Demon Possession in Anglo-Saxon England

By (author) Peter Dendle

Book cover: Demon Possession in Anglo-Saxon England

Extent: 322 pages

Publisher: Medieval Institute Publications

Subjects: Literary Studies, Medieval Studies

Series: Research in Medieval Culture

Language: English

Hardback (Published)

(January 2015)

ISBN: 9781580441698

6.14 x 9.21 inches

Price: $24.95

In stock

Concepts of demon possession and exorcism provided a outlet for expressing the psychological, biological, and sociopolitical dysfunctions of society. A reexamination of the available sources describing the possessed and a study of the currently recognized medical and psychiatric conditions that may be relevant to and resemble medieval possession.


Anglo-Saxon England was a society governed by the competing discourses of illness, spirituality, power, and community. The concepts of demon possession and exorcism, introduced by Christian missionaries, provided a potential outlet for expressing the psychological, biological, and sociopolitical dysfunctions of a society that was at the center of multiple conflicting cultural dimensions.Demon Possession in Anglo-Saxon England is a reexamination of the available sources describing the possessed and a study of the currently recognized medical and psychiatric conditions that may be relevant to and resemble medieval possession.

Acknowledgments
Abbreviations
Preface
Introduction
1. Backgrounds to Anglo-Saxon Exorcism
2. Medical and Liturgical Responses
3. Demon Possession in Narrative Portrayals
4. Neurological and Behavioral Pathologies in the Early Middle Ages
Conclusions and Further Questions
Works Cited
Index

  • By (author) Peter Dendle

"This is a richly learned and highly readable book. It is seeded throughout with a wealth of comparative material from Carolingian, Merovingian, Late Antique, and contemporary sources. [...] Peter Dendle is to be congratulated on an admirably detailed study that complements the more literary and conceptual bent of his earlier book, Satan Unbound: The Devil in Old English Narrative Literature (2001)." Alice Jorgensen, Trinity College, Dublin; review in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology

"This is a richly learned and highly readable book. It is seeded throughout with a wealth of comparative material from Carolingian, Merovingian, Late Antique, and contemporary sources. [...] Peter Dendle is to be congratulated on an admirably detailed study that complements the more literary and conceptual bent of his earlier book, Satan Unbound: The Devil in Old English Narrative Literature (2001)." - Alice Jorgensen, Trinity College, Dublin; review in the Journal of English and Germanic Philology