[W. R. Reynolds]

Nowadays when our military men come back from wars they sometimes suffer from what has become known as “post traumatic stress disorder”. What happened in the middle ages to the survivors of battle? How did they cope with the aftermath of what amounted to close up and personal butchery (evidence at Wisby and Towton et al) of other human beings? Or was the mindset of the medieval man such that it was an expected way of life? Does anyone know of research that has been published on the subject or of extant writings that may allude to what happened mentally to these men, coming home after such an experience? I would be more interested in what went on in the mind of the common soldier as I believe the nobility (warrior class) would have had a different outlook due to the various interpretations of the Code of Chivalry, than someone that got caught up in a muster or commission of array, or possibly a tenant owing service to his lord.

[Sam Barris]

Check out the books Achilles in Vietnam and Odysseus in America. Both are excellent studies about the universality of combat trauma throughout all ages of warfare.

[Bruno Giordan]

Check this reply to the same topic at armourarchive

http://forums.armourarchive.org/phpBB2/viewto...highlight=

[Daniel J. Willis]

Can't point you to anything specific just yet, but the following link (accessed through the Wellcome Library for the History of Medicine) provides a list of online resources concerning medieval medicine and psychology, though you might also want to try looking through the psychology section more generally for anything relating to combat trauma.

http://www.intute.ac.uk/healthandlifesciences...?id=114310

You could also try searching through the Library's catalogue for written works (other than those already suggested), if something's been written on the subject they're almost certain to have a copy, though finding copies elsewhere may be more problematic.

http://library.wellcome.ac.uk/


Bruno, law and politics in the pre-enlightenment era weren't nearly as simplistic as you suggested in your post.

Whilst things were far from equal, and the vast majority (just as in today's society) simply accepted the way things were, in many cases even unfree peasants had legal rights, and as Susan Reynolds noted in her 2001 book "Fiefs and vassals: the medieval evidence reinterpreted," complex legal systems (principally regarding land ownership) were far more prevalent than the stereotypical feudal setup.

People at all levels did in fact question "feudal" obligations, and hence laws were passed both to enforce servitude of the lower classes, and to maintain the kings position over the Nobility (who themselves sought to limit, through law, the kings power - think Magna Carta).

(This book is available online if you can get access through a library or university:
http://ets.umdl.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text-idx...3.0001.001)

Additionally, the 14th century saw many peasant uprisings across Western Europe, i also know of a local example from the late 13th century where the people rioted in protest against the Bishop of Winchester's treatment of the local Prior.


It's all too easy when talking about people living in the past, particularly with issues such as psychological trauma, medicine or indeed politics, just to say that they didn't feel the same things we do because they were "used to it " or "more religious than us". Generally speaking, human beings are human beings regardless of which century they live in.

[Bruno Giordan]

[Bruno Giordan]

take for example the history of the Sanctuary of the Grazie of Mantua where the famous armor were found.

The sanctuary was quite the place that hosted thousands of ex voto offerings of generations of mantuan soldiers, who in the cruelest moment of battle would pray the Grazie's Virgin: when returned safe, they would deposit their weapons there as a thanking sign.

The sanctuary's walls were literally filled with weapons up to a certain height, according to local chronicles.

So it happened commonly for sick people, who would recur to prayer and vows during sickness and return to their favourite sanctuary with a silver mockup of their healed body part or with a painting as ex voto (out of a vow , literally) gift to be left on the walls.

[Keith Nelson]

[Daniel J. Willis]

There's an interesting article on ptsd in medieval times here: http://www.aetheling.com/docs/Persistence.html. The authors seem to suggest that (though it obviously wasn't known at the time) ptsd was extremely widespread throughout society, with trauma caused battle being just one small part of the overall equation.

[Daniel J. Willis]

[Jean Thibodeau]

Medieval people might not be as sensitive to seeing death and violence and probably didn't feel much guilt after killing in selfdefence: A lot of the " trauma " today is caused by P.C. guilt about a death ! Any death, even the bad guy: It's often expected of police officers to show that killing ( justified killing that is ) has really affected them and that they are O.K. because it bothers them. ( Just from reading a lot of Massad Ayoub articles over the years: He sort of disputes the idea that all survivors of vlolent encounters must go though some for of serious post traumatic stress. )

People are different and it may be perfectly normal to be traumatize after having to use violence: Some are more sensitive or introspective and may wonder if they could have done something different.

On the other hand the reaction of being really really happy to have won and survived can be a high instead of a spiralling into some melancholy or depression. ( It just makes sense to hide it from the more sensitive should who will judge you as being a monster if you don't have any post-traumatic stress. Most humans are more resilient than they know or the species would never have survived the stone age. )

One thing though is that killings that offend one's sense of right and wrong would cause guilt and even more if one had a true Medieval Christian moral sense: A knight coming back from the Crusades who saw and participated in slaughter of civilians might be subject to feeling very bad about it I think.

Priest might be a comfort and some might go on a pilgrimage to wash away sins.

Some might find the quiet atmosphere of a monastery healing as a visitor or by becoming a monk.

Sort of reminds me of the T.V. series " Cadfael " were the main character witnesses massacres in the Holy Land and in part this soured him about leading the military life of a Knight. Fiction but good fiction with a grain of truth I believe.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadfael

[George Hill]

I have no direct information, but it's worth noting that what is now called PTSD (OR PTSS) has had several names just in the last hundred years. Today you have Post traumatic stress syndrome/disorder, in WW2 it was battle fatigue, and in WW1 it was "Shell shock."

Prior to that they might have just called it 'madness' of one kind or another. Madness wasn't exactly uncommon, due to the large number of unidentified poisons in common use. In some periods, Mercury was used as a medicine for many years, but today we know it degrades neural synapses. In the 1800s hatters went mad quite frequently from the industrial use of Mercury.

Madness not being particularly uncommon, and from what were to them unidentifiable sources, we might not find too much speculation about it (in period) in easily recognizable formats.

[Steve Fabert]

We have little evidence of the subjective life of ordinary soldiers prior to the 19th Century, primarily because so few of them were literate. Without a sampling of personal letters to base inferences on, it is hard to draw conclusions about the inner life of the medieval soldier.

Periods of extended warfare clearly caused widespread adjustment disorders among the troops. The inability of the soldiers of the Hundred Years' War to demobilize and return to civilian life is well documented. France was overrun by bands of unemployed soldiers who could not or would not return to peaceful lives during the suspension of hostilities midway through the war. I suspect that the Wars of the Roses that followed the Hundred Years' War may also have been fueled in signficant part by the social instability that can be traced back to the psychological trauma experienced by so many veterans of the preceding war in France.

I leave it up to medical specialists to decide whether to label the antisocial behaviors that result from long periods of warfare as signs of PTSD or just a general loss of civilized habits. But widespread warfare clearly did result in socially unstable behavior that is typical of personality disorders long before the mass industrial warfare of the 20th Century.

[Elling Polden]

Modern society has a very pronounced need to define things; this includes giving a diagnosis to all kinds of deviant behavior.
Things that where earlier just counted as parts of life, or someone's personality, are now given labeled as a spesific kind of "disease" or "condition". People used to die of old age; now they die of cancer, heart failure, stroke, or new and interesting diseases noone ever heard of.

Basically, it would be a well know fact that war messes you up; its just the way things are.

[Bruno Giordan]

[Bruno Giordan]

[W. R. Reynolds]

Thanks for all of your responses. I am constantly amazed at the diversity of knowledge to be found on this forum. Some of the links have provided some great information and yet more clues to follow, links within links. I particularly liked the Persistence document and Cadfael will provide some light reading if I can find copies of the books.

I have pretty much come to the conclusion (it was only a suspicion before) that religion and alcohol were the way to go when dealing with PTSD/madness? in the middle ages.

[Bruno Giordan]

Dante Alighieri, the poet, took part to the battle of Campaldino in 1289, as a feditore (assault knight, on of the first to attack the enemy, so they were the bravest).

See this fresco from the Municipality palace of San Gimignano (famed medieval town of Tuscany)

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/it/2/27...o_1292.jpg

[Greyson Brown]

[Jean Thibodeau]

[W. R. Reynolds]

Thanks Jean. I was aware of the DVD's. I have however a voracious appetite for the written word and this will help with the hunger pains.