Demonomania

Japanese: demonomania

...Examples recorded include "dancing maniacs" who danced for hours, "flagellates" who beat themselves violently with leather whips, "werewolves" who wandered through the towns and killed and ate people, and mass possessions that frequently occurred in monasteries, and they were treated as having negative values. At the end of the Middle Ages, when the authority of the church was shaken by internal contradictions, abnormal behavior resulting from insanity was seen as evidence of people who had joined forces with the devil or of "demonomania," and persecution was imposed. It was not until the Renaissance that the so-called "witch hunt" raged, and it is said that "the number of witches burned at the stake throughout the Middle Ages was less than the number of witches burned in the more progressive 15th century and the two centuries that followed." ...

From [Psychiatry]

… Thus, psychiatry took its first steps in the ancient Greek and Roman periods, but in the Middle Ages, medical progress generally stagnated, and surgery fell into the hands of barbers, obstetrics into the hands of midwives, and psychiatry into the hands of exorcist priests and witch persecutors. At that time, Christianity held sway in Europe, and under its influence, dancing, flagellation, and mass possession became popular. Then, from the end of the Middle Ages to the Renaissance, demonomania and witch persecution intensified, and it is well known that many mentally ill people suspected of the crimes were tortured, convicted, and executed. While medicine thus became the "servant of religion," Christian monks also provided hospital wards and herb gardens in monasteries from around the 6th and 7th centuries to offer a helping hand to the mentally ill. …

*Some of the terminology explanations that mention "demonomania" are listed below.

Source | Heibonsha World Encyclopedia 2nd Edition | Information

Japanese:

…何時間も踊りつづける〈舞踏狂〉(舞踏病)や皮の鞭で自分の体をはげしく打つ〈むち打ち苦行者〉，人里を徘徊して人間を食い殺す〈人狼〉(狼男)，修道院内に頻発する集団憑依現象などがその例として記録され，マイナスの価値をもつものとして扱われている。教会の権威が内部矛盾によってゆらぐ中世末期になると，狂気に由来する異常な言動は悪魔と手を結んだ人間または〈悪魔憑（つ）き(デモノマニアdemonomania)〉のあかしとみなされ，迫害が及ぶようになる。いわゆる〈魔女狩り〉の嵐が吹き荒れたのはルネサンスに入ってからで，〈中世全体を通じて焚刑に処せられた魔女の数は，もっと進歩的になった15世紀とその後の2世紀間に焚刑にされた魔女の数より少ない〉と伝えられる。…

【精神医学】より

…　こうして精神の医学は古代ギリシア･ローマ期にその第一歩を踏み出したわけだが，中世に入ると，医学の進歩が全体的にとどこおり，外科学は理髪師の手に，産科学は助産婦の手に，そして精神医学は悪魔祓（ばら）いの僧と魔女迫害僧の手に，それぞれ帰することになる。当時のヨーロッパではキリスト教が支配力をふるい，その影響下で舞踏病，鞭打苦行，集団憑依などが流行し，やがて中世末期からルネサンスにかけて悪魔憑（つ）きdemonomaniaや魔女への迫害が激しくなり，嫌疑をかけられた多くの精神病者が拷問の末に断罪され処刑された事実はよく知られている。このように医学が〈宗教の婢〉と化した一方では，同じキリスト教の僧侶たちが6,7世紀ごろから修道院に病棟と薬草園を備えて精神病者に救いの手をさしのべる。…

※「demonomania」について言及している用語解説の一部を掲載しています。

出典｜株式会社平凡社世界大百科事典第２版について | 情報

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