Divine Hysteria. Readings of the Sacred Disease in the Late Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries

Abstract

While historians have explored the deployment of medical expertisein studies of the supernatural for some time, the medical report on supernaturalphenomena thus far has evaded similar scholarly attention. Thischapter puts the expert report centre stage and focuses on the religious contextof ‘hysteria’ diagnoses. Through an analysis of two controversial mysticswho were examined and diagnosed with corporeal symptoms of the ‘sacreddisease’ even though their cultural contexts differ substantially, we argue thata historicised reading of the report that integrates the circumstances of itsproduction as well as its circulation, reiterations, and legacies allows for anexamination of the genre’s role as source for wider (counter) expertise andauthority in evaluations of the supernatural.