Lacnunga

The "Lacnunga" ('Remedies') is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly in Old English and Latin. It is found, following other medical texts, in London, British Library Manuscript Harley 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", another Anglo-Saxon medical compendium.

"The Lacnunga is usually thought of by Anglo-Saxon historians as a tenth-century collection of medical remedies. And much of it is. But there are a number of entries which deal with a different order of material. They are not merely remedies for physically expressed ailments. Rather they are rituals and incantations for traversing the divide between the mundane world of material reality and the deeper relm of the spirits. They step over the boundary into the Other-world. One such spell in the Lacnunga describes a journey in which an apprentice wizrd is taken from this world and tested in the Otherworld. In the ritual, supervised by a wizrd, a spider creature appears, wraps the apprentice in its web, and flies on the apprentice's back to a place of initiation.As the apprentice is in a fevered state, and therefore more open to the wizard begins to provide some structure for them. The entry is listed in the spellbook as a 'Night Mare'. we shall see why!the lines of the spell read, in modern translation: Here the spider-creature came stalkin in. He had his bridle-web in hand. He said that you were his steed, he laid his bonds on your neck. Sooon they began to set off from the land. and as soon as they came off the land, Then their limbs began to cool.

Then the sister of the creature came stalkin in She made an end to it, and the oaths she swore that never this one the sick should harm Nor him who could understand his charm Or understan how this charm to sing."(The Real Middle Earth By Brian Bates. Page 232-233)

The "Lacnunga" contains many unique texts, including numerous charms, some of which provide rare glimpses into Anglo-Saxon popular religion and healing practices. Among the charms are several incantations in Old English alliterative verse, the most famous being those known as the "Nine Herbs Charm" and "Wið færstice" ('Against a sudden, stabbing pain'). There are also several charms in corrupt Old Irish.

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 (see lorica (incantation)). 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 from the assaults of demons. It is accompanied in this manuscript by an interlinear gloss in Old English, which probably derives from an exemplar in the Mercian dialect.

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, and has since stuck.

References

*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.
*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: [http://www.yggdrasill.plus.com/html/lacnunga.html] ).
*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.