13 - Magical medicine

Summary

Like that of all ancient and medieval societies, Anglo-Saxon medicine had a large component of magic, and in the recent past the magical elements have received more attention than the rational ones. Although magic played a smaller part in it than is implied by many commentators, it is an integral and interesting part and deserves a sympathetic assessment. I mentioned in previous chapters that magical remedies were most commonly prescribed for conditions which were intractable to rational treatments; this implies that they were resorted to for conditions where rational remedies had proved ineffective.

Dysentery, for example, was a difficult condition to treat successfully and many remedies for it are magical in whole or in part; here is a typical one combining rational and magical features, which we may keep in mind in the discussion which follows:

For dysentery: a bramble of which both ends are in the ground; take the newer root, dig up, cut off nine shavings into the left hand and sing three times Miserere mei, Deus, and nine times Pater Noster, then take mugwort and everlasting; boil the three in milk until they are done; then sip after a night's fast a good dishful a while before he eats other food; let him rest quietly and wrap him up warm. If more is needed, do the same again, then if you still need it, do it a third time; you will not need to more often.