The Sorrow of Soreness: Infirmity and Suicide in Medieval England

Infirmity played an important role in the history of emotions related to suicide in the Middle Ages. Scholars have previously dismissed or overlooked infirmity in suicide cases, and have rarely focused on emotions related to suicide. An analysis of medieval English court rolls and Crown writs demonstrates that infirmity was an emotionally meaningful way of explaining and responding to suicide. The discourse of suffering and sickness provided a conduit for emotions in a bureaucratic medium for which explicit reference to emotions was inappropriate. This is especially evident in responses to petitions for the return of suicides’ confiscated goods and chattels during the reign of Edward I.