I'm also just interested in mental illness in the medieval era in general -- if anyone can go into depth or recommend some quality reading materials it would be much appreciated. Especially about depression, and especially from 1100-1300 CE.

Thanks OP, this is an interesting question. I hope someone takes a look.

Okay. Firstly it is difficult to answer your question in any meaningful way as so many of the records from this time period are obviously not existent. However some records of this time period have survived and they do illuminate some information on suicide in this period. One of the best records of this period was called the Eyre. This was a travelling judge who went around the counties of England during the 12th to the 14th Century.

So what do these records reveal about suicide in this time period?

The best study into this topic covers around 1272 - 1300 because these are some of the best kept records for this time period. In this time period a total of 198 cases were recorded of self killing. Now some of these were found to be an accident for example one man fell on his own sword and it was originally recorded as suicide but was later revised to an accident.

Here is an example of what a suicide looks like in the records

"“William de Wedmore, vicar of Chryriton hanged himself in his own home in the same village. The verdict was suicide. And Walter de Wedmore and John his brother(s) buried the said William without view of the coroner and took his chattels, value 34s so they are to be arrested. Afterwards they came to court and the sheriff let them go.” (Eyre of Somerset 1280)"

So what does this verdict tell us? Firstly people had good reason to want to hide a suicide if someone did kill themselves because suicide was a crime and the punishment was your goods were forfeit to the crown. Now this explains why in these 192 cases the vast majority are hangings which are very easy to prove was suicide. There are no examples of some poisoning themselves and only two examples of someone throwing themselves off a high point which is a common way of committing suicide today.

Now onto the statistics. If you assumed that the Eyre actually recorded all suicides and was accurate then with the estimated population of the area you got a result of .88 Suicides per 100,000 people and by way of comparison the current US rate is 13.26 per 100,000. Now it is clear that the Eyre would in no way cover all suicides but I would feel it is more likely that Medieval Suicide rates were actually lower then modern times but this is really pushing a modern day statistics framework on records that in no way are complete.

In reality all this data really says is a few things.

1 Suicide in the Middle Ages was more common in men then women, which remains true to this day.

2 Very few of the records give any indication of a mental illness. Here is an example of one that does.

Thomas, son of Henry Robekyn of Brandon, in a frenzy (habens frenesium) cut off his left foot with an axe and then his left hand, in the house of the said Henry, his father, in Brandon, and the following night he died from this. The first finder and four neighbours came and are not suspected. The jury, asked if they suspect anyone else of this death say no and say that the said Thomas straight after the deed came to his senses (reddit' ad sensum proprium) and had the last rites of the church before he died. So the deed was done through loss of sense and not feloniously. So the judgment is accident.” (Eyre of Norfolk 1286)

3 Middle Class people are over represented in this very few extremely poor people are recorded an no one of noble rank is included either. This could be because no one cared about a destitute person because they had no money to forfeit to the crown. As for the nobles it could be seen that they had the money and the connections within their small villages to hide any suicide from the view of the crown.

So in conclusion the suicide rate for Medieval England cannot come close to been accurately estimated and the best we can say is it appears that it might have been lower then modern times.

Sources

Suicide in the Middle Ages. Volume I: The Violent against Themselves Alexander Murray

Suicide in the Middle Ages Volume II, The Curse on Self-Murder Alexander Murray

Suicide or accident - self-killing in medieval England Series of 198 cases from the Eyre records ALICE SEABOURNE, GWEN SEABOURNE The British Journal of Psychiatry Jan 2001, 178 (1) 42-47; DOI: 10.1192/bjp.178.1.42