In the opinion of the neurologist Dr. Lydia Bayne, Joan's blissful experiences "in which she felt that the secrets of the universe were about to be revealed to her"- were seizures, and they were triggered by the ringing of church bells. Joan displayed symptoms of a temporal lobe focus epilepsy: specifically, a musicogenic form of reflex epilepsy with an ecstatic aura. Musicogenic epilepsy is generally triggered by particular music which has an emotional significance to the individual. Joan's voices and visions propelled her to become an heroic soldier in the effort to save France from English domination and led to her martyrdom in 1431, burned at the stake as a heretic when she was 19 years old."
Adapted with permission from Epilepsy Toronto
Topic Editor: Steven C. Schachter, M.D.
Last Reviewed:12/15/06
http://www.epilepsy.com/epilepsy/famous_religious

Elizabeth Foote-Smith 2 Lydia Bayne: Department of Neurology, University of California San Francisco, San Francisco, California, U.S.A., Correspondence to 2 2635 Regent St., Berkeley, CA 94704, U.S.A., Copyright 1991 International League Against Epilepsy