University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Winter 1992 To rend and teare the bodies of men: Theology and the body in demonic possession; France, England, and Puritan America, 1550-1700 Julianne Siudowski Cooper-Forst University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Cooper-Forst, Julianne Siudowski, "To rend and teare the bodies of men: Theology and the body in demonic possession; France, England, and Puritan America, 1550-1700" (1992). Doctoral Dissertations. 1702. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1702 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. 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Order Number 9307S4S To rend and teare the bodies of men: Theology and the body in demonic possession; France, England, and Puritan America, 1550-1700 Cooper-Forst, Julianna Siudowski, Ph.D. University of New Hampshire, 1992 Copyright ©1992 by Cooper-Forst, Julianne Siudowski. All rights reserved. UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TO REND AND TE ARE THE BODIES OF MEN Theology and the Body in Demonic Possession France, England, and Puritan America 1550 -1700 BY JULIANNE S. COOPER - FORST DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History December, 1992 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED c 1992 Julianne S. Cooper - Forst Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. This dissertation has been examined and approved. CILl :■ r U Dissertation Director Charles E. Clark, Professor of History L g -O - Dissertation Director William R. Jones, Professor of History Marc L. Schwarz, Associate Pro, History Laurel Thatcher Ulrich, Professor of History McMahon, Assistant Professor of History B. B. Kffieif, Professor of Sociology Date Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. For Jay and Alexandra They believed in me. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V PREFACE This work began several years ago when I was working on a master's thesis about the as­ cetic use of the body by would-be saints and taking a seminar with Shigehisa Kuriyama on the history of concepts of the human body. When the time came to choose a topic for my disserta­ tion, Laural Thatcher Ulrich suggested that I continue with my work on the human body and theology by exploring the behavior of the possessed girls at Salem, Massachusetts. I extended the scope of the topic both geographically and chronologically to include demonic possession in early modem France, England, and Puritan America. Much has been written about the theological beliefs of the Reformation. Almost without exception the understanding has been that the Protestants made every attempt to recast their theology in opposition to the Roman Catholic system especially regarding the "magical" tradi­ tions of the transubstantiation of the host at the Eucharist, the cults of the saints, the performance of miracles, and the magical aspects of the rituals surrounding non-scriptural sacraments. There was one area of theology where this was not true: demonology and spiritual possession. During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries demonic possession became an important topic of discussion and speculation among members of the intellectual community. Incidences of the phenomenon rose during the second quarter of the sixteenth century, reached a crescendo by the first quarter of the seventeenth century, and except for a flurry or two, died out near the be­ ginning of the eighteenth century. This dissertation examines the published materials relating to the physical phenomena of demonic possession in three categories: theology, law, and medicine. By separating the written material into a tripartite system and concentrating on the corporeality of the phenomenon, I have attempted to delineate the aspects of the problem which were most important to each of the professions, ascertain whether there were differences among the profes­ sions, outline the discernment of the spirits and the remedies prescribed, and offer some explana­ tions for the dissolution of the interest in demonic possession as a diagnosis to certain behavior. There was an attempt during the early modern period to codify the behavior patterns of demoniacs and to produce manuals for understanding and discerning the realm of the spirits. Catholic and Protestant alike confronted the rise of perceived supernatural activity. They asked much the same questions: Why do demons enter human bodies? How do they get in? Where do they lodge? How can they be expelled? What does demon possession mean for the community? In searching for the answers, both sides fell back on the authority of shared sources: the Bible, Church Fathers, Qassical authors, and the scholastics. Therefore, while the Reformers struggled to change theology in most areas of Christianity, the demonology remained essentially constant Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. for both sides in the Reformation struggle. It was not whether one was Roman Catholic or Reformed but whether one adhered to the philosophical system outlined by Plato or Aristotle. Puritan thought on the subject was dictated by the scholastic education at Cambridge University and the lack of a systemitized theory of angelology to counterbalance the Summa Theologica of Saint Thomas Aquinas. Almost without exception, thinkers who diagnosed unusual behavior as demonic and sanctioned witchcraft persecution were Aristotelian in thought whether Roman Catholic or Cambridge Puritan. Neoplatonic thinkers tended to search for other, less chthonic origins of the same event This has implications for the study of Protestant and Puritan theology. The questions as to why, for instance, the Salem events happened the way they did was not so much because of sociological or political problems, but because anomalous human behavior was interpreted in Aristotelian terms. This work is an attempt to offer a broader insight into the intellectual history of the early modem period through a study of the use of the human body to explain theological assumptions. While other factors have clouded the picture for historians, I have concentrated on how these thinkers argued their beliefs through the medium of the human body. By doing so, I have con­ cluded that the lines of demarcation dividing the Roman Catholic from the Puritan were not so clearly drawn as has been assumed. The changing focus of study during the sixteenth and seven­ teenth centuries shows a growing importance for defining the insubstantial in the spirit, Neopla­ tonism, while moving away from consideration of the substantial in the human body itself, Aris- totelianism. The literature relating to it is instructive in understanding the interrelationship be­ tween the intellectual world, the realm of reason, and the flesh and blood body of the individual. In the literature of demonic possession we have intellectual history with a human body. I am grateful to my dissertation advisors,