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Chapter 6 - Pathologizing Politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2026

Philippa Carter
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Chapter 6 looks at the ways in which frenzy was weaponized during the many religio-political upheavals of the period. As a figure of speech, it offered rich material for English polemicists, who knew that questioning their opponents’ sanity was more effective than simply refuting their claims. As a literal diagnosis, frenzy also had a practical use: it could silence politically inconvenient people without making a show. This chapter shows how its conferral was used to justify the incarceration of prophets, mystics, and kings. Yet the diagnosis had one serious drawback: it gave its recipients the gift of innocence. Frantic persons were incapable of crime, and could neither be convicted nor punished for their actions. If a recipient later became not just inconvenient but too dangerous to live, any previous diagnosis – no matter how spurious – had to be redacted from the record. This was a problem for the religious polemicists too: the aim was to pathologize ‘heretics’ ‘papists’, ‘puritans’, and ‘sectarians’, not to excuse them from all wrongdoing. Eventually, this chapter argues, that flaw drove Anglican polemicists to abandon frenzy for a new diagnosis: ‘melancholy enthusiasm’.

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  • Pathologizing Politics
  • Philippa Carter, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Frenzy in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 24 April 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009703697.007
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  • Pathologizing Politics
  • Philippa Carter, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Frenzy in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 24 April 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009703697.007
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Pathologizing Politics
  • Philippa Carter, University of Cambridge
  • Book: Frenzy in Early Modern England
  • Online publication: 24 April 2026
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009703697.007
Available formats
×