Anglo-Saxon Metrical Charms
Encyclopedia
Twelve Metrical Charms survive in Old English, in two medieval manuscripts, Bald's Leechbook
(9th century) and Lacnunga
(10th to 11th century). They are:
Bald's Leechbook
The Leechbook of Bald is an Old English medical text probably compiled in the ninth-century, possibly under the influence of Alfred the Great's educational reforms....
(9th century) and Lacnunga
Lacnunga
The Lacnunga is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly in Old English and Latin. It is found, following other medical texts, in London, British Library Manuscript Harley 585, a codex probably compiled in England in the late tenth or early eleventh century...
(10th to 11th century). They are:
- ÆcerbotÆcerbotÆcerbot is an Anglo-Saxon charm recorded in the 11th century, intended to remedy fields that yielded poorly. The charm consists of a partially Christianized prayer and a day-long ritual that began at night with four sods taken from the field, to the root-mats of which a poultice was applied in the...
- Against a DwarfAgainst a DwarfAgainst a Dwarf is an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm found in the Lacnunga. The charm was written in alliterative verse in half lines and was used for its assumed curative properties, although what the charm is supposed to be curing is still a matter of debate....
- Against a WenAgainst a WenAgainst a Wen is an Old English metrical charm and medical text found in the Lacnunga. It appears to describe a remedy for ridding oneself of a wen, which is an Old English term for a cyst or skin blemish. As cysts are commonly mobile masses on the skin, the charm is written to the wen itself,...
- A Journey Charm
- For a Swarm of BeesFor a Swarm of BeesFor a Swarm of Bees is an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm intended to keep honey bees from swarming. Towards the end of For a Swarm of Bees, the swarming bees are referred to as "victory-women" :...
- For Loss or Theft of Cattle
- For Delayed Birth
- For Water-Elf Disease
- Nine Herbs CharmNine Herbs CharmThe Nine Herbs Charm is an Old English charm recorded in the 10th century Lacnunga manuscript. The charm is intended for treatment of poison and infection through the preparation of nine herbs. The numbers nine and three are mentioned frequently within the charm and are significant numbers in...
- Wið færsticeWið færsticeWið færstice is an Old English medical text composed in, surviving in the collection known now as Lacnunga. Wið færstice means 'against a sudden/violent stabbing pain'; scholars have often sought to identify this as rheumatism, but other possibilities should not be excluded. The remedy describes...