Hallucinations

The Middle Ages in Europe was a period marked by uncertainty. With battle between political rivals, wide spread famine, disease, and a constant challenge presented by harsh weather, surly this was a difficult age in which to survive. Folklore was a means by which common people learned to cope with their ever changing and threatening world, religion was used as a sanctuary for the suffering, and Kings were relied on for sustenance.

Hallucinations were common among people of the Middle Ages. Due to an inability to properly store food and water, not to mention the general unsanitary conditions (people routinely shared their homes with animals), documented episodes of 'madness', in which people during moments of broad daylight had other-worldly experiences, are well documented. (Maybe we now better understand where our Rumpelstiltskin's of the Western tradition come from.....)

This is a religious work from Northern Europe, made during the Dark Ages. Where did these eccentric figures come from? Is the chaos expressed in this work only a conception of "hell", or could it be a reflection of the insanity that was life during this moment in European history?