En busca de la histeria en la Iberia Medieval

Abstract

Mental conditions both resembling and having the name of hysteria have existed in some form since around 4000 B.C. It presented mainly as symptoms commonly associated today with hysteria, although the cause was thought to be uterine movement. Starting in the modern period, hysteria became a diagnosis that was more heavily associated with mental health. There is, however, a gap in the lengthy history of hysteria during the 14th and 15th centuries. Throughout various European, mostly Iberian, medical texts, there is limited evidence of a specific female mental state, with pregnancy and childbirth making up most medieval medical discourse surrounding women. Despite this lack of medical discourse surrounding women in medieval Iberian medical literature, there is discussion of women and their capacity to cause illness. This thesis argues that the discourse surrounding women in 15th century Iberian popular culture allowed for the reappearance of hysteria as a medical diagnosis and social phenomenon.