The “Bodelye syeknes” of Julian of Norwich

Abstract

In 1373 Julian of Norwich fell ill and experienced a series of visions which she later described in writings well known to students of English mysticism. Her account of the illness, though relatively rich in detail, has received little systematic attention. This paper examines the passages in Julian's writings which bear on her sickness and attempts to identify diseases known today which answer to her description. The central feature of her compliants was a paralysis which began in her legs and ascended to her trunk, arms and neck. Four disorders causing ascending paralysis are advanced as leading candidates for the diagnosis: diphtheria, inflammatory polyneuropathy, tick paralysis and botulism. Of the four, it is argued, botulism seems the most likely to have been responsible for Julian's illness.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 6 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.