380 insanity, treatment of
against the inquisitors, who were perceived to be greedy,
or at other times turned in those deemed heretical or
deviant. The whole procedure was always open to abuses
by the clerics in charge, who had broad scope to inter-
pret what they were able to unearth. The Inquisition
functioned throughout the rest of the Middle Ages and
in Spain evolved into the more explicitly political Span-
ish Inquisition.
See also ANTICLERICALISM;FREE SPIRIT, HERESY OF;
HERESY AND HERESIES; WITCHCRAFT.
Further reading: Edward Peters, ed. Heresy and
Authority on Medieval Europe: Documents in Translation
(Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1980);
Bernard Hamilton, The Medieval Inquisition (London:
Edward Arnold, 1981); Robert I. Moore, The Formation of
a Persecuting Society: Power and Deviance in Western
Europe, 950–1250 (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1987);
Edward Peters, Inquisition(New York: Free Press, 1988);
Water L. Wakefield, Heresy, Crusade and Inquisition in
Southern France, 1100–1250(London: George Allen &
Unwin, 1974).
insanity, treatment of The vague and pejorative term
insanitycan be seen as anachronistic for any real under-
standing of medieval attitudes and ideas about those with
psychological problems. ISIDOREof Seville distinguished
between a congenital intellectual deficiency and acquired
mental problems and resulting behavior. Later medieval
medical and legal terminology became more specific and
was tied to more sophisticated classifications, but notions
among the mass of people remained fluid, variable, and
perhaps not so understanding or forgiving. All of this was
complicated by the presence of medical conditions, such
as epilepsy, that were not understood, by unconventional
conduct of a person, and by the acceptance of the possi-
bility of possession of a person by the DEVIL.
TREATMENT ITSELFThe treatment of the insane in the Middle Ages was quite
often characterized by tolerance, and reactions to various
forms of illness ranged from benign neglect to harsh
ostracism, the latter more often experienced by deviants
such as heretics and lepers. Confinement in cells or with
chains was not torture or treatment but protection for the
community and for the violent themselves. Many people
afflicted with mental problems were not systematically
hidden away and often could lead productive lives. The
destitute and the socially displaced were hospitalized. In
the later Middle Ages, with urbanization and the per-
ceived growth and more concentrated numbers of the
mentally ill, society tended toward more harsh confine-
ment and treatment. They remained, however, somewhat
protected, even exempted from the consequences of their
actions by the law and by the church. Those deemed
insane were considered incompetent and incapable of
making binding commitments and transactions, but also
incapable of inheriting or exercising financial power. In
criminal cases, insanity often conferred some protection
from findings of guilt and punishment. Treatment
remained palliative rather than curative as the ill were
subject to supposed helpful diets, purges, and even surgi-
cal intervention. All this was done to try to balance the
humors affecting mood and character. The attitudes
toward the ill and treatment of mental illness essentially
followed the same lines for Islam and Judaism.
See alsoEXORCISM; HOSPITALS; MEDICINE.
Further reading:Penelope Reed Doob, Nebuchadnez-
zar’s Children: Conventions of Madness in Middle English
Literature (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press,
1974); Thomas Francis Graham, Medieval Minds; Mental
Health in the Middle Ages (London: Allen & Unwin,
1967); Judith S. Neaman, Suggestion of the Devil: Insanity
in the Middle Ages and the Twentieth Century(New York:
Octagon Books, 1978).institutes See CORPUS IURIS CIVILIS;JUSTINIANI.interdict The interdict, along with EXCOMMUNICATION
and suspension, was one of the main ecclesiastical cen-
sures. Personal interdict involving essential expulsion
from the community of faithful was similar to excommu-
nication. A general interdict on a place suspended reli-
gious services in parishes, towns, dioceses, or kingdoms
until those responsible did penance. This punishment
was rare until about 1100.
In the 12th and 13th centuries, the interdict became a
common weapon in the arsenal of the PAPACYin its strug-
gle against lay powers. Pope INNOCENTIII frequently and
systematically used this procedure against his adversaries.
The interdict against PHILIPII AUGUSTUSin 1198 was laid
on the whole kingdom of FRANCE. The pope wanted the
king to repudiate a new wife and recall his legitimate wife.
Philip resisted for two years but relented in 1200.
Interdict allowed mitigating circumstances and
exceptions since it had to affect thousands of innocent
people. The consequences of an interdict could still be
devastating since the sick were deprived of extreme unc-
tion or last rites when in danger of DEATHand the dead
were denied BURIALin consecrated ground. Later the
harshness of these measures was relaxed by Popes BONI-
FACE VIII, Martin V (r. 1417–31), and EUGENIUSIV.
These popes had seen that interdiction was becoming
less ineffective since it was perceived as unfair to too
many people. It had also fallen into disrepute because it
had been used too frequently for political rather than
spiritual reasons.
Further reading: Edward James Conran, The
Interdict...,(Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of
America Press, 1930); Edward B. Krehbiel, The Interdict:
Its History and Its Operation, with Especial Attention to the