In 1865, German physician and medical writer Justus Hecker published a volume titled The Epidemics of the Middle Ages. In a footnote, he remarked on a strange phenomenon: an outbreak of meowing nuns. In this minisode, I bring you the story of the meowing nuns of late medieval France and the men who told their story.

Researched, written, and produced by Corinne Wieben with original music by Purple Planet.

Sources

Primary

• Aristotle. History of Animals. Translated by d’ A. W. Thompson. In Aristotle, Complete Works. Vol. 1, 774–993. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1984.
• Aristotle. Politics. Translated by Ernest Barker. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977.
• Hecker, J. F. C. The Epidemics of the Middle Ages. Translated by B. G. Babington. London: Woodfall, 1844.
• Zimmerman, J. G. Solitude. Vol. II. London: Dilly, 1798.

Secondary

• Bartholomew, Robert E. Little Green Men, Meowing Nuns and Head-Hunting Panics: A Study of Mass Psychogenic Illness and Social Delusion. London: McFarland, 2001.
• Bartholomew, Robert E. and Simon Wessely. “Protean Nature of Mass Sociogenic Illness: From Possessed Nuns to Chemical and Biological Terrorism Fears.” British Journal of Psychiatry 180, no. 4 (2002): 300–306.
• Mercer, Christia. “The Philosophical Roots of Western Misogyny.” Philosophical Topics 46, no. 2 (2018): 183–208.
• Penso G. Roman Medicine. 3rd ed. Noceto: Essebiemme, 2002.
• Tasca, Cecilia et al. “Women and Hysteria in the History of Mental Health.” Clinical Practice and Epidemiology in Mental Health 8 (2012): 110-9.

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