Passion and Melancholy: Julian of Norwich’s Medical Hermeneutic

Abstract

This paper examines Julian of Norwich’s representation of the Passion of Christ in her Revelation of Love, proposing that Julian reads the body of Christ through a medical hermeneutic which echoes vernacular texts of the spiritual ‘remedy’ genre. The essay’s overarching argument is that Julian’s engagement with humoral theory positions her as a participant in an emerging collective imaginary of vernacular medicine, related to the translation and transmission of medical texts in the late fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. Comparing the Latin and Middle English versions of William Flete’s Remedies Against Temptations and related works, I examine how this spiritual-medical discourse is expressed in vernacular texts contemporary to Julian’s life. I then consider Julian’s own sophisticated invocation of medical theory and practice in her description of the Passion, where she deploys diagnostic markers to depict an ‘ex-sanguination’ of Christ’s perfect disposition. These markers serve to reify the traditional figure of the ‘Man of Sorrows’ with a portrayal of Christ’s body as melancholic, a humoral affliction which reiterates both his suffering and his ‘love-longing’ for humanity. Finally, I show how this medical account functions in Julian’s optimistic theology, offering a reminder of the eternal presence of God’s love even in times of pain and disease.