Dust bunnies on the ceiling out of control? No, this is an illustration of a Medieval dream, and it’s giving this character from a poem by Chaucer some anxiety. The interpretation of dreams could indeed be a cause for worry in these centuries.
The Christian monks and bishops who wrote about dreams during the Middle Ages frequently assume these visions to come from a source outside of the dreamer’s mind — usually angelic or demonic. If the former, then of course the message must be attended, and many miracle stories tell of pregnant mothers dreaming of the sainthood of their future children, of saints alerting dreamers about a need to dedicate churches to them, and sleepers getting a prophetic vision about a divine plan.
But the opposite was also the case, and clergy were on high alert should a dream come from a demonic source. In fact, the role of Christian officials in interpreting dreams could be self-serving, giving them the ability to siphon the interpretaion of dreams in a way favorable to themselves. Part of me agrees with this cynical approach to thinking about the Church in the Middle Ages.
However, coming from a much more secular and distant age, we can easily overestimate the power and malevolent intent of ecclesiastical writers. Although their writings are of course biased, these authors operated in a world where the laity were often avid participants in the Christian culture they inhabited. Furthermore, there was never a monolithic way that Medieval people understood the meaning of dreams.
As Chaucer himself wrote, through the words of the character Pandarus in _Troilus and Criseyede_:.
“For priests of the temple tells us this,/ That dreams be the revelations/ Of gods, and they also tell us/ That they are hellish illusions/ While doctors say that they’re effusions/ Brought on by fasts or gluttony/ But really, who’s to say what they signify? (V, II. 365-71)
Source(s): British Library, “Discovering Literature: Medieval, Dream Visions” Mary Wellesley, Jan 31, 2018. _The Middle Page_, “Interpretation and Dream Visions in Chaucer’s Early Poems,” Friday May 30, 2014, Kelly Orazi, @themiddlepage.net. “Dreams and Divination in Early Medieval Canonical and Narrative Sources: the Question of Clerical Control,” _The Catholic Historical Review_, vol 88, no 4 (October 2003), pages 621-642.
