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For Delayed Birth
The so-called "For Delayed Birth" is an Old English poetic medical text found in the manuscript London, British Library, Harley 585, ff. 185r-v, in a collection of medical texts known since the nineteenth century as ''Lacnunga'' (‘remedies’). The manuscript was probably copied in the early eleventh century, though its sources may have been older. The text is in fact a set of prose instructions which include a series of short poems which should be recited as part of one or more rituals. The text is an important witness to non-orthodox Anglo-Saxon Christian religious practice and to women's history: it is unique among Anglo-Saxon medical texts for being explicitly for use and recitation by a woman. However, 'this charm is perhaps misnamed, because it deals, not with delayed birth as such, but with the inability of the ''wifman'' oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southweste ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old English
Old English (, ), or Anglo-Saxon, is the earliest recorded form of the English language, spoken in England and southern and eastern Scotland in the early Middle Ages. It was brought to Great Britain by Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain, Anglo-Saxon settlers in the mid-5th century, and the first Old English literature, Old English literary works date from the mid-7th century. After the Norman conquest of 1066, English was replaced, for a time, by Anglo-Norman language, Anglo-Norman (a langues d'oïl, relative of French) as the language of the upper classes. This is regarded as marking the end of the Old English era, since during this period the English language was heavily influenced by Anglo-Norman, developing into a phase known now as Middle English in England and Early Scots in Scotland. Old English developed from a set of Anglo-Frisian languages, Anglo-Frisian or Ingvaeonic dialects originally spoken by Germanic peoples, Germanic tribes traditionally known as the Angles, Sa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anglo-Saxon Metrical Charms
Anglo-Saxon metrical charms were sets of instructions generally written to magically resolve a situation or disease. Usually, these charms involve some sort of physical action, including making a medical potion, repeating a certain set of words, or writing a specific set of words on an object. These Anglo-Saxon charms tell a great deal about medieval medical theory and practice. Although most medical texts found from the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon period are translations of Classical texts in Latin, these charms were originally written in Old English.The Broadview Anthology of British Literature: The Medieval Period, pg. 32-35. Today, some alternative medical practicioners continue to use herbal remedies, but these are often based on some sort of scientific reasoning. The medical procedures and herbal remedies in these Anglo-Saxon medical charms are not based on science, but on spiritual qualities. While many of these charms do have pagan qualities, Christian influences are regularly ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harleian Library
The Harleian Library, Harley Collection, Harleian Collection and other variants ( la, Bibliotheca Harleiana) is one of the main "closed" collections (namely, historic collections to which new material is no longer added) of the British Library in London, formerly the library of the British Museum. The collection comprises 7,660 manuscripts, including 2,200 illuminated manuscripts, more than 14,000 original legal documents; and more than 500 rolls. It was assembled by Robert Harley (1661–1724) and his son Edward (1689–1741). In 1753, it was purchased for £10,000 by the British government. Together with the collections of Sir Robert Cotton (the Cotton library) and Hans Sloane (the Sloane library) it formed the basis of the British Museum's collection of manuscripts, which were transferred to the new British Library in 1973.British Library.History of the Harley Library. The collection contains illuminated manuscripts spanning the early Middle Ages to the Renaissance. There ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lacnunga
The ''Lacnunga'' ('Remedies') is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly in Old English and Latin. The title ''Lacnunga'', an Old English word meaning 'remedies', is not in the manuscript: it was given to the collection by its first editor, Oswald Cockayne, in the nineteenth century.Alaric Hall, ''Elves in Anglo-Saxon England: Matters of Belief, Health, Gender, and Identity'', Anglo-Saxon Studies, 8 (Woodbridge: Boydell, 2007), p. 1. It is found, following other medical texts, in London, British Library Harley MS 585, a codex probably compiled in England in the late tenth or early eleventh century. Many of its herbal remedies are also found, in variant form, in ''Bald's Leechbook'', another Anglo-Saxon medical compendium. The ''Lacnunga'' contains many unique texts, including numerous charms, some of which provide rare glimpses into Anglo-Saxon popular religion and healing practices. Among the charms are several incantations in Old Englis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie
Elliott Van Kirk Dobbie (May 9, 1907 – March 23, 1970) was an American scholar of Anglo-Saxon literature who taught English at Columbia University. Early life Dobbie was born in Brooklyn, New York City, in 1907. Education and academic career Dobbie studied at Columbia University, being awarded a bachelor's in 1927 and a first class master's in American Literature in 1929. He began teaching English in Long Island in the same year, but later returned to teach at Columbia in 1934. In 1937, he received his PhD from Columbia, and was promoted to the role of Instructor. He later became Assistant Professor in 1942, Associate Professor in 1945, and Professor in 1951. While studying and teaching, Dobbie began assisting George Philip Krapp on a six-volume edition entitled the ''Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records'', considered the standard edition of Old English poetry. The first three editions were mainly edited by Krapp (''The Junius Manuscript'' in 1931, and in 1932 ''The Vercelli Book'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
