There was a strange delusion going on mainly during the late Middle Ages and early modern ages (15th to 17th centuries). It was a regularly recorded condition and it is an unusual psychiatric disorder. The disorder is called Glass delusion.
People with this disorder believed that their whole body or part of their body was made out of fragile glass and not of flesh and bones. They strongly believed that they would shatter if they are touched. Fears of broken buttocks, shattered arms, and fragile heads were so common in the delusion. This concerned them much and so they avoided sitting down or always carried a soft cushion. Most cases involved mainly men and affected royals, members of the aristocracy, rich, and the powerful in the society. This delusion was specific to the period of the 15th century through the 17th century and for about 200 years, people around Europe suffered from it. It is unclear that why this belief spread during this period. Nobody knows for sure when this bizarre psychiatric phenomenon exactly began or what was behind it. After peaking in the 16th century, the glass delusion disappeared by the end of the 17th century, coinciding with the rise of modern science.
During ancient times, Physicians and philosophers adopted and believed the humoral theory or Humorism. Humorism was a system of medicine detailing the supposed makeup and workings of the human body. It and was based around the humors of the body which are vital bodily fluids. It was first suggested by Alcmaeon of Croton and Greek physician Hippocrates is usually credited with applying this idea to medicine. Hippocrates suggested that the body had 4 humors which are blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Alcmaeon and Hippocrates argued that an extreme excess or deficiency of any of the humors (bodily fluid) in a person can be a sign of illness.
Alcmaeon 
Hippocrates
The humor black bile is believed to be secreted by the kidneys or spleen and excess of it causes melancholy and sadness. So Black bile was associated with a melancholy nature and even the word melancholy itself is derived from the Greek language for black bile. Experts believed that overstimulating the mind would cause black bile to be produced in excess and excess of it caused melancholy. The Anatomy of Melancholy that was published in 1621 written by Robert Burton, lists the glass delusion as one of many strange beliefs of that time. Humorism began to fall during the 1850s when the germ theory was introduced, which was able to show that many diseases previously thought to be humoral were in fact caused by pathogens.
But, Modern scholars associate the glass delusion as a wider and better-described disorder of melancholy. Melancholy or melancholia is a severe form of depression and is currently termed melancholic depression which makes people lose interest in almost all activities. Psychiatrists believe that the glass delusion could be related to a fear of physical contact and is a desire to distance them from other people.
One of the most notable sufferers and victims of glass delusion was French King Charles VI who was called the Beloved (French: le Bien-Aimé) and later the Mad(French: le Fol or le Fou) (1368–1422). King Charles VI thought that he was made of glass, and thus tried to protect himself in various ways so that he would not break. He reportedly had iron rods sewn into his clothes so that he would not shatter if he came into contact with another person. Scholar Gill Speak, in his famous 1990 paper, ‘An odd kind of melancholy: reflections on the glass delusion in Europe (1440-1680)’, described Charles VI as ‘possibly the first case of a man believing his whole body to be made of glass.
It wasn’t just wealthy men who suffered from the glass delusion, Princess Alexandra Amelie, daughter of King Ludwig I of Bavaria also got affected by it. She believed as a child, she had swallowed a grand piano made entirely of glass and was terrified that it could shatter at any time.
Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky had another variation of this glass delusion. He was convinced that his body was extremely fragile and worried that his head would fall. He held his chin with one hand and conducted with the other. This made conducting an orchestra extremely problematic for him.
Please visit Commonplace Fun Facts : Life Lessons from Tchaikovsky to know more about his delusion in details.
Caspar Barlaeus who was a famous dutch poet, and historian suffered from this glass delusion. The glass delusion had been mentioned in lots of popular plays and literature over the centuries.
Thomas Walkington, a famous English author in his book The Optick Glasse of Humors published in 1607 describes a real case of a Venetian man who believed his shoulders and backside to be made of glass and therefore had a fear of sitting down.
Miguel de Cervantes, a Spanish writer in his short story El Licenciado Vidriera published in 1613 has written that a brilliant young lawyer called Tomas Rodaja became the victim of a love potion that causes him to believe he is made of glass.
The Dutch poet Constantijn Huygens wrote a Costly Folly in (1622) centered on a subject who fears everything that moves in his vicinity. The subject believed that the chair will be the death for him, trembled at the bed, and was fearful that he will break his bum.
Renowned french philosopher René Descartes has mentioned the glass delusion in his famous work Meditations on First Philosophy that was published in 1641. It was about an insane person whose perceived knowledge of the world differs from other people.
The glass delusion has not completely disappeared in recent times. There were still some isolated cases found in Paris and Netherlands in the late 19th century. Foulché-Delbosc, a bibliographer mentions in his reports finding one Glass Man in a Paris asylum, and a woman at an asylum in Merenberg who thought she was a potsherd. Andy Lameijn, former director of the Endegeest Psychiatric Hospital in the Dutch city of Leiden, Netherlands mentions treating a person who felt he was glass and also transparent.
Not only people believed they were made of glass (Glass men), before that some even believed they were composed of earthenware (Earthenware Men). During the 19th century, people started to believe they were made of the dominant construction material concrete (Concrete Men).
If you would like to watch this topic as a video, please visit and subscribe to STUFF I LEARNED YouTube channel : https://bit.ly/2CfQJB8
Visit :
Pinterest : https://pinterest.com/StuffILearnedChannel
Quora : https://quora.com/profile/Stuff-I-Learned
Tumblr : https://tumblr.com/blog/stuffilearned
Twitter : https://twitter.com/stuffILearnedYT
Credits :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass_delusion
https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-32625632
https://www.history.com/news/the-delusion-that-made-nobles-think-their-bodies-were-made-of-glass
https://www.history.co.uk/articles/glass-act-the-delusion-that-made-charles-vi-think-he-was-made-of-glass
https://www.psychologytoday.com/sg/blog/making-sense/202007/the-glass-delusion-early-modern-europe
https://gizmodo.com/the-glass-delusion-was-the-most-popular-madness-of-th-1636228483
https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/museums/2014/12/17/the-glass-delusion/
https://as.vanderbilt.edu/nashvillereview/archives/12462
https://daily.jstor.org/french-king-who-believed-made-glass/
https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/05/11/the-return-of-the-glass-delusion-and-other-news/
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0957154X9000100203 – Journal
https://commonplacefacts.wordpress.com/2019/03/22/tchaikovsky-lose-head/
https://historycollection.com/nobles-used-to-suffer-from-the-glass-delusion-and-were-terrified-of-breaking/30/
https://nannybureauamsterdam.com/lqujz/made-of-glass
Images :
Image by enriquelopezgarre from Pixabay
Image by kalhh from Pixabay
Image by Jon
Image by James Ian MacAnderson from Pixabay
Image by Mariusz Matuszewski from Pixabay
Photo by Science in HD on Unsplash
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Image by Ana Krach from Pixabay
Image by Elien Smid from Pixabay
Image by http://archiviostoricoarborensemarrubiu.blogspot.ru/2015/04/scheda-04-n-9-storia-della-medicina.html from Wikipedia
Image by RedWolf by Wikipedia
Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay
Image by unknownuserpanama from Pixabay
Image by http://training.seer.cancer.gov/anatomy/lymphatic/components/spleen.html from Wikipedia
Image by OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay
Image by Rudy and Peter Skitterians from Pixabay
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
Image by Mazarine Master – De Vecchi-Cerchiari, I tempi dell’arte, volume 2, Bompiani, Milano 1999 from Wikipedia
Image by Jean Fouquet – This file comes from Gallica Digital Library and is available under the digital ID btv1b10538041t/f990 from Wikipedia
Image by Joseph Karl Stieler from Wikipedia
Image by Peter Bauer from Pixabay
Grand Piano” (https://skfb.ly/U87o) by farhad.Guli
Image by Jon
Image by Émile Reutlinger from Wikipedia
Image by Adamt from Wikipedia
Photo by Jaredd Craig on Unsplash
Image by Juan Martínez de Jáuregui y Aguilar – 1. Unknown source 2. cervantesvirtual.com 3. The Bridgeman Art Library, Object 119216 from Wikipedia
Image by Michiel Jansz. van Mierevelt from Wikipedia
Image by Frans Hals from Wikipedia
Image by Federico Ghedini from Pixabay
Image by Ramón Casas from Wikipedia
Image by Peter Bauer from Pixabay
Image by riteshphotography from Pixabay
Image by Pexels from Pixabay
Music :
Purple Planet Music – The Ultimate Goal
Stuff I Learned 
Pls like my blog Also
LikeLiked by 1 person
Wow, fascinating. 🙏🏻
LikeLiked by 1 person