During their foreign tour, Struensee got to know the young king better and realised that his outbursts and irrational behaviour were partly an expression of his wounded psyche and a reaction against the regimented nature of the Danish court. Daily life was entirely dictated by courtly etiquette and ceremonial tradition, and by the 18th century it had ossified into a meaningless routine which many people at court found burdensome.
Struensee’s efforts to understand the king rather than dismissing his behaviour as “mad” were a real departure at that time; they embodied a completely new perception of different mental states and an enlightened view of humankind based on humanity and respect.
Celle Prison was also opened in 1710 as a so-called “general penitentiary and madhouse”. Evidence of the building’s former purpose survives to this day in the inscription above the old entrance: “Puniendis facinorosis custodiendia furiosis et mente captis publico sumptu dicata domus” (“House built with public funds, for the punishment of miscreants and the custody of the mad and insane”).
Illustration from: Jonathan Swift, The Tale of a Tub, London 1710
This illustration, depicting the inside of the “Bedlam Hospital” that had been founded in London in 1330, is emblematic of the way most people suffering from mental illness were treated until well into the 18th century. Inmates languished in the hospital under terrible conditions. Those deemed “dangerous” were chained up or locked up in a cage. In the 18th century, such institutions were even opened up to curious members of the public, and in 1768 a visit to “Bedlam” was on King Christian VII’s itinerary.