Sari Katajala-Peltomaa

Fatherhood, Masculinity and Lived Religion in Late-Medieval Sweden

Patriarchy and gendered power relations have been the focus of scholars of masculinity, but fatherhood, one of the most intimate aspects of masculine identity and an essential element in mens social roles, has gained relatively little attention among medievalists. Elements of being a father, like emotional ties, caregiving and commitment to ones family, form the core of this article. The focus is on the contestants of the traditional concepts linked with masculinity and patriarchy: domination, competition and aggression. The main question is how gendered identity was constructed within lived religion, or, how fatherhood and masculinity were linked. The author argues that collaboration between spouses, commitment to ones children and devotion were important elements in constructing adult lay masculinity in the depositions of canonization processes carried out in late-medieval Sweden. The most important element in being an adult man was not the separation from women but the separation from immature boys. To invoke a saint for ones offspring, even if it required inversion of traditional modes of manifestation of manliness, was a statement of masculine identity: an assurance of respectability, responsibility and commitment.

Demonic Possession as Physical and Mental Disturbance in the Later Medieval Canonization Processes

In late medieval culture demonic possession was considered to be one of the reasons behind mental disturbances and deviant behaviour. This chapter analyses how different explanations and deviations of various categories, spiritual, physiological and social, intermingled in cases of demonic possession and delivery miracles in the thirteenth- and fourteenth-century canonization processes. What kinds of explanations were given as reasons for possession by both clergy and laity; what kind of features indicated delivery? First, hazardous food and drink and perilous places and activities as explanations for affliction are analysed; then concrete signs of the exit of a malevolent spirit are scrutinized. The geographical focus of the chapter is on northern and central Italy, since many detailed cases can be found there. However, for comparative purposes cases from other parts of Europe are also analysed in the chapter. Keywords: clergy; Europe; Italy; laity; later medieval canonization processes; medieval culture demonic possession

Diabolical Rage? Children, Violence, and Demonic Possession in the Late Middle Ages

In the medieval world, demons were considered to be active agents in daily life. They could entice people to sin, but also possess an innocent victim’s body. Demoniacs—such possessed people—were often out of their mind, violent, and aggressive. This article explores specific cases of demonic possession—those of children attacking their parents, as reported in medieval canonization processes—and argues that religious rhetoric offered a means to explain the children’s violence. In addition to providing an explanation, religion provided an outlet in an unbearable situation: attacking one’s parents was a sign of the utmost disrespect to the social hierarchies and moral teachings; blaming a demon offered a remedy without blaming the child (or the parents for bad parenting). Child demoniacs were often treated harshly: they were tied up and sometimes beaten, but they were not abandoned. Like the affliction, the cure was also spiritual: parents invoked the help of a saint, which restored the harmony and hierarchy of family life.

Perspectives to Mental (Dis)Order in Later Medieval Europe

This introductory chapter presents an overview of concepts covered in this book, which sketches boundaries of medieval mental disorders and the attitudes towards those suffering from them, as well as investigates people who were deemed to be mentally disordered. The book covers an area from southern Europe to the Nordic countries, comparison between southern and northern parts of Europe being one of the main goals of the compilation, alongside comparison of various discourses, textual communities and mentalities. The mental disorders are approached from multiple angles, and analysed with diverse source materials and within the framework of several scholarly traditions. Visual evidence and learned Latin texts, as well as vernacular treatises, are scrutinized, thus opening links between art historical, historical and literary discussions and traditions. Keywords: Europe; medieval literature; mental disorders