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“Women, Suicide, and the Jury in Later Medieval England.”
- Author(s):
- Sara Margaret Butler (see profile)
- Date:
- 2006
- Group(s):
- British History, Feminist Humanities, Late Medieval History, Legal history, Medieval Studies
- Subject(s):
- Disability studies, Law, History, Medicine, Middle Ages
- Item Type:
- Article
- Tag(s):
- Legal history, Medical history, Medical humanities, Medieval history
- Permanent URL:
- http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/ybjh-cq84
- Abstract:
- In the year 1397 in the parish of Tuttington (Norfolk), a woman whose name is lost to history, frantic to rid herself of the evil spirit that possessed her, turned to suicide. She attempted first to hang herself, but her husband discovered her while life remained in her body, cut down the rope, and comforted her. A few weeks later she tried once again to hang herself, but the rope broke. As soon as she had regained her breath, she raced to a nearby pond, reported to be at least six or seven feet deep, and leaped in with the aim of drowning herself, but even though her head submerged three times, she was not able to sink. She struggled out of the pond and walked to the home of her sister to tell her about the day’s events. Her sister begged her to confess to the local priest, convinced that only through confession might she drive away the malevolent spirit. The sister then kindly put the woman to bed and rushed off to the woman’s house for dry clothes to make her more comfortable. After her sister had departed, the woman decided to make one last attempt. She found a small dagger hanging on the wall of the cottage, and she stabbed herself three times in the stomach. Still she did not die. When she finally understood that the spirit was preventing her from taking her life, the woman tried to cut out her heart, assuming that her body could not live without it.
- Metadata:
- xml
- Published as:
- Journal article
- Status:
- Published
- Last Updated:
- 3 years ago
- License:
- All Rights Reserved
- Share this:
Open access, open source, open to all
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