The medical background of Anglo-Saxon England : a study in history, psychology, and folklore / [Wilfrid Bonser].

  • Wilfrid Bonser
Date:
1963
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Licence: Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0)

Credit: The medical background of Anglo-Saxon England : a study in history, psychology, and folklore / [Wilfrid Bonser]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    VETERINARY AND AGRICULTURAL MAGIC 428 unde uenisti?” three times; “credidi propter” [i.e. Psalm cxv of the Vulgate, or cxvi. 10 of the Authorized Version], three times; “Alpha et 6, initium et finis”, “The cross is my life and thy death, O enemy”; Pater Noster.’ 1 If a horse be afflicted with hors-oman certain unintelligible words together with part of the last-quoted charm are to be sung thrice nine times evening and morning in its left ear, in running water, and its head is to be turned against the stream, 2 Sextus Placitus says of the badger: ‘Smear with his fat horses which are in a fever, or in any ailment; it shall retire from them, and the hour of life shall be prolonged to them.’ 3 And again he says: ‘Mingle [badger’s] blood with a little salt for horses and mules and any four-footed beasts (neat') which are suf fering from murrain ( wol) or with any evil: administer it by mouth by means of a horn according to the beast’s ability, and so for about three nights: they will soon be well.’ 4 Only one veterinary charm occurs in the Anglo-Saxon Herbal. It runs: ‘If a horse be injured in the back or shoulders and [the wound] be open, take [centimorbia] all dried and pounded to a very small dust, sprinkle it on the sore: it will heal it. Thou shalt wonder at the benefit.’ 5 There are various charms for horses which have been elf-shot: these have already been dealt with. 6 The law's of Howel Dda ordain that ‘a horse is to be warranted against three disorders: against the staggers, for three dew-falls; against the black strangles, for three moons; and against the farcy for one year’. 7 (/) Bees The onomatopoeic word ymbe signifies a swarm of bees, ymbhaga a bee-enclosure, and beo-ceorl a bee-farmer. Before the introduction of sugar, honey was the only substance used for sweetening. It was also used as an ingredient of mead, which was the chief drink of the common folk in Anglo-Saxon times. Rents might be paid in the form of honey ( hunig-gafol ). The importance of bees—and of healthy bees—cannot therefore be too strongly stressed. 1 Lacn. 94 (clxi). 2 Lacn. 109 (clxxvi). 3 Sextus Placitus, Med. de quadrupedibus, i. 2. 4 Ibid. i. 3. 5 A.S. Herbal , clxii. 6 See p. 160. 7 Laws of Hywel Dda, Venedotian Code, Book III, ch. iv, § 13.