Spiritual Physiologies: The Discernment of Spirits in Medieval and Early Modern Europe

Abstract

From the later Middle Ages throughout the early modern period, the biblical injunction to “test the spirits” became the subject of an increasing number of treatises and practical case studies. The phrase was understood as an imperative to verify whether the preternatural abilities claimed by some individuals—chiefly women—derived from a divine, or rather from a demonic, spiritual origin. Efforts to locate spirits within the body, to map their interactions with individuals, and to exorcize them if they were determined to be evil in character, all were implicated in this centuries-long effort to distinguish good from evil inspiration. While it is self-evident that such practices had religious implications, this article argues that they also had much broader ramifications for the intellectual history of European culture. As the discernment of spirits grew and flourished, it helped foster the development of a culture of testing unseen dimensions of reality more broadly. The discourse of discernment of spirits represents a form of epistemological inquiry—a concern with verification of assumed truths, and with testing evidence—that challenges conventional narratives about the rise of experimental science.

Bodies of earth and air: corporeality and spirituality in pre-modern British narratives of the undead

“…86 Developing discourses of spiritual discernment promoted the idea that the body was 'a material aggregate of the individual's moral status', while medical texts stressed that sin might be at the root of disease. 87 The development of these discourses of spiritual corporeality corresponds approximately with the increase in elite figures recording ghost stories, which similarly tended to permeate physical forms with spiritual qualities, or vice versa.…”

Mental disorder and mysticism in the late medieval world.

“…Third, following the discovery of the Catharan heresy and the Albigensian crusade (1209 -1229), the Church became increasingly concerned that personal religious experience did not lead to the spread of heresy. Fourth, the papal move to Avignon (1309 -1376) and the Papal Schism (1378 -1417) undermined the central authority of the Church (Anderson, 2011;Caciola & Sluhovsky, 2012).…”

Clerical Exorcists and the Struggle for Professional Status in Early Modern Venice: Learning, Licensing, and Practice

“…Lavenia, 2005;Caciola and Sluhovsky; Romeo, 135. 48 "Eductus è carceribus"; "promettendo di lasciare il peccato": ASPV CSI, b. IV, trial of Giovanni Tafferini, fol.…”