Dr Emily Betz is the EHS Communications Officer. She also works at the Royal Historical Society and lectures in history at St Mary’s University Twickenham. Her research interests focus on early modern medicine, particularly conceptions of mental illness in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Britain. You can follow her on Twitter @Emily_E_Betz.
When the future nonconformist clergyman George Trosse (1631-1713) was in his teens and early twenties, his was a life of debauchery. In his autobiography, written as an account of his spiritual life and published posthumously in 1714, Trosse details his descent into sinful ways before ultimately being returned to a righteous path through several episodes of the disease of melancholy. In the early modern period, melancholy was a condition which encompassed a wide variety of symptoms, including religious anxieties, hallucinations, and severe low moods. Whether Trosse’s traumatic episodes of illness and distraction were heaven sent as a spiritual corrective or a trick of the devil to lead Trosse further into sin was a legitimate question in an era when illness was commonly viewed as a supernatural sign.
Trosse was born in Exeter at a time of immense religious change. Growing up in the midst of the English Civil War, he recalled that he disdained the Puritans and had little interest in a church career for himself. Instead wanting to seize upon riches and travel, Trosse set his sights on becoming a merchant. He travelled to France and Portugal where he reportedly fell into bad company before eventually returning to England after a business dispute gone wrong. Reflecting on this early period of his life, Trosse wrote that that he first fell into sinfulness during his time abroad. He ‘hated the least Shew of Religion where I saw it… I know no Sin but I was actually guilty of, but the Sins of Murder and Adultery.’1 His opposition to religion, however, was abruptly challenged in his mid-twenties by several fits of religious melancholia.
One morning after a particularly virulent bout of drinking and poor judgment, Trosse fell into ‘Distraction and Outragious Madness’, complete with delusions and despairing visions. At first, Trosse believed his melancholic fancies were sent from God and immediately fell to prayer. However, as the symptoms of his melancholy continued unabated, he suspected that his condition originated from hell rather than heaven. He felt that the devil tempted him to sin against the Holy Ghost and commit suicide. Scared and confused, Trosse became crazed.
When he failed to recover his senses after several months, Trosse’s friends bundled him away to Glastonbury where they had heard of a person ‘who was esteem’d very skilful and successful in such Cases’. Upon arrival at this doctor’s house, Trosse was ‘committed to a Person who came to be my Guardian, to watch me, that I might not destroy my Self’. There he endured being chained by his hands and feet to prevent his violent outbursts. Continuing in a delusional state for months, he gradually took comfort from Mrs. Gollop, the proprietess of the house, who ‘would many times sit and discourse with me’ about scripture. Eventually, Trosse wrote, ‘thro’ the Goodness of God, and by His Blessing upon Physick, a low Diet, and hard Keeping, I began to be somewhat quiet and compos’d in my Spirits… and gradually to regain the Use of my Reason’. Although it would take two more attempts at recovery before Trosse was ultimately healed of his melancholy, he eventually returned to both his senses and his religion by the age of 25.
Trosse’s autobiography provides a glimpse into the paradox of religious melancholy in early modern England: it was commonly held that melancholy could be from God or the devil. If from God, illness could be exacted as a spiritual corrective, laying the sinner low to consider his or her eternal estate and hopefully change course. This was particularly so in the seventeenth century, as the spread of Calvinist teachings in England emphasised the useful effects of spiritual despair for the Christian man and woman. As a predestinarian theology of salvation became popular, religious melancholy and sorrowful reflection became integral to the doctrine of salvation and were even encouraged (in moderation). On the other hand, melancholy episodes could be a result of interference from the devil. These episodes could lead one to self-harm, insanity, and even suicide if not healed. As we have seen in Trosse’s case, deciphering the origins of melancholy was often a confusing and painful process for the sufferer. However, there were signs that one’s melancholy was of a sinister nature: temptations to further sin, the unshakeable conviction that one was not of the elect, a desire to self-harm, and satanic visions were all indications that one’s melancholy had been brought on by the devil.
Trosse’s experience with religious melancholy fundamentally changed the trajectory of his life. He abandoned his dreams of material wealth and instead became a minister. Despite his intense reactions to religious anxiety, indeed because of them, Trosse would go on to become renowned for his ability to comfort the spiritually afflicted. Not only in life, but also after death Trosse sought to be a comfort to the melancholy. He desired the graphic details of his spiritual autobiography to be published posthumously as a warning of the dangers of religious melancholy and how it might be overcome.
- This and all following quotes are from George Trosse, The Life of the Reverend Mr. Geo. Trosse, Late Minister of the Gospel in the City of Exon, Who Died January 11th, 1712/13. In the Eighty Second Year of his Age, Written by Himself, and Publish’d according to his Order. To which is Added, The Sermon preach’d at His Funeral, ed. J.H. (Exeter, 1714). ↩︎
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