Full of ideas
A woodcut of the brain from Andreas Vesalius's groundbreaking 1543 treatise On the Fabric of the Human Body. The Elizabethans subscribed to both new scientific theories and ancient beliefs about the workings of the mind
For him that hath lost his mind, the bestselling Tudor writer Thomas Moulton recommended shaving the top of the patient's head, then applying a mat of plant fibre to the bald patch. After a sleep, he reassured, he shall be right weak, and sober enough. While this treatment seems bizarre today, it reveals a crucial element of Elizabethan beliefs about mental wellbeing: the mind and body were intrinsically connected, so any disorders of the brain could be treated via remedies that were applied to the body.
As well as consulting medical books such as Moulton's, many Elizabethans sought the advice of Simon Forman, a popular London physician. Forman, too, sometimes prescribed physiological remedies for mental afflictions. But his chief diagnostic method was - to our eyes - decidedly unusual. He always began by casting a patient's astrological chart, reflecting the contemporary belief that both mind and body were affected by the movements of the stars and planets.
Sample study
A doctor examines a patient's urine in this 1519 woodcut. The physician Simon Forman said the diseases of the mind are not seen in a piss-pot
Mental conditions were thought to be caused by wayward humours and the position of the stars
These practices exemplify the co-existence of diverse explanations for mental conditions in this period. They could be caused by internal factors, especially wayward humours - bodily fluids whose proportions and balance determined character and mood - or by external forces such as astral influences.
Denne historien er fra June 2022-utgaven av BBC History Magazine.
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Denne historien er fra June 2022-utgaven av BBC History Magazine.
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The King They Couldn't Kill -Want to know why Henry VII is remembered as an intensely suspicious king, wracked by paranoia? The answer, writes Nathen Amin, lies in his death-defying rise to power
Henry’s wary nature is typically attributed to his shaky claim to the throne. The first Tudor monarch was unable to escape the taunt that he was a usurper with no right to call himself king. In fact, his renowned paranoia was the inevitable consequence of a traumatic youth – a trait ingrained long before he harboured ambitions to wear a crown. If we delve deeper into Henry’s background, we can draw a fuller picture of one of our most circumspect of monarchs – one that might elicit sympathy for a long misunderstood king.
The Spy Who Hoodwinked Hitler - Dummy tanks at El Alamein. Bogus generals in Algiers. Sham armies on D-Day. All were ruses masterminded by Dudley Clarke. Robert Hutton tells the story of the British soldier who made an art form of duping the Nazis
Examining the reconnaissance photos, Behrendt was convinced that the Allies weren’t in any hurry. They were constructing some kind of pipeline towards the southern end of their line, probably to carry water, which was barely halfway completed. There were supply dumps appearing in the south as well – always a telltale clue about where an attack would come. True, a large number of trucks were parked at the northern end of the line, about 25 miles back from the front, but they hadn’t moved for weeks.
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Parthian chicken
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Lured by rich trading prospects, from the 17th to the 19th centuries Britain attempted to cultivate relations with China sometimes successfully, but often disastrously. Kerry Brown explores the troubled but ultimately vital links between two ambitious realms
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Æthelstan is one of the greatest of all Anglo-Saxon monarchs. So why, asks Michael Wood, does the first king of the English remain so fiendishly elusive?
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It’s election night 1997, and Jeremy Paxman is grilling Tory grandee Cecil Parkinson.
