Melancholy

King Duarte intends to provide a useful guide for those suffering from melancholy, because he anticipates “que muitos forom, som, e ao diante seram tocados deste pecado de tristeza que procede da vontade desconcertada (…) doença de humor manencorico”347 (that many were, are, and in the future will be touched by this sin of sadness that comes from the mismanagement of will (…) the illness of melancholic humor).

Being a melancholic himself, he displays remarkable insight by saying that “nom é pequeno conforto e remedio aos que som desto tocados saberem como os outros sentirom o que eles padecem, e houverom comprida saude, porque uu dos seus principaes sentimentos é pensarem que outrem jamais sentiu nunca tal sentio que fosse tornado o seu boo stado em que antes era”348 (it is of no small comfort and remedy, to those who by this are touched, to know how others felt what they suffered, and how their health was restored, because one of their strongest afflictions is to think that [no] one ever felt [this], never felt that they were returned to their previous good condition, as they were before). He wants to offer a first-hand account of his own melancholic illness (what could nowadays be called a depression) and, most importantly, he wants to share his own recovery, back to joy and health. Then he goes on to explain how he succumbed to melancholy, due to excessive work, accumulated with emotional losses and, above all, his persistent fear of death (because of the plague)349. His cure – he declares – came not from the traditional remedies prescribed by the doctors (wine,                                                                                                                

346

It is possible that king Duarte’s melancholy was in fact what we now call a depression. For king Duarte’s melancholy, refer to Luís Miguel, D. Duarte, Lisbon, Círculo de Leitores, 2005 (pp. 87-93); and to Saraiva, António José, O Crespúsculo da Idade Média em Portugal, Lisboa, Gradiva, 1998 (pp. 229-235). For a complete study of the medieval concept of melancholy within the context of king Duarte’s life, refer to McCleery Iona, Both “illness and temptation of the enemy”: melancholy, the medieval patient and the writings of King Duarte of Portugal (r. 1433–38), Journal of Medieval Iberian Studies, Vol. 1, No. 2, June 2009, 163–

178. Refer also to Klibansky, Raymond; Panofsky, Erwinf; Saxl, Fritz, Saturn and Melancholy, Studies in the

History of Natural Philosophy, Religion and Art, Kraus Reprint (Kraus-Thomson Organization Limited)

Nendeln/ Liechtenstein 1979.

347

Duarte, Leal Conselheiro, p.73.

348

Duarte, Leal Conselheiro, p. 73.

349

This situation is analyzed in McCleery, Iona, Both ‘illness sand temptation of the enemy’, pp. 163–178: “During the preparations for the conquest of Ceuta in North Africa (1413–15), his father João I instructed him

to govern the kingdom in his place. Aged twenty-two and accustomed to a life of hunting and courtly pursuits, the burden of state business made his heart joyless and filled him with groundless imaginings. After about ten months of continuing to work hard (with no outward change in him), plague broke out in Lisbon; Duarte became ill and was convinced that he was going to die. (…) This continued until his mother Philippa of Lancaster died of plague in 1415. Focusing on the reality of her death allowed Duarte to stop thinking so much about his own, and he gradually began to recover. The whole episode lasted for more than three years but at the time of writing he says that he feels happier than ever before”, p.164.

leisure and the company of women)350, but from the emotional shock caused by the death of his mother, Queen Philippa of Lancaster (June 18th 1415). “E estando em tal estado, a mui virtuosa Rainha, minha senhora e madre que Deos haja, de pestelencia se finou, do que eu filhei assi grande sentimento que perdi todo o receo (…). E aquesto foi começo the minha cura, porque sentindo ela, leixei de sentir a mim”351 (And being in that state [of melancholy], the virtuous queen, my lady and mother, God guard her, succumbed to the plague, [and because] of that I caught such a deep suffering that I surpassed all fear (…). And this was the beginning of my healing, because as I suffered [because of] her, I stopped suffering [for] myself). King Duarte claims that his commitment to his mother made him overcome his fears of death – again an example of the power of will and self-discipline overcoming the personal limitations, a concept very dear to him.

However, this spontaneous recovery from melancholic illness was not at all commonplace. In most cases, the melancholic humor had to be counterbalanced by the appropriate remedies. As melancholy burdened the body with the cold and dry qualities, the physicians attempted to restore balance trough the judicious use of food and drink of the opposite nature. Wine was considered a good antidote, if consumed with moderation. But King Duarte rejected this treatment, alleging that wine could never bring the perfect cure352, for it was a mere subterfuge: “por embargar o entender faz o coraçom nom sentir tam rijo

aquel cuidado que o mais atormenta” (by hindering the mind, it makes the heart feel less

intensely the worry which torments it)353; besides, the excess of wine could bring men “na

servidõe da bevedice”354 (into the servitude of drinking). The best remedy for melancholic humor was “viver bem e virtuosamente”355 (to live well and virtuously). In short, he relied more on self-discipline, healthy habits, and will power, than on remedies.

These two ways of balancing the humor – will power and remedies – reflect two different attitudes: on one hand, the traditional treatment, which requires the excessive humor to be balanced by a remedy of opposite qualities (in this case the cold and dry qualities of melancholy would be balanced by the hot and moist qualities of wine); on the other, a new                                                                                                                

350

For a discussion about Duarte’s medical history refer to Duarte, Luís Miguel, D. Duarte, pp. 87-93.

351

Duarte, Leal Conselheiro, p. 76.

352

Duarte, Leal Conselheiro, p. 78.

353

Duarte, Leal Conselheiro, p. 78.

354

Duarte, Leal Conselheiro, p. 78.

355

attitude, carried out by king Duarte, of lucid introspection, self discipline and voluntarism. For him, these qualities seem to be somewhat adverse to astrology (or at least to astrological determinism) but for other authors, it is not necessarily so.