ABSTRACT

Seventeenth-century readers were fascinated by marvellous tales of people known as the noctambuli who rose up in their sleep, performed daily chores and attempted dangerous feats, such as clambering onto rooftops. On account of their uncanny nature, commentators noted that sleepers could be mistaken for spectres or those who had been bewitched. Depictions of the noctamubli were also influenced by the Malleus Maleficarum, which had argued that they were acting under the influence of demons and would fall if their Christian name was called. Medical texts explained this behaviour in terms of the escape of hot vapours within the body, the powers of the imaginative faculty, and the impairment of common sense during sleep. While this explanation was widely accepted, in the 1650s it was challenged by alternative views from esoteric writings, which conceptualised the movements of sleepers in terms of mystical powers within the body.

摘要

17 世纪的读者着迷于被称为夜灵的人的奇妙故事，他们在睡梦中起床，做日常家务并尝试危险的壮举，例如爬上屋顶。由于他们不可思议的性质，评论员指出，沉睡者可能被误认为是幽灵或被施了魔法的人。对夜曲的描述也受到了Malleus Maleficarum 的影响，他们争辩说他们是在恶魔的影响下行动的，如果他们的教名被叫到，他们就会倒下。医学文献从身体内热蒸汽的逸出、想象力的力量以及睡眠期间常识的损害来解释这种行为。虽然这种解释被广泛接受，但在 1650 年代，它受到了来自深奥著作的不同观点的挑战，这些观点将睡眠者的运动概念化为身体内的神秘力量。