The Old English Herbals Part 2

"Of Croton oil plant. For hail and rough weather to turn them away. If thou hast in thy possession this wort which is named 'ricinus' and which is not a native of England, if thou hangest some seed of it in thine house or have it or its seed in any place whatsoever, it turneth away the tempestuousness of hail, and if thou hangest its seed on a s.h.i.+p, to that degree wonderful it is, that it smootheth every tempest. This wort thou shalt take saying thus, 'Wort ricinus I pray that thou be at my songs and that thou turn away hails and lightning bolts and all tempests through the name of Almighty G.o.d who hight thee to be produced'; and thou shalt be clean when thou pluckest this herb."--_Herb.

Ap._, 176.

"Against temptation of the fiend, a wort hight red niolin, red stalk, it waxeth by running water; if thou hast it on thee and under thy head and bolster and over thy house door the devil may not scathe thee within nor without."--_Leech Book_, III. 58.

"To preserve swine from sudden death take the worts lupin, bishopwort, ha.s.suck gra.s.s, tufty thorn, vipers bugloss, drive the swine to the fold, hang the worts upon the four sides and upon the door."--_Lacnunga_, 82.

The herbs in commonest use as amulets were betony, vervain, peony, yarrow, mugwort and waybroad (plantain). With the exception of vervain, no herb was more highly prized than betony. The treatise on it in the _Herbarium of Apuleius_ is supposed to be an abridged copy of a treatise on the virtues of this plant written by Antonius Musa, physician to the Emperor Augustus. No fewer than twenty-nine uses of it are given, and in the Saxon translation this herb is described as being "good whether for a man's soul or his body." Vervain was one of the herbs held most sacred by the Druids and, as the herbals of Gerard and Parkinson testify, it was in high repute even as late as the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. It has never been satisfactorily identified, though many authorities incline to the belief that it was verbena. In Druidical times libations of honey had to be offered to the earth from which it was dug, mystic ceremonies attended the digging of it and the plant was lifted out with the left hand. This uprooting had always to be performed at the rising of the dog star and when neither the sun nor the moon was s.h.i.+ning. Why the humble waybroad should occupy so prominent a place in Saxon herb lore it is difficult to understand. It is one of the nine sacred herbs in the alliterative lay in the _Lacnunga_, and the epithets "mother of worts" and "open from eastwards" are applied to it. The latter curious epithet is also applied to it in _Lacnunga_ 46,--"which spreadeth open towards the East." Waybroad has certainly wonderfully curative powers, especially for bee-stings, but otherwise it has long since fallen from its high estate. Peony throughout the Middle Ages was held in high repute for its protective powers, and even during the closing years of the last century country folk hung beads made of its roots round children's necks.[29] Yarrow is one of the aboriginal English plants, and from time immemorial it has been used in incantations and by witches.

Country folk still regard it as one of our most valuable herbs, especially for rheumatism. Mugwort, which was held in repute throughout the Middle Ages for its efficacy against unseen powers of evil, is one of the nine sacred herbs in the alliterative lay in the _Lacnunga_, where it is described thus:--

"Eldest of worts Thou hast might for three And against thirty For venom availest For flying vile things, Mighty against loathed ones That through the land rove."

Harleian MS. 585.

[Ill.u.s.tration: (1) ARTEMISIA AND (2) BLACKBERRY, FROM A SAXON HERBAL (Sloane 1975, folio 37_a_)]

With the notable exception of vervain, it is curious how little prominence is given in Saxon plant lore to the herbs which were held most sacred by the Druids, and yet it is scarcely credible that some of their wonderful lore should not have been a.s.similated. But in these ma.n.u.scripts little or no importance attaches to mistletoe, holly, birch or ivy. There is no mention of mistletoe as a sacred herb.[30]

We find some mention of selago, generally identified with _lycopodium selago_, of which Pliny tells us vaguely that it was "like savin." The gathering of it had to be accompanied in Druid days with mystic ceremonies. The Druid had his feet bare and was clad in white, and the plant could not be cut with iron, nor touched with the naked hand. So great were its powers that it was called "the gift of G.o.d."

Nor is there any mention in Saxon plant lore of the use of _sorbus aucuparia_, which the Druids planted near their monolithic circles as protection against unseen powers of darkness. There is, however, one prescription which may date back to the Roman occupation of Britain.

It runs thus: "Take nettles, and seethe them in oil, smear and rub all thy body therewith; the cold will depart away."[31] It has always been believed that one of the varieties of nettle (_Urtica pilulifera_) was introduced into England by the Roman soldiers, who brought the seed of it with them. According to the tradition, they were told that the cold in England was unendurable; so they brought these seeds in order to have a plentiful supply of nettles wherewith to rub their bodies and thereby keep themselves warm. Possibly this prescription dates back to that time.

From what h.o.a.ry antiquity the charms and incantations which we find in these ma.n.u.scripts have come down to us we cannot say. Their atmosphere is that of palaeolithic cave-drawings, for they are redolent of the craft of sorcerers and they suggest those strange cave markings which no one can decipher. Who can say what lost languages are embedded in these unintelligible words and single letters, or what is their meaning? To what ancient ceremonies do they pertain, and who were the initiated who alone understood them? At present it is all mysterious, though perhaps one day we shall discover both their sources and their meaning. They show no definite traces of the Scandinavian rune-lays concerning herbs, though one of the charms is in runic characters. It is noteworthy that in the third book, which is evidently much older than the first two parts of the _Leech Book_, the proportion of heathen charms is exceptionally large. In one prescription we find the names of two heathen idols, Tiecon and Leleloth, combined with a later Christian interpolation of the names of the four gospellers. The charm is in runic characters and is to be followed by a prayer. Many of the mystic sentences are wholly incomprehensible, in others we find heathen names such as Lilumenne, in others a string of words which may be a corrupt form of some very ancient language. Thus a lay to be sung in case a man or beast drinks an insect runs thus:--"Gonomil, orgomil, marb.u.mil, marbsai, tofeth," etc.[32]

If some of the charms have a malignant sound, others were probably as soothing in those days as those gems are still which have survived in our inimitable nursery rhymes.

For instance, the following has for us no meaning, but even in the translation it has something of the curious effect of the words in the original. A woman who cannot rear her child is instructed to say--"Everywhere I carried for me the famous kindred doughty one with this famous meat doughty one, so I will have it for me and go home."

In the _Lacnunga_ there is a counting-out charm which is a mixture of an ancient heathen charm combined with a Christian rite at the end.

"Nine were Noddes sisters, then the nine came to be eight, and the eight seven, and the seven six, and the six five, and the five four, and the four three, and the three two, and the two one, and the one none. This may be medicine for thee from scrofula and from worm and from every mischief.

Sing also the Benedicite nine times."--_Lacnunga_, 95.[33]

One of the most remarkable narrative charms is that for warts copied below from the _Lacnunga_. It is to be sung first into the left ear, then into the right ear, then above the man's poll, then "let one who is a maiden go to him and hang it upon his neck, do so for three days, it will soon be well with him."

"Here came entering A spider wight.

He had his hands upon his hams.

He quoth that thou his hackney wert.

Lay thee against his neck.

They began to sail off the land.

As soon as they off the land came, then began they to cool.

Then came in a wild beast's sister.

Then she ended And oaths she swore that never could this harm the sick, nor him who could get at this charm, nor him who had skill to sing this charm. Amen. Fiat."--_Lacnunga_, 56.

Of the world-wide custom of charming disease from the patient and transferring it to some inanimate object we find numerous examples.

This custom is not only of very ancient origin, but persisted until recent times even in this country. As commonly practised in out-of-the-way parts of Great Britain it was believed that the disease transferred to an inanimate object would be contracted by the next person who picked it up, but in the Saxon herbals we find an apparently older custom of transferring the disease to "running water"

(suggestive of the Israelitish scapegoat), and also that of throwing the blood from the wound across the wagon way. These charms for transferring disease seem originally to have been a.s.sociated with a considerable amount of ceremonial. For instance, in those to cure the bite of a hunting spider we find that a certain number of scarifications are to be struck (and in both cases an odd number--three and five); in the case of the five scarifications, "one on the bite and four round about it," the blood is to be caught in "a green spoon of hazel-wood," and the blood is to be thrown "in silence"

over a wagon way. In the _Lacnunga_ there are traces of the actual ceremonial of transferring the disease, and the Christian prayer has obviously been subst.i.tuted for an older heathen one. The charm is in unintelligible words and is followed by the instruction, "Sing this nine times and the Pater Noster nine times over a barley loaf and give it to the horse to eat." In a "salve against the elfin race" it is noticeable that the herbs, after elaborate preparation, are not administered to the patient at all, but are thrown into running water.

"A salve against the elfin race and nocturnal goblin visitors: take wormwood, lupin.... Put these worts into a vessel, set them under the altar, sing over them nine ma.s.ses, boil them in b.u.t.ter and sheep's grease, add much holy salt, strain through a cloth, throw the worts into running water."--_Leech Book_, III. 61.

One charm in the _Lacnunga_ which is perhaps not too long to quote speaks of some long-lost tale. It appears to be a fragment of a popular lay, and one wonders how many countless generations of our ancestors sang it, and what it commemorates:--

"Loud were they loud, as over the land they rode, Fierce of heart were they, as over the hill they rode.

s.h.i.+eld thee now thyself; from this spite thou mayst escape thee!

Out little spear if herein thou be!

Underneath the linden stood he, underneath the s.h.i.+ning s.h.i.+eld, While the mighty women mustered up their strength; And the spears they send screaming through the air!

Back again to them will I send another.

Arrow forth a-flying from the front against them; Out little spear if herein thou be!

Sat the smith thereat, smoke a little seax out.

Out little spear if herein thou be!

Six the smiths that sat there-- making slaughter-spears: Out little spear, in be not spear!

If herein there hide flake of iron hard, Of a witch the work, it shall melt away.

Wert thou shot into the skin, or shot into the flesh, Wert thou shot into the blood, or shot into the bone, Wert thou shot into the limb-- never more thy life be teased!

If it were the shot of Esa, or it were of elves the shot Or it were of hags the shot; help I bring to thee.

This to boot for Esa-shot, this to boot for elfin-shot.

This to boot for shot of hags! Help I bring to thee.

Flee witch to the wild hill top ... ...

But thou--be thou hale, and help thee the Lord."

Who were these six smiths and who were the witches? One thinks of that mighty Smith Weyland in the palace of Nidad king of the Niars, of the queen's fear of his flas.h.i.+ng eyes and the maiming of him by her cruel orders, and of the cups he made from the skulls of her sons and gems from their eyes. We think of these as old tales, but instinct tells us that they are horribly real. We may not know how that semi-divine smith made himself wings, but that he flew over the palace and never returned we do not doubt for an instant. To the fairy stories which embody such myths children of unnumbered generations have listened, and they demand them over and over again because they, too, are sure that they are real.

Nor is the mystery of numbers lacking in these herbal prescriptions, particularly the numbers three and nine. In the alliterative lay of the nine healing herbs this is very conspicuous. Woden, we are told, smote the serpent with nine magic twigs, the serpent was broken into nine parts, from which the wind blew the nine flying venoms. There are numerous instances of the patient being directed to take nine of each of the ingredients or to take the herb potion itself for three or nine days. Or it is directed that an incantation is to be said or sung three or nine times, or that three or nine ma.s.ses are to be sung over the herbs. This mystic use of three and nine is conspicuous in the following prescription:--

"Against dysentery, a bramble of which both ends are in the earth take the newer root, delve it up, cut up nine chips with the left hand and sing three times the Miserere mei Deus and nine times the Pater Noster, then take mugwort and everlasting, boil these three worts and the chips in milk till they get red, then let the man sip at night fasting a pound dish full ... let him rest himself soft and wrap himself up warm; if more need be let him do so again, if thou still need do it a third time, thou wilt not need oftener."--_Leech Book_, II. 65.

The leechdom for the use of dwarf elder against a snake-bite runs thus:--[34]

"For rent by snake take this wort and ere thou carve it off hold it in thine hand and say thrice nine times Omnes malas bestias canto, that is in our language Enchant and overcome all evil wild deer; then carve it off with a very sharp knife into three parts."--_Herb. Ap._, 93.

Some of the most remarkable pa.s.sages in the ma.n.u.scripts are those concerning the ceremonies to be observed both in the picking and in the administering of herbs. What the mystery of plant life which has so deeply affected the minds of men in all ages and of all civilisations meant to our ancestors, we can but dimly apprehend as we study these ceremonies. They carry us back to that wors.h.i.+p of earth and the forces of Nature which prevailed when Woden was yet unborn.

That Woden was the chief G.o.d of the tribes on the mainland is indisputable, but even in the hierarchy of ancestors reverenced as semi-divine the Saxons themselves looked to Sceaf rather than to Woden, who himself was descended from Sceaf. There are few more haunting legends than that of our mystic forefather, the little boy asleep on a sheaf of corn who, in a richly adorned vessel which moved neither by sails nor oars, came to our people out of the great deep and was hailed by them as their king. Did not Alfred himself claim him as his primeval progenitor, the founder of our race? There is no tangible link between his descendant Woden and the wors.h.i.+p of earth, but the sheaf of corn, the symbol of Sceaf, carries us straight back to Nature wors.h.i.+p. Sceaf takes his fitting place as the semi-divine ancestor with the lesser divinities such as Hrede and Eostra, G.o.ddess of the radiant dawn. It is to this age that the ceremonies in the picking of the herbs transport us, to the mystery of the virtues of herbs, the fertility of earth, the never-ceasing conflict between the beneficent forces of sun and summer and the evil powers of the long, dark northern winters. Closely intertwined with Nature wors.h.i.+p we find the later Christian rites and ceremonies. For the new teaching did not oust the old, and for many centuries the mind of the average man halted half-way between the two faiths. If he accepted Christ he did not cease to fear the great hierarchy of unseen powers of Nature, the wors.h.i.+p of which was bred in his very bone. The ancient festivals of Yule and Eostra continued under another guise and polytheism still held its sway. The devil became one with the gloomy and terrible in Nature, with the malignant elves and dwarfs. Even with the warfare between the beneficent powers of sun and the fertility of Nature and the malignant powers of winter, the devil became a.s.sociated. Nor did men cease to believe in the Wyrd, that dark, ultimate fate G.o.ddess who, though obscure, lies at the back of all Saxon belief. It was in vain that the Church preached against superst.i.tions. Egbert, Archbishop of York, in his Penitential, strictly forbade the gathering of herbs with incantations and enjoined the use of Christian rites, but it is probable that even when these ma.n.u.scripts were written, the majority at least of the common folk in these islands, though nominally Christian, had not deserted their ancient ways of thought.[35] When the Saxon peasant went to gather his healing herbs he may have used Christian prayers[36] and ceremonies, but he did not forget the G.o.ddess of the dawn. It is noteworthy how frequently we find the injunction that the herbs must be picked at sunrise or when day and night divide, how often stress is laid upon looking towards the east, and turning "as the sun goeth from east to south and west."

In many there is the instruction that the herb is to be gathered "without use of iron" or "with gold and with hart's horn" (emblems of the sun's rays). It is curious how little there is of moon lore. In some cases the herbs are to be gathered in silence, in others the man who gathers them is not to look behind him--a prohibition which occurs frequently in ancient superst.i.tions. The ceremonies are all mysterious and suggestive, but behind them always lies the ancient ineradicable wors.h.i.+p of Nature. To what dim past does that cry, "Erce, Erce, Erce, Mother of Earth" carry us?

"Erce, Erce, Erce, Mother of Earth!

May the All-Wielder, Ever Lord grant thee Acres a-waxing, upwards a-growing Pregnant [with corn] and plenteous in strength; Hosts of [grain] shafts and of glittering plants!

Of broad barley the blossoms And of white wheat ears waxing, Of the whole earth the harvest!

Let be guarded the grain against all the ills That are sown o'er the land by the sorcery men, Nor let cunning women change it nor a crafty man."

And that other ancient verse:--

"Hail be thou, Earth, Mother of men!

In the lap of the G.o.d be thou a-growing!

Be filled with fodder for fare-need of men!"

It is of these two invocations that Stopford Brooke (whose translations I have used) writes: "These are very old heathen invocations used, I daresay, from century to century and from far prehistoric times by all the Teutonic farmers. Who 'Erce' is remains obscure. But the Mother of Earth seems to be here meant, and she is a person who greatly kindles our curiosity. To touch her is like touching empty s.p.a.ce, so far away is she. At any rate some G.o.dhead or other seems here set forth under her proper name. In the Northern Cosmogony, Night is the Mother of Earth. But Erce cannot be Night. She is (if Erce be a proper name) bound up with agriculture. Grimm suggests Eorce, connected with the Old High German 'erchan' = simplex.

He also makes a bold guess that she may be the same as a divine dame in Low Saxon districts called Herke or Harke, who dispenses earthly goods in abundance, and acts in the same way as Berhta and Holda--an earth-G.o.ddess, the lady of the plougher and sower and reaper. In the Mark she is called Frau Harke. Monta.n.u.s draws attention to the appearance of this charm in a convent at Corvei, in which this line begins--'Eostar, Eostar, eordhan modor.' ... The name remains mysterious. The song breathes the pleasure and wors.h.i.+p of ancient tillers of the soil in the labours of the earth and in the goods the mother gave. It has grown, it seems, out of the breast of earth herself; earth is here the Mother of Men. The surface of earth is the lap of the G.o.ddess; in her womb let all growth be plentiful. Food is in her for the needs of men. 'Hail be thou, Earth!' I daresay this hymn was sung ten thousand years ago by the early Aryans on the Baltic coast."

Even in a twelfth-century herbal we find a prayer to Earth, and it is so beautiful that I close this chapter with it:--

"Earth,[37] divine G.o.ddess, Mother Nature who generatest all things and bringest forth anew the sun which thou hast given to the nations; Guardian of sky and sea and of all G.o.ds and powers and through thy power all nature falls silent and then sinks in sleep. And again thou bringest back the light and chasest away night and yet again thou coverest us most securely with thy shades. Thou dost contain chaos infinite, yea and winds and showers and storms; thou sendest them out when thou wilt and causest the seas to roar; thou chasest away the sun and arousest the storm. Again when thou wilt thou sendest forth the joyous day and givest the nourishment of life with thy eternal surety; and when the soul departs to thee we return. Thou indeed art duly called great Mother of the G.o.ds; thou conquerest by thy divine name. Thou art the source of the strength of nations and of G.o.ds, without thee nothing can be brought to perfection or be born; thou art great queen of the G.o.ds. G.o.ddess! I adore thee as divine; I call upon thy name; be pleased to grant that which I ask thee, so shall I give thanks to thee, G.o.ddess, with one faith.