Jonathan Martin: Prophet and incendiary

Jonathan Martin was a fundamentalist itinerant Christian preacher. Outraged by the laxity of Church of England clergy and inspired by prophetic dreams, he set fire to York Minster in 1829. At his trial for this capital offence, medical expert witnesses argued that Jonathan Martin was suffering from monomania and he was incarcerated for the rest of his life in Bethlem Hospital. This paper reviews the medico-legal use of the insanity defence in cases of religious motives for grave offences from the early 19th Century, and describes the millenarian climate of the period as well as the phenomenon of biblical exegesis and prophecy. Finally, the case of a contemporary bible-inspired arsonist is reviewed and his medical mitigation and 'disposal' is compared with that of Jonathan Martin.