{"id":3732,"date":"2015-04-14T21:23:53","date_gmt":"2015-04-14T21:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/?page_id=3732"},"modified":"2015-05-23T16:09:53","modified_gmt":"2015-05-23T16:09:53","slug":"brown-2015-congress","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/abstracts\/brown-2015-congress\/","title":{"rendered":"Brown (2015 Congress)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Collin Brown
\n(University of Texas\u00a0\u2013 Austin<\/em>)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201c ‘Mid uuorrdun endi mid uuercun<\/em>‘:\u00a0 The Introduction of Christian Holy Words into Germanic Folk Prayers and Charms”<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Abstract of Paper Presented at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2015)<\/h3>\n

Session on Session on “Efficacious Words: \u00a0Spoken and Inscribed”
\nCo-sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence<\/strong> and the Societas Magica<\/strong>
\nOrganized by Jason E. Roberts (University of Texas\u00a0\u2013 Austin<\/em>)<\/strong><\/h4>\n

2015 Congress Events Announced<\/a> and 2015 Congress Events Accomplished<\/a><\/p>\n

[Published on 14 April 2015<\/em>]<\/p>\n

Early recorded examples of Germanic charms include such sources as the Old High German Merseburger Zauberspr\u00fcche<\/em> (“Merseburg Charms”). \u00a0The second Merseburg Charm was intended to heal a lamed horse. \u00a0Its tale of how the god Wodan healed Baldur\u2019s horse after it had gone lame is recounted in the hopes of achieving the same result by the recitation of the story aloud. \u00a0Similar historiolas also appear later in settings in which they have, to varying degrees, become Christianized.\u00a0 For example, a charm for healing a lamed horse from the 18th century in Norway uses the same form as the second Merseburg Charm, but it substitutes Wodan\u2019s healing of Baldur\u2019s horse with a historiola involving Christ healing his horse after its leg was broken.\u00a0 Long ago Jacob Grimm noted long ago the similarities between the pre-Christian form seen in the Merseburg Charm and this later, Christianized version.\u00a0 Another example of a horse charm from Norway replaces Wodan with St. Olav, the patron saint of Norway.<\/p>\n

What sets these later charms apart from the earlier ones, such as the Merseburg Charms, is their distinct use of Christian invocations, whereas in the originals the historiola itself was deemed enough to bring about the desired result. \u00a0The Norwegian example involving Christ ends with the invocation i tre navne<\/em> (\u201cIn the Three Names\u201d, i.e. “In the Name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost”). \u00a0The charm calling upon St. Olav ends alt med Guds ord og amen<\/em> (\u201cAll with God\u2019s Word and Amen\u201d).\u00a0 A similar charm for healing broken bones from Iceland even uses the original Latin form (In nomine patris et filii et spiritus sancti.\u00a0 Amen.<\/em>) for stronger effect. \u00a0This practice was not limited to oral charms, but also can be seen in written, runic prayers. \u00a0In the Old English poem The Dialogues of Solomon and Saturn<\/em>, the power of each letter (i.e. rune) of the prayer is described by the powers that it possesses. \u00a0For example, the rune corresponding to the P<\/em> of Pater Noster<\/em> is supposed to help a warrior in battle, the rune for A<\/em> gives the warrior super-strength, and so on.<\/p>\n

This trend is not limited to the examples above, but can also be found in multiple locations with historically strong Germanic cultural influence, for example throughout Scandinavia and the British Isles. \u00a0That the use of efficacious words is found in the later Christianized forms of these charms but not in the older, Germanic attestations is important for the study of the Christianization of the Germanic peoples.\u00a0 I argue that with the Christianization of the Germanic peoples, the efficacy of the original charms forms were weakened, much like the power of the pre-Christian gods.\u00a0 Because of this trend, it was necessary for the charm-forms to be supported and enhanced with the recitation of Christian liturgical invocations at their end.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Collin Brown (University of Texas\u00a0\u2013 Austin) \u201c ‘Mid uuorrdun endi mid uuercun‘:\u00a0 The Introduction of Christian Holy Words into Germanic Folk Prayers and Charms” Abstract of Paper Presented at the 50th International Congress on Medieval Studies (Kalamazoo, 2015) Session on Session on “Efficacious Words: \u00a0Spoken and Inscribed” Co-sponsored by the Research Group on Manuscript Evidence […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":1023,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3732"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3732"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3732\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4573,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3732\/revisions\/4573"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1023"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/manuscriptevidence.org\/wpme\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3732"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}