The ''Lacnunga'' ('Remedies') is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly 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 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 Alaric Hall (born 1979) is a British philologist who is an associate professor of English and former director of the Institute for Medieval Studies at the University of Leeds. He has, since 2009, been the editor of the academic journal '' Leeds ...

, ''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 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 ...

's 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 ''Bald's Leechbook'' (also known as ''Medicinale Anglicum'') is a medical text in Old English and Medieval Latin probably compiled in the mid-tenth century, possibly under the influence of Alfred the Great's educational reforms.Nokes, Richard Sc ...

'', another Anglo-Saxon medical compendium.

The ''Lacnunga'' contains many unique texts, including numerous charms, some of which provide rare glimpses into

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 ...

popular religion and healing practices. Among the charms are several incantations in Old English alliterative verse, the most famous being those known as ''

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 ''

Nine Herbs Charm The Nine Herbs Charm, ''Nigon Wyrta Galdor'', Lay of the Nine Healing Herbs, or Nine Wort Spell (among other names) is an Old English charm recorded in the tenth century CE.Gordon (1962:92–93). It is part of the Anglo-Saxon medical compilation ...

'' and ''

Wið færstice "Wið fǣrstice" is an Old English medical text surviving in the collection known now as '' Lacnunga'' in the British Library. ''Wið fǣrstiċe'' means 'against a sudden/violent stabbing pain'; and according to Felix Grendon, whose collection o ...

'' ('Against a sudden, stabbing pain'). There are also several charms in corrupt

Old Irish Old Irish, also called Old Gaelic (, Ogham, Ogham script: ᚌᚑᚔᚇᚓᚂᚉ; ; ; or ), is the oldest form of the Goidelic languages, Goidelic/Gaelic language for which there are extensive written texts. It was used from 600 to 900. The ...

. Among the Latin prayers, the longest is a redaction of the ''Lorica of Laidcenn'' (formerly often known as the ''Lorica of Gildas''). This seventh-century Irish poem, also preserved in other manuscripts, is a member of the '' lorica'' genre of protective prayers. This instance takes the form of an extended litany of body parts for which the speaker seeks the protection of Christ and a multitude of

angels An angel is a spiritual (without a physical body), heavenly, or supernatural being, usually humanoid with bird-like wings, often depicted as a messenger or intermediary between God (the transcendent) and humanity (the profane) in variou ...

from the assaults of

demons A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in media including fiction, comics, film, t ...

. It is accompanied in this manuscript by an

interlinear gloss In linguistics and pedagogy, an interlinear gloss is a gloss (series of brief explanations, such as definitions or pronunciations) placed between lines, such as between a line of original text and its translation into another language. When gloss ...

in Old English, which probably derives from an exemplar in the

Mercian dialect Mercian was a dialect spoken in the Anglian kingdom of Mercia (roughly speaking the Midlands of England, an area in which four kingdoms had been united under one monarchy). Together with Northumbrian, it was one of the two Anglian dialects. ...

. Other texts include: * Against a dwarf

Editions, translations and facsimiles

*Cockayne, O. (ed.). 1864–66. ''Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England'', The Rolls Series, 35, 3 vols (London: Longman and others). First edition and translation of the text, but incomplete. *Doane, A. N. 1994. ''Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts in Microfiche Facsimile: Volume 1'', Medieval and Renaissance Texts and Studies, 136 (Binghamton, N.Y.: Medieval & Renaissance Texts and Studies). No. 265 is a facsimile of Harley 585. *Grattan, J. H. C. and C. Singer. 1952. ''Anglo-Saxon Magic and Medicine Illustrated Specially from the Semi-Pagan Text 'Lacnunga, Publications of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, new series 3 (London: Oxford University Press). Edition and translation. *Herren, M. W. 1987. ''The Hisperica Famina: II. Related Poems: A Critical Edition with English Translation and Philological Commentary'' (Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies). Includes an edition of the ''Lorica of Laidcenn'' from all manuscripts. *Niles, John D. and Maria A. D'Aronco. 2023. ''Medical Writings from Early Medieval England, Volume I: The Old English Herbal, Lacnunga, and Other Texts'', Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 81 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2023). Edition and translation, along with other medical texts. *Pettit, Edward. 2001. ''Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms, and Prayers from British Library MS Harley 585: The ‘Lacnunga’'', 2 vols. (Lewiston and Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press). Latest edition, with translation, detailed introduction, commentary and appendices, and full bibliography (supplemented by the editor's website

.

ink broken Ink is a gel, sol, or solution that contains at least one colorant, such as a dye or pigment, and is used to color a surface to produce an image, text, or design. Ink is used for drawing or writing with a pen, brush, reed pen, or quill. Th ...

*Pollington, S. 2000. "Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore, and Healing" (Hockwold-cum-Wilton, Norfolk: Anglo-Saxon Books). Edition and translation, along with other Old English medical texts.
Digitisation of the manuscript at the British Library website

References

{{Authority control Anglo-Saxon paganism 10th-century manuscripts 11th-century manuscripts Old English literature Old English medicine Medical manuals Anglo-Saxon metrical charms Harleian Collection History of magic

Contents

Editions, translations and facsimiles

References