first section reviews occurrences of demonic interference in both collections, and these will then be analysed in the following sections to see what they can tell us about Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury's perceptions of demons, and of illnesses of the body and mind.

Benedict of Peterborough's collection does not demonstrate a marked use of “medical” terminology or theories in the same way that Koopmans has identified in William's. It is, however, plausible that Benedict may have had some medical learning, since he commissioned a copy of the ‘Ars Physicae Pantegni et practica ipsius in uno volumine' whilst at Peterborough, the exemplar for which may have come from Christ Church.^[1009] The book collection he brought with him from Canterbury to Peterborough when he became abbot there largely contained books on theology, classics and, most abundantly, canon law.1^[1010] His miracle collection was therefore written from the perspective of a scholarly monk, perhaps with an interest in medicine but with a greater knowledge of theology. He only connected demonic interference with three cases of madness in his collection, in which he recorded a total of nine miraculous cures of mad pilgrims.

The first case is that of Matilda of Cologne. Hers was a particularly complex condition. Matilda was described by Benedict as being insane (‘insanientem') and filled with a demon (‘Plenam daemonio').^[1011] When she was insane, Matilda was violent, killing her own baby and attempting to suffocate a small child in the cathedral.

Bystanders had to rescue the child and bind Matilda. Whilst bound at the tomb, Matilda received a vision in which she conversed with the saint, Thomas Becket, who recommended that she continue her pilgrimage either to Rome or to Santiago de Compostella, following her cure. The saint appeared to her wearing the vestments of an archbishop and with a streak of blood across his face, reminiscent of his bloody martyrdom, and perhaps acting as a reminder of his earthly power as an archbishop and his spiritual power as a saint. For Benedict, Matilda's cure began when the wicked spirit was expelled from her, but it left behind vile traces and she was not fully-restored until the next day.^[1012] ^{^[1013] ^[1014] Matilda's possession was very invasive, with the demon literally filling her. However, Benedict did not include any description of the demon or of how it entered Matilda's body. Matilda's encounter with Becket, by contrast, is far easier to visualise, because of Benedict's detailed description of the saint's physical appearance, as well as his interpretation of Becket's advice for the further protection of Matilda's soul. The second case—that of Elward of Selling—describes an entirely different demonic experience. Elward was a man of great height and mature age whose mind had been driven insane.22 He was pursued by a demon (‘enemy of the human race': ‘humani generis hostem', ‘evil spirit/demon': ‘larvosam'), which he could see snarling in front of him.2³ He managed to escape the demon through a miracle performed by Thomas Becket, which allowed him, despite his size, to fit through one of the holes in the side of Becket's tomb (designed for people who wanted to get closer to the saint by putting their hands through) and evade the demon through proximity to the holy relics. When Elward came back out, he was no longer insane. However, he could not complete the feat a second time, getting stuck at the shoulder blades, and neither could a small boy, who the monks asked to try it as an experiment.
Elward's experience, although physical in the sense that he could see demons in front of him, was not invasive like Matilda's, with the attack being made externally to his body. His connection with the saint was also external, through his physical bond with the relics. The final victim, in Benedict's collection, of what could be interpreted as another external demonic attack was a child whose story was related at the tomb by his mother, the wife of a knight called William of Earley. The child lost his mind (‘a mente alienatus’) and repeatedly screamed ‘See where they come!' (‘Ecce ubi veniunt’).²⁴ This strange cry gives the impression that the child could see (or was imagining) supernatural presences that others in the room could not, but it is important to bear in mind that Benedict did not specify what these were. The story was told from the mother’s point of view and she could see nothing. The martyr was immediately called upon to intercede, and his relics were used to save the child. In contrast to the community of the wild man, whose miraculous cure was quoted at the beginning of this chapter, this child’s community was eager to help him. The knight used a piece of Becket’s clothing, a relic which he had carried from Canterbury himself, and sat up all night with the child. Many others made a pledge of pilgrimage to Becket’s shrine should the boy be cured and William of Earley’s wife made the journey there to give thanks.
²3
William of Canterbury’s miracle collection, larger in general than Benedict’s, recorded more cases of demonic madness (see Figure 1). Many of these miracle records are fairly brief and lack a detailed description of either the demon or how it possessed the mad man or woman. On one occasion, two women arrived at the shrine possessed by the devil (‘energumenae mulieres’), and were restored to sanity (‘sanae menti redditae sunt’)?⁵ It is interesting to note here that the women’s cures involved a restoration of their minds to health but that, when describing their initial illnesses, William stated that they were demonically possessed rather than out of their minds.
Demonic possession was believed to be a condition that affected their minds. The only other information that William provided on these women’s conditions was that one of them was unable to eat, drink, and sleep for fifteen days, and the other spoke the language of the devil in both Latin and German for eight years. In these ways, the demons were able to affect both women’s mental and physical capabilities. table 18.1 Number of madness miracles in the miracles of Saint Thomas Becket (Benedict of Peterborough and William of Canterbury)
Demonic Madness Non-Demonic Madness
Benedict of Peterborough 3 6
William of Canterbury 11 5

24 Ibid., 2.54, pp. 102-3.
25 William of Canterbury, “Miracula Sancti Thomae Cantuariensis” 6.130, p. 519.
William recorded the cures of several other demoniacs who sought relief from the holy relics of Thomas Becket against the invasive actions of demons. In Shenfield in Essex, a woman was seized by a spirit whilst witnessing the cure of another possessed woman. The woman cried out that an enemy had entered her (‘Hostis invasit me!'), again showing the invasive way that demons could contaminate the bodies of the possessed.^[1015] This woman was healed by the curative properties of Thomas Becket's water, which she requested and drank. A possessed woman from Gloucestershire was similarly cured by drinking the holy water.2^[1016] Robert, a servant of the Prior of Colchester, was possessed twice by the devil, and had attacked his friends. He too was healed by the holy water and upon revival, reported that he had felt someone else in control of his hands.2^[1017] In the town of Chatillon, four miles from Laou, a possessed (‘arrepti- tus') worker called Hardwin was restored by Becket's relics (though the holy water was not named specifically)?^[1018]
In all of these cases, the saint's physical relics were used to protect apparently innocent victims of demonic attack.
There is only one case in the collection in which William hinted that the possessed man's own sinful state may have made him more vulnerable to demons. Hugh Brustins had taken in an impure spirit (‘spiritum immundum conceperat').^[1019] The use of the word ‘conceperat' here implies that Hugh received the impure spirit, and was not seized by it, as many of the other possessed pilgrims were. The very language used to record his condition contains a hint of blame. Though Hugh personally was not said to have committed any sin, the sinful nature of his birth was raised through rumours that his parents' marriage was illegitimate. Hugh's father was particularly distraught that his distinguished bloodline was becoming more depraved (‘vilesceret in seritate posterorum qui claruerat in serie priorum')^[1020] ^{^[1021] The possession was very physical too, with Hugh suffering from fits, blaspheming, and wreaking havoc on his house, which led to his physical restraint.32 All of these were common symptoms of possession and occurred in other miracles in the collection. What is interesting in this case is the obvious shame that Hugh brought to his family name, and the connection drawn by William of Canterbury between the unclean spirit inside Hugh and the impurities in his bloodline.}}

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Source: Bhayro Siam, Rider Catherine (eds.). Demons and Illness from Antiquity to the Early-Modern Period. Leiden, Boston: Brill,2017. — xiv, 434 p.. 2017

	Demonic Madness	Non-Demonic Madness
Benedict of Peterborough	3	6
William of Canterbury	11	5

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