Open AccessText over time: The written word in English charm before 1350
Author(s) -
Katherine Storm Hindley
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
incantatio
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2228-1371
pISSN - 2228-1355
DOI - 10.7592/incantatio2018_7_hindley
Subject(s) - conquest , textuality , period (music) , history , anglo saxon , charm (quantum number) , literature , art , classics , ancient history , aesthetics , physics , quantum mechanics
After the Norman Conquest, many of the charms that had circulated in Anglo-Saxon England disappeared from the written record, while new charming techniques emerged. Among the most striking changes was a sudden increase in the proportion of charms using written words. This paper explores this post-Conquest change in the use of charms by examining examples preserved in manuscripts written or owned in England from the Anglo-Saxon period to 1350. It begins by arguing that in Anglo-Saxon England different types of words were used to treat different kinds of illness or injury. Turning to the post-Conquest period, it identifies not only an increase in the proportionate use of written charms, but also emerging interest in the idea of textuality.