Both “illness and temptation of the enemy”: melancholy, the medieval patient and the writings of King Duarte of Portugal (r. 1433–38)

Abstract

Recent historians have rehabilitated King Duarte of Portugal, previously maligned and neglected, as an astute ruler and philosopher. There is still a tendency, however, to view Duarte as a depressive or a hypochondriac, due to his own description of his melancholy in his advice book, the Loyal Counselor . This paper reassesses Duarte's writings, drawing on key approaches in the history of medicine, such as narrative medicine and the history of the patient. It is important to take Duarte's views on his condition seriously, placing them in the medical and theological contexts of his time and avoiding modern retrospective diagnosis. Duarte's writings can be used to explore the impact of plague, doubt and death on the life of a well-educated and conscientious late-medieval ruler.

Mental disorder and mysticism in the late medieval world.

“…There are also detailed accounts for some medieval rulers, the detail probably arising from the widespread consequences of their mental disorders. Thus, we know a good deal about the disorders suffered by Henry VI of England (1421–1471; e.g., Green, 1993; Rushton, 2010), Charles VI of France (1368–1422; e.g., Famiglietti, 1986; Green, 1993), and Duarte of Portugal (1391–1438; McCleery, 2009), as well as more minor rulers (e.g., Midelfort, 1994). Given the extent and accessibility of this previous work, I summarize only some salient points here.…”

8 Medical Licensing in Late Medieval Portugal

“…He also provided Portugal's first surviving guide to plague management, probably based on observation of urban practice, and collected numerous recipes for a variety of health problems. 85 The first of the fifteenth-century licensing letters survives from his reign. Finally, King Manuel after 1495 whole-heartedly took on the completion of the highly medicalized hospital of All Saints in Lisbon, a project he had inherited from his predecessor João II.…”