Citation

Verplaetse J. Hist. Psychiatry 2020; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Ghent University, Belgium.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2020, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/0957154X19898653

PMID

31969026

Abstract

Nineteenth-century art historian John Addington Symonds coined the term hæmatomania (blood madness) for the extremely bloodthirsty behaviour of a number of disturbed rulers like Ibrahim II of Ifriqiya (850-902) and Ezzelino da Romano (1194-1259). According to Symonds, this mental pathology was linked to melancholy and caused by an excess of black bile. I explore the historical credibility of this theory of 'wild melancholy', a type of melancholia that crucially deviates from the lethargic main type. I conclude that in its pure form Symonds' black bile theory of hæmatomania was never a broadly supported perspective, but can be traced back to the nosology of the ninth-century physician Ishaq ibn Imran, who practised at the Aghlabid court, to which the sadistic Ibrahim II belonged.

Language: en

Keywords

Black bile; four humours; melancholy; naturalism; sadism; violent behaviour