CHARMS Anglo-Saxon charms were short texts
containing recipes for curing or preventing a variety of
maladies, both physical and mental. Among the hun-
dreds of medicinal recipes in the Old English extant
today, dozens contain some form of incantation or
other verbal element, often from the liturgy, such as
reciting the Pater Noster (Our Father) three times, and
of these, about 12 contain a poetic element. These ver-
bal pieces are known as charms.
Critics tend to study the metrical charms in relation
to culture and anthropology instead of poetry. Never-
theless, the metrical charms are the most studied of the
charms, perhaps leaving the false impression that most
charms contained metrical incantations.
The metrical charms appear in various manuscripts
dating from as early as the 10th and 11th centuries,
though they are probably older. Some have argued that
non-Christian elements in the charms (such as a refer-
ence to the Earth Mother in the “For Unfruitful Land”
charm and a reference to Woden in the “Nine Herbs
Charm”) indicate that some of the charms date from
the pre-Christian era. After the NORMAN CONQUEST of
1066, the Anglo-Saxon charms fell into disuse.
The users of the charms would have been medical
practitioners called leeches; thus, the texts containing
the charms are sometimes called leechbooks. Often
leeches appear to have been connected with monaster-
ies, and they may have been monks themselves; other
leeches were probably private practitioners. Contrary
to the popular image, leeches tended to rely on salves
and poultices with certain herbal and animal ingredi-
ents to effect a cure rather than using parasitic leeches
to suck out the blood.
Some of the charms show evidence of oral transmis-
sion. For example, two of the metrical charms for the
loss of cattle appear to be different versions of the same
charm, with a little three-line poem about Christ’s birth
in Bethlehem appearing in each with only slight differ-
ences in wording. The longer metrical charms seem to
have garnered the most critical attention, especially
“For Unfruitful Land” (also known as the “Acerbot
charm”), the “Nine Herbs Charm,” and “Against a Sud-
den Stitch.”
The designation charms to mean medicinal remedies
with an oral component is a completely modern dis-
tinction. The charms themselves appear in leechbooks
fi lled with hundreds of remedies, or else in the fl yleaves
and margins of other manuscripts. For the most part,
the modern separation of the Anglo-Saxon metrical
charms is more the result of early scholarship equating
the charms with magic and witchcraft rather than with
early medicine. The most recent scholarship has there-
fore tended to move away from earlier depictions of the
charms as magic and has instead focused on the effi cacy
of the charms themselves. Furthermore, recent editions
of the charms have tended to focus on charms in their
manuscript contexts, rather than by recategorizing
them according to modern conceptions.
See also ANGLO-SAXON POETRY.
FURTHER READING
Jolly, Karen Louise. Popular Religion in Late Saxon England:
Elf Charms in Context. Chapel Hill: University of North
Carolina Press, 1996.
Pettit, Edward. Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms, and Prayers
from British Library MS Harley 585. The Lacnunga. 2 vols.
Lewiston, N.Y.: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001.
Pollington, Stephen. Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plant
Lore, and Healing. Norfolk: Anglo-Saxon Books, 2000.
Richard Scott NokesCHAUCER, GEOFFREY (ca. 1343–1400)
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in London in the early
1340s. His parents, John Chaucer, a vintner, and Agnes
de Copton, were merchant class but comfortably
wealthy. Chaucer likely received a good education at a
local school, as his later writings demonstrate knowl-
edge of Latin, Italian, and French among other things.
By 1357, young Geoffrey had become a page in the
household of Lionel, earl of Ulster and later duke of
Clarence. In 1359–60, he served under Edward III
during the HUNDRED YEARS’ WAR and was captured by
the French. After his ransom, he returned to Lionel’s
household. By 1366, he was married to Philippa Roet,
a lady-in-waiting to Queen Philippa and sister to John
of Gaunt’s third wife. Together they had two sons, and
perhaps two daughters.
Chaucer was frequently employed as a diplomat
during the 1370s, visiting Italy at least twice. He also
served as comptroller of customs in London (1374–
86). Upon vacating this post, he moved to Kent, was110 CHARMS