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Dissertation Information for Wendy J. Turner

NAME:
- Wendy J. Turner

DEGREE:
- Ph.D.

DISCIPLINE:
- History

SCHOOL:
- University of California, Los Angeles (USA) (2000)

ADVISORS:
- Scott L. Waugh

COMMITTEE MEMBERS:
- Muriel McClendon
- V. A. Kolve

MPACT Status: Fully Complete

Title: 'Afflicted with insanity': The care and custody of the feeble minded in late medieval England

Abstract: In late thirteenth- and fourteenth-century England, records mentioning the 'insane' indicate that although the community did not treat "idiots" and "lunatics" as full members of society, they were not cast out either. This study examines late medieval English perceptions of persons with all types of feeble-minded conditions through the evidence of their care and custody found in legal documents. Additional references to the feeble minded, including those in literature, legal opinions, and other writings, are considered and weighed as testaments that shaped and reflected attitudes of this time period. These attitudes reflect society's conception of insanity, which influenced the policies and practices of caring for the feeble minded. The term 'feeble minded' is used throughout this work to represent all indications of mental weakness or deficiency, including descriptions of any persons who were unable to make sound judgments because of madness, senility, or any other malady which caused an inability to act on his or her own behalf.

The medical and social understanding of the feeble minded began to lean away from mystical and toward physical explanations in the late thirteenth century; simultaneously, legal and social perceptions grew ever more firmly rooted in extant legal, administrative and cultural practices. By the fourteenth century, feeble-minded heirs were symbolic and perfunctory characters, inheriting lands or titles while someone else controlled and benefited from their properties during their incapacities. With few exceptions, doctors, lawyers, and royal officials considered society's feeble minded to be ill, childlike, and innocent persons incapable of handling responsibilities. Still, if they were born feeble minded, they could inherit, marry (if they had lucid moments), and remain living among their community. Feeble-minded heirs received guardians who protected the heirs and their property until they were deemed mentally fit to care for their properties. Any feeble-minded person who became lucid could function in society as a full citizen and, within the medieval construct of feeble-mindedness, every afflicted person had the potential to get well. Categorically, this potential to become lucid allowed the feeble minded to remain a part of society while insane and, therefore, incapable of participating.

MPACT Scores for Wendy J. Turner

A = 0
C = 0
A+C = 0
T = 0
G = 0
W = 0
TD = 0
TA = 0
calculated 2008-09-11 15:19:30

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Students under Wendy J. Turner

ADVISEES:
- None

COMMITTEESHIPS:
- None