Dissertation Research

I've started researching the topic of demons and diseases.. The first thing I looked up was demonology which led me to an article called 'Demonology: A Study of What is Not' by S Stepanic. It outlines the meaning of demonology, and discusses the Witch Craze briefly. It would be hard to discuss perceptions of demons causing disease and illness without talking about the period of widespread belief in witches, which resulted in thousands of unnecessary deaths through trials and witch hunts. It's astonishing to think that people were genuinely led to believe that certain individuals made pacts with the Devil and cast hexes / caused death, disease and illness etc.

I've also found references to:
'Dictionnaire Infernal' - Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy. Book on demonology describing demons organised in hierarchies. Contains illustrations of the demons:

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I came across a really interesting and helpful book called 'A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom' by A D White. It goes into a lot of depth through different chapters outlining perceptions of illness and disease in relation to different cultures and religions through history, in contrast to the exploration of scientific methods of approaching illness, and the introduction of medicines as treatment.

I've made loads of notes, and my research then led me to come across another book: 'Syphilis, Puritanism and Witch Hunts' by S Andreski. Sounds fun.
Again, I've made a load of notes. It looks at the widespread, horrific venereal disease and explains how it was seen to be God's wrath / God's punishment for the sins of men.
The lack of scientific / medical understanding led to accusations of witches at work in regards to the dementia / paralysis / neurological effects of the disease. Hallucinations / paranoid states / depression / anxiety and confusion .....

'The spectacular eruption of the derangements described above fostered the notion that witches were proliferating and intensifying their nefarious activities.'

The book states that according to Henderson & Gillespie, '...the ratio of male to female sufferers from these psychoses is 4 to 1...which would fuel the tendency to demonise women'. 

Andreski goes on to explain '...persecutory hallucinations, caused by syphilitic psychoses, may have prompted much of the preaching and theorising about witches and Satan.'

This fits in with the Christian theologic idea that although often diseases are punishments by the Almighty, the main agency in them is Satanic.


'Satan Unbound: The Devil in Old English Narrative Literature' by P. Dendle discusses the character of the Devil throughout the Middle Ages, explaining the way in which it became elaborated through '...treatises, dramatic portrayals and folkloric assimilation of native tales within the Christian framework...'
Then later, the Devil of Medieval drama and Renaissance witch trials was depicted with 'horns and spines, multiple faces', and 'bestial proportions and features'.
The Devil acquired a new function largely unknown to the Early Middle Ages, as the God of witches and master of ceremonies at their Sabbat.

'Only the violent and hysterical excesses of the witch hunts would arouse serious questions concerning the Devil's existence.'

At this point, my research is opening up a load of different pathways which are easy to become distracted by, but also important to explore in order to figure out what direction I want my dissertation to move in.

I've tried to make sure that I'm writing things down as I'm finding them out so that I don't just bookmark pages and never return to them ever again. That happened a lot with CoP last year. Writing is a big part of my learning process, because it forces me to make sure I understand something in order to put it into my own words. When I'm reading sometimes I skim over things that don't make sense to me and it doesn't actually sink in:

Thoughts:

I'm getting a bit lost with all the research at the moment. It's easy to fall into a bit of a black hole with it all, so I'm going to start some drawing and take a break from all the reading. Taking a step back might help me to clarify where it is that I want to be.

At the moment I like the idea of looking at:
Early perceptions of illness and disease and methods of treatment, then leading to the exploration of scientific methods of explorations / development of medicines etc.

I've enjoyed reading about syphilis! Mmm. But the thing that I've been finding most interesting through this research is finding images depicting different demons / the Devil etc.

I've been collecting illustrations that I've come across, making a board on Pinterest.

https://uk.pinterest.com/georgiegozem/ouil601/

I reckon I should make a start on creating my own illustrations and getting some ideas down in my sketchbook. Thinking through drawing and trying to maintain synthesis between the written and practical elements.