'What think you of a wound?' Wounding oneself in early modern England

There were people in early modern times who deliberately wounded themselves by stabbing, slashing and castration. We know little about the lives of these people and how they were perceived by their community.

I will use different kinds of historical and literary sources to discover how and why people living in England c.1580–1720 wounded themselves. I want to to find out whether these acts were considered instances of madness, attempts at manipulation, cries for help, or a combination of these reasons. I want to understand how people who hurt themselves were treated by family, their community and health professionals.

This project will be the first sustained investigation into personal violence in early modern England. It will provide insights into how people in early modern England understood embodiment, self-ownership and mental health. It will transform our understanding of early modern attitudes to the relationship between body and mind and the status of the body as property.