Charm for the Water-Elf-Disease
If someone has the water-elf-disease, then his fingernails will be livid and his eyes watery, and he will want to look down. Make this his medicine: boarthroat, hassock, the lower portion of iris, yewberry, lupin, elecampane, marshmallow tops, fenmint, dill, lily, attorlothe, pennyroyal, horehound, dock, elder, centaury, wormwood, strawberry 5 leaves, comfrey. Soak them in ale and add holy water. Sing this charm three times:
I have written down the fiercest troops,
An army of herbs to combat this disease.
I have wrapped these wounds with the best war-bandages 10
So they will not fester, burn, or burst.
They will not swell up, spread, or spoil.
The wounds will not flourish or the sores go deep.
Let the patient hold this holy cup of healing.
Let it ache no more that your ear might ache 15
With a mud poultice or the earth might ache
With a good growth of grain in the ground.
Sing this many times: “May the earth diminish you and bear you off with all its power and protection.” This charm may be sung over a wound. 20
8. CHARM FOR A SWARM OF BEES
Storms explains the meaning and purpose of this charm: “It is meant to make a swarm of bees come down in the neighbourhood of the bee-keeper, and to prevent them from flying away too far and getting lost” (133). He points out that “honey was in great demand among the Anglo-Saxons, indeed it was the only sweetening stuff they possessed,” noting that “it was required as the principal ingredient of mead, and it is repeatedly mentioned in medical prescriptions throughout the Leechbook and Lacnunga: sweeten with honey” (133). The beekeeper throws earth or dust in the air to settle the bees. This is probably both practical (it may actually settle the bees down) and magical (power over the earth equals power over the bees). The potentially dangerous bees are also metaphorically equated in the poem with human evils such as the “slanderous tongues of man.” Both beekeeper and the culture at large need to calm down the potential stingers and keep them productive and sustaining.
Charm for a Swarm of Bees
For a swarm of bees, take earth and throw it down with your right hand under your right foot, saying:
I catch it under foot—under foot I find it.
Look! Earth has power over all creatures,
Over grudges, over malice, over evil rites, 5
Over even the mighty, slanderous tongue of man.
Afterwards as they swarm, throw earth over them, saying:
Settle down, little victory-women, down on earth—
Stay home, never fly wild to the woods.
Be wise and mindful of my benefit, 10
As every man remembers his hearth and home,
His life and land, his meat and drink.
9. CHARM FOR THEFT OF CATTLE
Whereas Charm 5 is intended to effect the return of stolen cattle or goods, this charm is meant to stave off the stealing. Hollis says of this charm: “It is apparently designed for recitation by shepherds and herdsmen,” noting that “it is capable of functioning as a night-spell (that is, as a means of protecting livestock and other property against theft before retiring to sleep), but is more appropriate for use when livestock are missing, in order to avert the possibility of theft” (142). The identity of Garmund, who is conjured to find and return the missing cattle, remains in doubt. Is he really a good shepherd and servant of God, or is he potentially just another mischievous thief (like Mak in The Second Shepherds’ Play in the later medieval Wakefield mystery cycle)? There is some question as to whether the opening lines, or at least the last three of them, are prose or poetry. I have followed Storms in my reading of them as being a kind of rhythmical prose or flexible poetry.
Charm for Theft of Cattle
Let nothing I own be stolen or hidden in secret,
Any more than Herod could secret away our Lord.
I have thought often of Saint Helena,
And I have thought of Christ hanged on the cross,
So I think of finding these cattle, not of their stealing away, 5
Of knowing where they are and keeping them safe,
Of holding them dear, not of harming them in any way.
Now let that fellow Garmund, servant of God,
Find those cattle and carry back those cattle,
Control those cattle and keep those cattle, 10
And finally bring back home those cattle.
May he never have land to lead them to,
Or a place to put them or carry them to,
Or a house or pen to confine them in.
If anyone steals them, may it never succeed. 15
Within three nights, I shall know his might;
Within three days, I shall know his power,
What he hopes to keep, and make him pay.
Let him perish as wood is consumed by fire,
Let the thief be weak and fragile as thistle, 20
Who dreams of driving away these cattle
Or desires to carry off these precious goods.
Amen.
10. CHARM FOR LOSS OF PROPERTY OR CATTLE
Dobbie notes that “Charm 5 and Charm 10 represent two separate versions of the same original, Charm 5 being somewhat superior textually” (1942, cxxxvi). There are several minor variations in the two charms.
Charm for Loss of Property or Cattle
This must be said by someone who has been robbed of his cattle or some of his goods. He should say this before he says any other words:
Bethlehem is the town where Christ was born—
It is known all over middle-earth;
So let this deed also be openly known— 5
Per crucem Christi [by the cross of Christ].
Then pray three times to the east and say three times:
Crux Christi ab oriente reducat
[Let the cross of Christ bring it back from the east].
And three times to the west and say: 10
Crux Chriti ab occidente reducat
[Let the cross of Christ bring it back from the west].
And three times to the south and say:
Crux Christi a meridie reducat
[Let the cross of Christ bring it back from the south]. 15
And three times to the north and say:
Crux Christi abscondita sunt et inuenta est
[The cross of Christ has been hidden and is found].
The Jews hung Christ, the cruelest of crimes.
Then they hid what they could not conceal. 20
So may this deed be uncovered and made clear
Per crucem Christi [through the power of Christ’s cross].
11. JOURNEY CHARM
This charm retains a few pagan elements, but it turns mostly to religious images to stave off the concatenation of evils that may beset the wary traveler. Storms notes this religious tone, saying that this charm is “a typical instance of the change that has come over magic,” adding that “the intensity and the emotional depth of the magical atmosphere [here] … has given way to another emotional atmosphere, namely that of popular religion, and the forces evoked by performing magical actions and pronouncing magical words have been replaced to a large extent by the power of God, the Creator of heaven and earth” (220).
Journey Charm
I surround myself and protect myself
With this rod, this staff, this drawn circle,
And commend myself to God’s grace—
Against the sore stitch, the sudden stab,
Against the fierce blow, the sore bite, 5
Against the sudden terror, the savage onslaught,
The hostile dread that is hateful to everyone.
Against every evil that lurks in the land,
I carry a victory-staff and chant a victory-song,
A charm of overcoming, of overthrowing, 10
Of winning over by the word and by the deed.
Ma
y this victory avail me. May no nightmare
Haunt my head, no might overpower me,
No drowning devour me. May I easily escape
All evil that intends to attack and afflict me, 15
Every fierce foe that makes me fear for my life.
May almighty God, his Son, and the Holy Spirit,
The glorious Lord, cure and console me,
Protect and save me as I have heard.
I call to my aid against all evil foes 20
Abraham and Isaac and such holy men,
Moses and Jacob, David and Joseph,
Eve and Anna and also Elizabeth,
Zacharias and Mary, mother of Christ,
And also the brothers, Peter and Paul, 25
Along with a throng, thousands of angels.
May they guide me and keep me as I go along,
Protect my journey, watch over my way.
May they shield me from all my evil enemies,
Protect me from harm, and preserve my life. 30
May a band of angels, a host of saints,
Be the hand of blessing, the hand of protection,
And the hope of glory over my head.
Let Matthew be my helmet, Mark my mail-coat,
The bravely radiant light of my life, 35
Luke my sword, sharp and shimmering,
A blade against bale, an edge against evil,
John my shield, my defense and shelter,
The Seraph, my deadly adorned spear.
As I go forth, may I find friends, 40
Keep the company of angels, the counsel of the wise.
Now I pray for favor from the God of victory,
For a safe journey and light, steady winds
Leading to the shore. I have heard of harsh storms
And roiling waters, the savage sea, 45
But let me be safe and secure against all dangers,
Terrible demons, fiendish foes.
Let me meet with friends, live in the shelter
Of almighty God, protected from the evil one
Who harrows and harasses my coming and going, 50
Who seeks to assault me and steal my life.
Let me live with the Lord in his power and protection
With my heart in his hand, my soul in his keeping,
So that I may travel under the comforting shield
Of heaven’s hold, the angels’ bright aid, 55
And the glory of God as long as I live.
Amen.
12. CHARM FOR WENS (OR TUMORS)
Storms explains the purpose of this charm: “It serves as a cure against wens, and in order to make them disappear, a threat is uttered against the disease spirit, and a number of comparisons that stress the annihilation of some object are chanted, so that finally nothing of the wen will remain” (156). The charmist here makes use of powerful natural creatures through metonymic magic (part for the whole) by taking parts of them (wolf’s paw, eagle’s wing) and using them to threaten the invading tumor. He or she also uses metaphoric magic (things alike are the same) by equating the wen with coal, dirt, a worm, etc.—all of which may be contained or conquered. Finally, the wen is shriveled smaller and smaller until it “becomes something that is not” and disappears.
Charm for Wens (or Tumors)
Wen, wen, chicken-wen,
Build no house to enter in,
No town to hold. Go north, wretch,
To the neighboring hill where your brother waits
With a leaf for your head. Under wolf’s paw, 5
Under eagle’s wing, under eagle’s claw,
May you shrivel like coal in the catch of fire,
Disappear like dirt on the wall, water in a bucket,
Tiny as linseed, smaller than a hand-worm’s
Hip-bone, smaller than something that is not. 10
ADDITIONAL POEMS
INTRODUCTION
We were once the long-lost children—
Unseen, undiscovered, wandering the way,
While everyone else in our far-flung family
Came together to be acknowledged and accepted
Between the boards. Sometimes we wonder
Why it’s taken scholars so long to find us.
Some of us were hiding out in old histories,
Concealed in prose; some of us were carved
On brooches, rings, and memorial stones.
Some of us were holy hymns or proverbs;
Some of us were tucked away in homilies;
Some of us were lost in forgotten leaves.
Many of us were born late and sang
In a middling tongue. We tried to be strong,
But sometimes stressed, we resorted to rhyme.
Now we’re found and can join our family.
Welcome us home by saying who we are.
A number of Old English poems or poetic fragments that were not included in the Anglo-Saxon Poetic Records are included in this section. What to count as an OE poem occasionally becomes problematic, especially in cases where what look like possible lines of poetry are embedded in rhythmical prose or where quasi-poetic passages occur in documents written late in the Anglo-Saxon period when the metrical norms become more fluid and the line of demarcation between Old and Middle English becomes a bit indistinct (see, for example, N. F. Blake, 1969, on “rhythmical alliteration”). For a good introduction to the difficulty of distinguishing between prosaic verse and rhythmical prose, see the discussions in Wright (2002), Bredehoft (2005), Trahern (2008), and Beechy (2010b). There is also the question of whether single-line inscriptions or marginalic comments can be considered poetry in any fundamental sense, even when they obey the metrical rules of OE verse. In deciding which poems and fragments to include here, I have consulted various post-ASPR lists of poems such as those of Fulk and Cain (237, n. 31); Swanton for passages in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (106, n. 4); Frank and Cameron for texts in the Dictionary of Old English (42–43); Robinson and Stanley in their facsimile edition; and Bergman in her supplement to the Anglo-Saxon Concordance to ASPR. Unfortunately, there is not complete agreement about which texts should be included in a post-ASPR section such as this. My decisions have been made from my vantage point not only as a scholar but also as a translator and poet. Where a fragment or part of a prosaic text strikes me as having its own integrity as a poem, even a very short one, I have included it here. Where some late poems seem a mixture of Old and Middle English, I have sometimes included them, especially in cases that seem to reflect earlier Old English treatments and themes. I have tried to be liberal in my inclusion, especially in cases where a scholar or editor has made a reasonably convincing argument about the selection’s poetic nature. In a collection of this sort, it seemed to me better to be inclusive rather than exclusive. Even though The Complete Old English Poems sounds definitive, no collection of this sort can ever hope to satisfy all readers with its rules of inclusion and exclusion, whether based on metrical norms, notions of organic unity, period of supposed composition, or poetic appeal. If readers take issue with my choices here, I can only offer a mea culpa in appropriate medieval fashion.
ADDITIONAL POEMS OF THE ANGLO-SAXON CHRONICLE
Dobbie includes six poems from The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in ASPR, volume VI (see “Minor Poems”). A number of other poetic passages have been identified by editors and scholars in the Chronicle manuscripts since ASPR. There is some debate about whether the rhythmical passages, which utilize alliteration and rhyme, often in inconsistent ways, should count as poems, but most of the passages below are noted by Fulk and Cain (69; 243, n. 23) or printed as poems by one or more of the editors and translators. The translated verses below are accompanied by a brief explanation of the prose passage which encapsulates each poetic text and occasionally by an excerpt of the prose passage itself. The year of the entry in the Chronicle for each poem is indicated in parentheses in the title.
1. THE ACCESSION OF EDGAR (959)
This entry from the Pet
erborough Manuscript (E) begins with a prose introduction about King Eadwig’s death and then proceeds with a praise poem of sorts about his brother Edgar’s succession and his accomplishments. In her edition, Whitelock calls this passage “alliterative prose” (74, n. 10). Fulk and Cain call it “broadly rhythmical,” and treat it as poetry, noting that its “stylistic traits strongly suggest that it was the homilist Wulfstan who adapted this text for use in the Chronicle” (69). Swanton (114–15) treats this as prose. The passage celebrates King Edgar’s enlightened leadership but takes issue with his interest in foreign or heathen customs.
The Accession of Edgar (959)
In this year King Eadwig died and his brother Edgar succeeded him.
Everything improved and prospered in his reign.
God granted him a peaceful life as long as he lived.
He loved God’s law and raised up his glory,
Praising him always, promoting his works. 5
He improved security and promoted the peace
More than any king who had come before him
In the memory of mankind. God gave him aid,
Supported and sustained him so that kings and earls
Submitted to him on earth. He worked God’s will. 10
He was admired in all countries in the wide world
For honoring God’s name, contemplating his laws,
Counseling people wisely in complex matters
Of church and state. He had only one fault:
He was always interested in heathen customs 15
And invited foreigners, harmful outsiders,
Into this land. But may God grant him this—
That his virtues outweigh his vices, his faith
Outweigh his faults, so that his good works
May be a shield to his soul on its everlasting journey. 20
The Complete Old English Poems Page 119
