''Bald's Leechbook'' (also known as ''Medicinale Anglicum'') is a medical text in

Old English Old English ( or , or ), 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 developed from the languages brought to Great Britain by Anglo-S ...

and

Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...

probably compiled in the mid-tenth century, possibly under the influence of

Alfred the Great Alfred the Great ( ; – 26 October 899) was King of the West Saxons from 871 to 886, and King of the Anglo-Saxons from 886 until his death in 899. He was the youngest son of King Æthelwulf and his first wife Osburh, who both died when Alfr ...

's educational reforms.Nokes, Richard Scott. "The several compilers of Bald's Leechbook" in ''Anglo-Saxon England''. 33 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004, pp. 51–76 The term ''Leechbook'' is not related to

leeches Leeches are segmented parasitic or predatory worms that comprise the subclass Hirudinea within the phylum Annelida. They are closely related to the oligochaetes, which include the earthworm, and like them have soft, muscular segmented bod ...

as such, although they were used in ancient medicine, but a modernisation of the Old English word ('book of medical prescriptions', literally Old English 'physician' + 'book'). The ''Leechbook'' name comes from its owner; a

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

verse colophon at the end of the second book begins , meaning "Bald owns this book which he ordered Cild to compile." The text survives in only one manuscript, which is in the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, England, and can be viewed in digitised form online. The manuscript contains a further medical text, called ''Leechbook III'', which is also covered in this article.

Structure and content

Both of the books of ''Bald's Leechbook'' are organised in a head-to-foot order; the first book deals with external maladies and the second with internal disorders. Cameron notes, "this separation of external and internal diseases may be unique in medieval medical texts". Cameron notes, "in Bald's ''Leechbook'' is the only plastic surgery mentioned in

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

records". The recipe in question prescribes surgery for a

cleft lip and palate A cleft lip contains an opening in the upper lip that may extend into the nose. The opening may be on one side, both sides, or in the middle. A cleft palate occurs when the palate (the roof of the mouth) contains an opening into the nose. The ...

. Cameron also notes that of the Old English medical compilations "''Leechbook III'' reflects most closely the medical practice of the Anglo-Saxons while they were still relatively free of Mediterranean influences," in contrast to ''Bald's Leechbook'', which "shows a conscious effort to transfer to Anglo-Saxon practice what one physician considered most useful in native and Mediterranean medicine," and the '' Lacnunga'', which is "a sort of

commonplace book Commonplace books (or commonplaces) are a way to compile knowledge, usually by writing information into blank books. They have been kept from antiquity, and were kept particularly during the Renaissance and in the nineteenth century. Such book ...

with no other apparent aim than to record whatever items of medical interest came to the scribe's attention". Oswald Cockayne, who edited and translated the ''Leechbook'' in 1865, made note in his introduction of what he termed "a Norse element" in the text, and gave as example words such as ''torbegete'', ''rudniolin'', ''ons worm'', and ''Fornets palm''. Digitised online, original and translation side-by-side.

Cures

One cure for headache was to bind a stalk of crosswort to the head with a red kerchief.

Chilblains Chilblains, also known as pernio, is a medical condition in which damage occurs to capillary beds in the skin, most often in the hands or feet, when blood perfuses into the nearby tissue, resulting in redness, itching, inflammation, and possibly ...

were treated with a mix of eggs, wine, and

fennel Fennel (''Foeniculum vulgare'') is a flowering plant species in the carrot family. It is a hardy, perennial herb with yellow flowers and feathery leaves. It is indigenous to the shores of the Mediterranean but has become widely naturalized ...

root.

Agrimony ''Agrimonia'' (from the Greek ), commonly known as agrimony, is a genus of 12–15 species of perennial plant, perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with one sp ...

was cited as a cure for male impotencewhen boiled in milk, it could excite a man who was "insufficiently virile"; when boiled in Welsh beer, it would have the opposite effect. The remedy for

shingles Shingles, also known as herpes zoster or zona, is a viral disease characterized by a painful skin rash with blisters in a localized area. Typically the rash occurs in a single, wide mark either on the left or right side of the body or face. T ...

comprised a potion using the bark of 15 trees:

aspen Aspen is a common name for certain tree species in the Populus sect. Populus, of the ''Populus'' (poplar) genus. Species These species are called aspens: * ''Populus adenopoda'' – Chinese aspen (China, south of ''P. tremula'') * ''Populus da ...

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

maple ''Acer'' is a genus of trees and shrubs commonly known as maples. The genus is placed in the soapberry family Sapindaceae.Stevens, P. F. (2001 onwards). Angiosperm Phylogeny Website. Version 9, June 2008 nd more or less continuously updated si ...

, elder,

willow Willows, also called sallows and osiers, of the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 350 species (plus numerous hybrids) of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist soils in cold and temperate regions. Most species are known ...

, sallow, myrtle,

wych elm ''Ulmus glabra'', the wych elm or Scots elm, has the widest range of the European elm species, from Ireland eastwards to the Ural Mountains, and from the Arctic Circle south to the mountains of the Peloponnese and Sicily, where the species reac ...

oak An oak is a hardwood tree or shrub in the genus ''Quercus'' of the beech family. They have spirally arranged leaves, often with lobed edges, and a nut called an acorn, borne within a cup. The genus is widely distributed in the Northern Hemisp ...

, blackthorn,

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

dogwood ''Cornus'' is a genus of about 30–60 species of woody plants in the family Cornaceae, commonly known as dogwoods or cornels, which can generally be distinguished by their blossoms, berries, and distinctive bark. Most are deciduous ...

, ash, and quickbeam. A remedy for aching feet called for leaves of elder, waybroad and

mugwort Mugwort is a common name for several species of aromatic flowering plants in the genus '' Artemisia.'' In Europe, mugwort most often refers to the species '' Artemisia vulgaris'', or common mugwort. In East Asia the species '' Artemisia argyi'' ...

to be pounded together, applied to the feet, then the feet bound. In another, after offering a ritualistic cure for a horse in pain requiring the words "Bless all the works of the Lord of lords" to be inscribed on the handle of a dagger, the author adds that the pain may have been caused by an

elf An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...

Modern applications

In March 2015 it was reported that Bald's eyesalve recipe –

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

, leeks,

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

, and the

bile Bile (from Latin ''bilis''), also known as gall, is a yellow-green/misty green fluid produced by the liver of most vertebrates that aids the digestion of lipids in the small intestine. In humans, bile is primarily composed of water, is pro ...

from a cow's stomach left in a

brass Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc, in proportions which can be varied to achieve different colours and mechanical, electrical, acoustic and chemical properties, but copper typically has the larger proportion, generally copper and zinc. I ...

bowl for nine days – was tested ''

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...

'' and found to be as effective against methicillin-resistant ''Staphylococcus aureus'' (MRSA) as

vancomycin Vancomycin is a glycopeptide antibiotic medication used to treat certain bacterial infections. It is administered intravenously ( injection into a vein) to treat complicated skin infections, bloodstream infections, endocarditis, bone an ...

, the

antibiotic An antibiotic is a type of antimicrobial substance active against bacteria. It is the most important type of antibacterial agent for fighting pathogenic bacteria, bacterial infections, and antibiotic medications are widely used in the therapy ...

used for MRSA. The ingredients separately were not effective, but the combination was. It has been suggested that a lot can be learned from medieval medicine because wounds must have been ubiquitous in

agrarian societies An agrarian society, or agricultural society, is any community whose economy is based on producing and maintaining crops and farmland. Another way to define an agrarian society is by seeing how much of a nation's total production is in agricultur ...

: "If you cut yourself with a scythe, it was highly likely that you'd get an infection." In particular,

and

maggots A maggot is the larva of a fly (order Diptera); it is applied in particular to the larvae of Brachycera flies, such as houseflies, cheese flies, hoverflies, and blowflies, rather than larvae of the Nematocera, such as mosquitoes and cran ...

are returning to medical use in the 21st century.

Contents and provenance of the manuscript

''Bald's Leechbook'' and ''Leechbook III'' survive only in one manuscript, ''Royal 12 D. xvii'', in the British Library, London and viewable online. The manuscript was written by the scribe who entered the batch of annals for 925–955 into the Parker Chronicle. This suggests that ''Royal 12 D. xvii'' is also from the mid-10th century. Since the annals were probably produced in

Winchester Winchester (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city in Hampshire, England. The city lies at the heart of the wider City of Winchester, a local government Districts of England, district, at the western end of the South Downs N ...

, ''Royal 12 D. xvii'' was presumably produced there as well.C. E. Wright (ed.), ''Bald's Leechbook: British Museum, Royal Manuscript 12 D. xvii'', Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 5 (Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1955), 12–27.N. R. Ker, ''Catalogue of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon'' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957, reprint with addenda 1990) 332–3 o. 264 * ff. 1–6^v Table of Contents to ''Leechbook'' i; pr. Cockayne vol. 2, pp. 2–16 * ff. 6^v–58^v ''Leechbook'' i; pr. Cockayne vol. 2, pp. 18–156 * ff. 58^v–65 Table of Contents to ''Leechbook'' ii; pr Cockayne vol. 2, pp. 158–174 * ff. 65–109 ''Leechbook'' ii; 68 recipes. pr Cockayne 176–298. Cockayne provides missing chapter between 56 and 64 from London, BL, Harley 55. Chapter 64 is glossed as having been sent along with exotic medicines from Patriarch Elias of Jerusalem to Alfred the Great, which is the basis for the book's association with the Alfredian court. * f. 109 A metrical Latin colophon naming Bald as the owner of the book, and Cild as the compiler. * ff. 109–127^v "''Leechbook iii.''" A collection of 73 medicinal recipes not associated with Bald due to its location after the metrical colophon. * ff. 127^v–end ''De urinis'' ?

References

External links

Digital facsimile at the British Library
{{Old English poetry Old English literature Old English medicine Medical manuals Encyclopedias of medicine British Library Royal manuscripts Medieval European encyclopedias British encyclopedias 10th-century books Medieval documents of England History of magic