Nightmares and the supernatural encounter

This chapter argues that medieval accounts of nocturnal assaults by ghosts, revenants, and demons can be understood through the modern medical concept of 'nightmares'—sleep paralysis combined with REM hallucinations. Modern sociological research treats the nightmare as a universal bodily function whose symptoms are interpreted according to the sufferer's mental schemas. The chapter first discusses the value of using modern social-scientific data on nightmares as an interpretive tool, then examines how medieval writers interpreted nocturnal assaults through classical dream theories and humoural medicine.

Study at a glance

Abstract

Nocturnal assaults by ghosts, revenants, and demons are a prominent feature in medieval writings on the supernatural. In modern sociological research, ‘nightmares’ – defined as sleep paralysis combined with REM hallucinations – are said to be a universal function of the human body, the symptoms of which are given meaning according to the mental schemas of the sufferer. The first part of the Chapterelaborates upon the benefits of using modern social-scientific data on the medical nightmare as an interpretive tool, before investigating how the ‘nocturnal assault’ was interpreted according to classical dream theories and the tenets of humoural medicine. According to Macrobius, the ‘common folk’ usually ascribed a supernatural causation to the nightmare experience. Such beliefs can be seen in the writings of Guibert of Nogent (c.1130) and William of Newburgh, amongst others. Exempla from these works will be used to frame an examination of ghost and demon encounters that appear to incorporate the symptoms of sleep paralysis into their narratological framework. With reference to a range of literary and historiographic sources, it will be seen how the authoritative interpretations of the nightmare were replicated, rejected, or interpolated within the various levels of medieval literary discourse.