FOGGIA, ITALY—Italian researchers suggest that Joan of Arc’s visions may have been caused by a form of epilepsy, according to a report in Live Science. Epileptic seizures occur when electrical signals in the brain misfire, and can result in muscle movements or confusion, or cause the subject to hear voices. Guiseppe d’Orsi of the University of Foggia and Paola Tinuper of the University of Bologna examined documentation of the fifteenth-century trial in which Joan was accused of heresy and witchcraft. Joan reported hearing voices and seeing Christian saints, which d’Orsi and Tinuper say are symptoms of idiopathic partial epilepsy with auditory features. This type of epilepsy may be inherited and has been linked to certain genes. D’Orsi and Tinuper have been looking for letters written by Joan of Arc, which she reportedly sealed with red wax, a fingerprint, and a hair, which they would like to test for these particular genes. So far, they haven’t found any surviving examples. For more, go to "France’s Roman Heritage."
