ABSTRACT
Madness, as a condition of the mind, required a different cure to blindness, as a condition of the body. By the mid-twelfth century, madness and demonic possession did not necessarily result in the sufferer's alienation from the Christian community. The implications for hagiographical representations of madness were twofold. First, reason was a necessary contributor to physical and spiritual health. Second, a change in the relationship between saint and miracle recipient was illustrated in the hagiographer's representation of loss of reason. The variable representations of madness in miracle texts also highlight the importance of paying close attention to medieval terminology and its contemporary context when using hagiography to explore social and cultural history. According to medieval understandings of Hippocratic medicine, health was regulated by balancing the four humours (blood, red/yellow bile, phlegm and black bile) and the six non-naturals (air, food and drink, motion and rest, sleeping and waking, excretion, and passions or accidents of the soul).
