Bald's Leechbook (also known asMedicinale Anglicum) is a medical text inOld English andMedieval Latin probably compiled in the mid-tenth century,[1] possibly under the influence ofAlfred the Great's educational reforms.[2]
The termLeechbook is not related toleeches as such, although they were used in ancient medicine, but a modernisation of the Old English wordlǣċe-bōc ('book of medical prescriptions', literally Old Englishlǣċe 'physician' +bōc 'book').[3]
TheLeechbook's name comes from its owner; aLatin versecolophon at the end of the second book beginsBald habet hunc librum Cild quem conscribere iussit, meaning "Bald owns this book which he ordered Cild to compile."[2]
The text survives in only one manuscript, which is in theBritish Library inLondon, England, and can be viewed in digitised form online.[1][4] The manuscript contains a further medical text, calledLeechbook III, which is also covered in this article.
Both of the books ofBald's Leechbook are organised in a head-to-foot order; the first book deals with external maladies and the second with internal disorders. Cameron notes, "this separation of external and internal diseases may be unique in medieval medical texts".[5]: 42
Cameron also notes that of the Old English medical compilations "Leechbook III reflects most closely the medical practice of the Anglo-Saxons while they were still relatively free of Mediterranean influences," in contrast toBald's Leechbook, which "shows a conscious effort to transfer to Anglo-Saxon practice what one physician considered most useful in native and Mediterranean medicine," and theLacnunga, which is "a sort ofcommonplace book with no other apparent aim than to record whatever items of medical interest came to the scribe's attention".[5]: 35
Oswald Cockayne, who edited and translated theLeechbook in 1865, made note in his introduction of what he termed "a Norse element" in the text, and gave as example words such astorbegete,rudniolin,ons worm, andFornets palm.[7]: 32 [6]: 43
A remedy for aching feet called for leaves ofelder,waybroad andmugwort to be pounded together, applied to the feet, then the feet bound.[6]: 69 In another, after offering a ritualistic cure for a horse in pain requiring the words "Bless all the works of the Lord of lords" to be inscribed on the handle of a dagger, the author adds that the pain may have been caused by anelf.[9]
It has been suggested that a lot can be learned from medieval medicine because wounds must have been ubiquitous inagrarian societies: "If you cut yourself with a scythe, it was highly likely that you'd get an infection." In particular,leeches andmaggots are returning to medical use in the 21st century.[12][13]
Bald's Leechbook andLeechbook III survive only in one manuscript,Royal 12 D. xvii, in the British Library, London and viewable online.[1] The manuscript was written by the scribe who entered the batch of annals for 925–955 into theParker Chronicle. This suggests thatRoyal 12 D. xvii is also from the mid-10th century. Since the annals were probably produced inWinchester,Royal 12 D. xvii was presumably produced there as well.[14][4]
ff. 1–6v Table of Contents toLeechbook i; pr. Cockayne vol. 2, pp. 2–16
ff. 6v–58vLeechbook i; pr. Cockayne vol. 2, pp. 18–156
ff. 58v–65 Table of Contents toLeechbook ii; pr Cockayne vol. 2, pp. 158–174
ff. 65–109Leechbook ii; 68 recipes. pr Cockayne 176–298. Cockayne provides missing chapter between 56 and 64 from London, BL, Harley 55. Chapter 64 is glossed as having been sent along with exotic medicines fromPatriarch Elias of Jerusalem to Alfred the Great, which is the basis for the book's association with the Alfredian court.
f. 109 A metrical Latin colophon naming Bald as the owner of the book, and Cild as the compiler.
ff. 109–127v "Leechbook iii." A collection of 73 medicinal recipes not associated with Bald due to its location after the metrical colophon.
^Harrison, Freya; Connelly, Erin (2019). "Could Medieval Medicine Help the Fight Against Antimicrobial Resistance?". In Jones, Chris; Kostick, Conor; Oschema, Klaus (eds.).Making the Medieval Relevant: How Medieval Studies Contribute to Improving Our Understanding of the Present. Berlin/Boston: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 113–134.ISBN978-3110546316.
^C. E. Wright (ed.),Bald's Leechbook: British Museum, Royal Manuscript 12 D. xvii, Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 5 (Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1955), 12–27.
Kesling, E.Medical Texts in Anglo-Saxon Literary Culture, DS Brewer, 2020.
Meaney, A. L. 'Variant Versions of Old English Medical Remedies and the Compilation of Bald'sLeechbook,Anglo-Saxon England 13 (1984) pp. 235–268.
Payne, J. F.English Medicine in Anglo-Saxon Times, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1904.
Pettit, E.Anglo-Saxon Remedies, Charms, and Prayers from British Library MS Harley 585: The 'Lacnunga', 2 vols., Lewiston and Lampeter: Edwin Mellen Press, 2001. [Edition, with translation and commentary, of an Anglo-Saxon medical compendium that includes many variant versions of remedies also found in Bald'sLeechbook.]
Leonhardi, Günther.Kleinere angelsächsische Denkmäler I, Bibliothek der angelsächsischen Prosa 6, Kassel, 1905.
Wright, C. E., ed.Bald's Leechbook: British Museum Royal manuscript 12 D.xvii, with appendix by R. Quirk. Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile 5, Copenhagen : Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1955
