The so-called "Journey Charm" ( ang, Færeld Spell) is one of the 12

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 ...

written in

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 settlers in the mid-5th c ...

. It is a prayer written to summon protection from God and various other Christian figures from the hazards of the road. It is of particular interest as evidence for popular Anglo-Saxon Christian religion.

Content

''A Journey Charm'' was a Speech Act, or a performative incantation, chant or prayer that was performed before a journey to ward off evil on the journey. It mainly deals with a list of biblical characters, invoking their blessing, including everyone from Adam to

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a sur ...

and

Paul Paul may refer to: *Paul (given name), a given name (includes a list of people with that name) * Paul (surname), a list of people People Christianity *Paul the Apostle (AD c.5–c.64/65), also known as Saul of Tarsus or Saint Paul, early Chri ...

. The poem reflects the martial character of Anglo-Saxon Christian culture: Luke gives the journeyer a sword, Seraphim give him a "glorious spear of radiant good light", and he is well armed, with mail and shield too. The text gives us a unique insight into popular religious practices of Anglo-Saxon culture, and the particular rituals prescribed for journeys.

History

The charm survives in only one manuscript: the eleventh-century Cambridge, Corpus Christi College MS 41, where it is written into the margins of pp. 350-53. This text is part of the movement from

Oral Tradition Oral tradition, or oral lore, is a form of human communication wherein knowledge, art, ideas and cultural material is received, preserved, and transmitted orally from one generation to another. Vansina, Jan: ''Oral Tradition as History'' (1985) ...

to a Writing tradition, and so is marked as Transitional Literature- a type of go-between in which oral performances are copied, but some of the performance parts are lost, assumed to be inferred, or hinted at.

Facsimiles and Editions

* The manuscript is available in digital facsimile at https://web.archive.org/web/20161018210819/https://parker.stanford.edu/parker/actions/page_turner.do?ms_no=41. * Foys, Martin ''et al.'
''Old English Poetry in Facsimile Project''
(Center for the History of Print and Digital Culture, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 2019-); digital facsimile edition and Modern English translation

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Journey Charm Anglo-Saxon metrical charms Anglo-Saxon society