Abstract
The Nine Herbs Charm is one of the most extensively researched Old English metrical charms, not only in view of its allegedly corrupt text or its religious focus, but also with regard to its arithmetic. Since The Nine Herbs Charm abounds in references to numbers, particularly the number nine, three major arithmetical concerns have been whether the nine herbs, poisons and infections explicitly indicated in the text can actually be matched to referents within the charm. A fourth arithmetical crux, as yet undiscovered, is located in the charm’s Woden passage. Here, Woden is said to have smitten a snake into nine parts with nine wuldortanas (“glory-twigs”). Interpretations of this passage have focused on the significance of Woden’s presence and the nature of Woden’s wuldortanas. These twigs have traditionally been interpreted as runic weapons of magical power, but this seems unwarranted on the basis of the textual evidence. Yet if the wuldortanas are conventional weapons, they cannot possibly strike the snake into nine pieces, unless the nature of the snake is properly understood.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ackermann, H. C., et al. (Eds.). (1981–1997). Lexicon iconographicum mythologiae classicae (vols. 8). Zurich, Munich, Düsseldorf: Artemis.
Bierbaumer, P. (1975–1979). Der botanische Wortschatz des altenglischen (vols. 3). Bern, Frankfurt- am-Main: Peter Lang.
Bonser, W. (1963). The medical background of Anglo-Saxon England. A study in history psychology, and folklore, Publications of the Wellcome Historical Medical Library, ns 3. London: The Wellcome Historical Medical Library.
Bosworth, J., & Toller, T. N. (Eds.). (1898). An Anglo-Saxon dictionary based on the manuscript collections of the late Joseph Bosworth. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Bradley, H. (1904). The song of the nine magic herbs (Neunkräutersegen). Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 113(1–2), 144–145.
Braekman, W. L. (1980). Notes on Old English charms. Neophilologus, 64(3), 461–469.
Bremmer, R. H. Jr. (1991). Hermes-Mercury and Woden-Odin as inventors of alphabets: A neglected parallel. In A. Bammesberger (Ed.), Old English runes and their continental background (pp. 409–419), Anglistische Forschungen 217. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
Cameron, M. L. (1993). Anglo-Saxon medicine, Cambridge studies in Anglo-Saxon England 7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cancik, H., et al. (Eds.). (1996–2003). Der neue Pauly. Enzyklopädie der Antike (vols. 16). Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler.
Cockayne, T. O. (Ed. and trans.). (1864–1866). Leechdoms, wortcunning and starcraft of Early England. Being a collection of documents, for the most part never before printed, illustrating the history of science in this country before the Norman conquest (vols. 3), Rolls series 35. London: Longmans, Green, Reader and Dyer.
Cockayne, T. O. (Ed. and trans.). (1864–1866, rev. ed. 1961). Leechdoms, wortcunning and starcraft of early England. Being a collection of documents, for the most part never before printed, illustrating the history of science in this country before the Norman Conquest (vols. 3). C. Singer (Ed.), London: The Holland Press.
Cooke, W. (2003). Three notes on swords in Beowulf. Medium Ævum, 72(2), 302–307.
Cox, R. (1991). Snake rings in Deor and Völundarkviða. Leeds Studies in English, ns 22, 1–20.
Davidson, H. R. E. (1962). The sword in Anglo-Saxon England. Its archaeology and literature. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Doane, A. N. (1994). Books of prayers and healing, Anglo-Saxon manuscripts in microfiche facsimile 1, Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies 136. Binghamton, NY: Center for Medieval and Early Renaissance Studies.
Dobbie. E. V. K. (Ed.). (1942). The Anglo-Saxon minor poems, Anglo-Saxon poetic records 6. New York, London: Routledge, Kegan Paul.
Elliott, R. W. V. (1957). Runes, yews, and magic. Speculum, 32(2), 250–261.
Elliott, R. W. V. (1959, 2nd ed. 1989). Runes. An introduction. Manchester, New York: Manchester University Press.
Evans, D. A. H. (Ed.). (1986). Hávamál, Viking society for northern research 7. London: Viking Society for Northern Research, University College London.
Garner, L. A. (2004). Anglo-Saxon charms in performance. Oral Tradition, 19(1), 20–42.
Glosecki, S. O. (1989). Shamanism and Old English poetry. New York: Garland.
Glosecki, S. O. (2000). “Blow these vipers from me”: mythic magic in The nine herbs charm. In L. C. Gruber, et al. (Eds.), Essays on Old, Middle, Modern English and Old Icelandic. In honor of Raymond J. Tripp Jr. (pp. 91–123). Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Glosecki, S. O. (2007). Stranded narrative: myth, metaphor, and the metrical charm. In S. O. Glosecki (Ed.), Myth in Early Northwest Europe (pp. 47–70), Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies 320. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, Brepols.
Gneuss, H. (2001). Handlist of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts. A list of manuscripts and manuscript fragments written or owned in England up to 1100, Medieval and Renaissance texts and studies 241. Tempe, AZ: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies.
Grattan, J. H. G. (1927). Three Anglo-Saxon charms from the “Lacnunga”. The Modern Language Review, 22(1), 1–6.
Grattan, J. H. G., & Singer, C. (1952). Anglo-Saxon magic and medicine. Illustrated specially from the semi-pagan text “Lacnunga”, Publications of the Wellcome Historical Medical Museum, ns 3. London: Oxford University Press.
Grein, C. W. M., & Wülcker, R. P. (Eds.). (1881–1898). Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Poesie (vols. 3). Kassel: Georg H. Wigand.
Grendon, F. (1909–1910). The Anglo-Saxon charms. The Journal of American Folk-Lore, 22(2), 105–237.
Herbert, K. (1994). Looking for the lost gods of England. Hockwold-cum-Wilton: Anglo-Saxon Books.
Jackson, P. (2005). Retracing the path: gesture, memory, and the exegesis of tradition. History of Religions, 45(1), 1–28.
Jankuhn, H., et al. (Eds.). (1973–2008). Reallexikon der germanischen Altertumskunde (vols. 35). 2nd rev. ed. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.
Jente, R. (1921). Die mythologischen Ausdrücke im altenglischen Wortschatz. Eine kulturgeschichtlich-etymologische Untersuchung, Anglistische Forschungen 56. Heidelberg: Carl Winter.
Jolly, K. L. (1996). Popular religion in late Saxon England. Elf charms in context. Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press.
Ker, N. R. (1957). Catalogue of manuscripts containing Anglo-Saxon. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Kermode, P. M. C. (1907, rpt. 1994). Manx crosses, or the inscribed and sculptured monuments of the Isle of Man from about the end of the fifth to the beginning of the thirteenth century. Balgavies: The Pinkfoot Press.
Klaeber, F. (Ed.). (1922, 3rd rev. ed. 1950). Beowulf and The Fight at Finnsburg. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.
MacLeod, M., & Mees, B. (2006). Runic amulets and magic objects. Woodbridge: Boydell.
Magoun, F. P. Jr. (1937). Zu den ae. Zaubersprüchen. Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen, 171(1–2), 17–35.
Mayr-Harting, H. (1972). The coming of Christianity to Anglo-Saxon England. London: Batsford.
Meaney, A. L. (1966). Woden in England: a reconsideration of the evidence. Folklore, 77(2), 105–115.
Meaney, A. (1999). Charms. In M. Lapidge, et al. (Eds.), The Blackwell encyclopaedia of Anglo-Saxon England (pp. 96–97). Oxford: Blackwell.
North, R. (1997). Heathen gods in Old English literature, Cambridge studies in Anglo-Saxon England 22. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Ohrt, F. (1927–1928). Beiträge zur Segenforschung. Zeitschrift des Vereins für Volkskunde, 37, 1–9.
Ohrt, F. (1929). Herba, Gratiâ Plena. Die Legenden der älteren Segensprüche über den göttlichen Ursprung der Heil- und Zauberkräuter, FF Communications 82. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Olsan, L. (1992). Latin charms of medieval England: verbal healing in a Christian oral tradition. Oral Tradition, 7(1), 116–142.
Orton, P. (2003). Sticks or stones? The story of Imma in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 41 of the Old English Bede, and Old English tán (“twig”). Medium Ævum, 72(1), 1–12.
Page, R. I. (1973). An introduction to English runes. London: Methuen.
Pettit, E. (Ed. and trans.). (2001). Anglo-Saxon remedies, charms, and prayers from British Library MS Harley 585: the Lacnunga (vols. 2), Mellen critical editions and translations 6. Lewiston, Queenston, Lampeter: The Edwin Mellen Press.
Philippson, E. A. (1929). Germanisches Heidentum bei den Angelsachsen. Leipzig: Tauchnitz.
Rauer, C. (2000). Beowulf and the dragon. Parallels and analogues. Cambridge: Brewer.
Robinson, F. C., & Stanley, E. G. (1991). Old English verse texts from many sources, Early English manuscripts in facsimile 23. Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger.
Rodrigues, L. J. (1993). Anglo-Saxon verse charms, maxims & heroic legends. Pinner: Anglo-Saxon Books.
Rohde, E. S. (1922). The folk-lore of herbals. Folklore, 33(3), 243–264.
Roper, J. (2005). English verbal charms, FF Communications 288. Helsinki: Suomalainen Tiedeakatemia.
Rubin, S. (1974). Medieval English medicine. London: David & Charles.
Ryan, J. S. (1963). Othin in England, evidence from the poetry for a cult of woden in Anglo-Saxon England. Folklore, 74(3), 460–480.
Serjeantson, M. S. (1936). The vocabulary of folklore in Old and Middle English. Folklore, 47(1), 42–73.
Singer, C. (1919–1920). Early English magic and medicine. Proceedings of the British Academy, 9, 341–374.
Skemer, D. C. (2006). Binding words. Textual amulets in the Middle Ages. University Park. PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
Skemp, A. R. (1911). The Old English charms. Modern Language Review, 6(3), 289–301.
Stanley, E. G. (1975). The search for Anglo-Saxon paganism. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
Storms, G. (1947). An Anglo-Saxon prescription from the Lacnunga. English Studies, 28(1), 33–41.
Storms, G. (1948). Anglo-Saxon magic. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Ström, Å. V., & Biezais, H. (1975). Germanische und Baltische Religion, Die Religionen der Menschheit XIX.1. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
Sturluson, S. (1982). Edda. Prologue and Gylfaginning. A. Faulkes (Ed.), Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Stürzl, E. (1960). Die christlichen Elemente in den altenglischen Zaubersegen. Die Sprache, 6(1), 75–93.
Tacitus (1983). De origine et situ Germanorum liber, Bibliotheca Scriptorum Graecorum et Romanorum Teubneriana, tom. II, fasc. 2. Ed. A. Önnerfors. Stuttgart: Teubner.
Talbot, C. H. (1967). Medicine in medieval England. London: Oldbourne.
Taylor, P. B. (1967). Some vestiges of ritual charms in Beowulf. The Journal of Popular Culture, 1(3), 276–285.
Taylor, P. B. (1998). Sharing story. Medieval Norse-English literary relationships. New York: AMS.
Venneman, T. (1998). Andromeda and the apples of the Hesperides. In K. Jones-Bley, et al. (Eds.), Proceedings of the ninth annual UCLA Indo-European conference, Los Angeles, May 23, 24, 1997 (pp. 1–68), Journal of Indo-European Studies monograph series 28. Washington, DC: Institute for the Study of Man.
Watkins, C. (1995). How to kill a dragon. Aspects of Indo-European poetics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wülcker, R. P. (1882). Kleinere angelsächsische Dichtungen. Abdruck der handschriftlichen überlieferung, mit den Lesarten der Handschriften und einem Wörterbuche. Halle: Max Niemeyer.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the anonymous readers and the late Stephen O. Glosecki for their critical remarks upon earlier drafts of this article, Femke Prinsen for the illustrations, and Tonya Dewey for her helpful comments on my paper on the present topic at the Forty-Third International Congress on Medieval Studies at Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, in May 2008.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
In memory of Steve Glosecki.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chardonnens, L.S. An Arithmetical Crux in the Woden Passage in the Old English Nine Herbs Charm . Neophilologus 93, 691–702 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-009-9163-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11061-009-9163-y