Customer Reviews

Leechcraft: Early English Charms, Plantlore and Healing

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This is a history of Anglo-Saxon medicine and medical knowledge. In so far that that knowledge of healing herbs and techniques was considered quasi-magical in Anglo-Saxon times rather than being understood as an applied science or as a kind of philosophy, I suppose there is some connection to the history of witchcraft as the reviewer below suggests. And, in fact, Pollington does touch on the subject of pre-Christian Germanic religion and the role of healers in it (which can be considered witchcraft, if one wants to use that term broadly). Still, on the whole, this is really a book about the history of science and medicine, and readers should expect that *that* is the primary focus.

The basic organization of the book is cyclopaedic. It is not so much a survey of Anglo-Saxon healing knowledge or techniques, or a scholarly analysis thereof, as a catalog of sources that provide information on Anglo-Saxon healing knowledge. Several of these works are actually reproduced in full, in both Old English and modern English, while others merely have detailed quoted excerpts. There is little to no commentary on the contents of these works-- they are simply presented for the reader to examine.

What little analysis/discussion there is takes place in the opening chapter, which addresses questions of knowledge sources (e.g. how much Anglo-Saxon healing knowledge came from classical sources, how much from biblical/Christian sources, and how much from native folk medicine traditions). Pollington argues for the existence of a thriving pre-Christian, pre-classical Germanic folk medical tradition and seeks to describe its nature and function (which is cast largely in terms of general 'shamanic' functions and techniques). Though interesting, and certainly plausible, the fact of the matter is that there just isn't enough evidence out there to either make or refute this claim-- and it has to be taken as a plausible, but unverifiable, speculative idea. Perhaps Pollington could have added a little more weight to this claim by subjecting some of the texts he presents to analysis in way that supplies evidence for this claim (i.e. to show that some texts describe techniques that weren't part of classical/Christian medical lore-- but alas, he really doesn't give that here.

When all's said and done, this is still a worthy book on a subject about which little has been written. Given that the two other major studies of the subject-- Oswald Cockayne's "Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England" (1864) and Henry S. Wellcome's "Anglo-Saxon Leechcraft" (1912)are long, long out of print, this contitutes the best available published source on the subject of Anglo Saxon medical knowledge-- and provides translations of important Anglo-Saxon medical texts that might otherwise be unavailable to readers without access to a good university library. The definitive work on Anglo-Saxon medicine is yet to be written-- if indeed it is writable at all-- butseems likely that Pollington's book will be the best one around for quite some time.

Pollington does two things that make me very happy. He cites his sources, and he tells you what assumptions he is making. So, it is easy to ignore him when he goes off on Dumizilian-style tripartate healing theory (which is utter bunk).

The rest of the book is very useful. He brings together a lot of material that is extremely difficult to track down. His translations are reasonable and accurate, if not inspired. It is well organized, and he gives a lot of context from Latin and Greek sources.

Pollington isn't New Age. This isn't some Llewellyn "how to be an authentic Anglo-Saxon witch" fantasy. This is serious scholarship. However, it is readable enough to be of use to most Anglo-Saxon reconstructionists, with enough meat to satisfy a true scholar.

This book consists of roughly three sections:

1) An introduction to the author's synthesis of the ideas behind the texts translated.

2) Translations of the Lacnunga, the Herbarium, and Bald's Leechbook

3) A set of appendixes providing a small amount of analysis on select related topics.

First let me say that although Pollington evidently does not have a strong working knowledge of botany (which would be helpful in this sort of work), his mistakes are largely those he simply repeats from the compilers of the Herbarium (who in my view probably were simply compiling material from a number of manuscripts and probably didn't have working knowledge of all of the plants mentioned). Hence any of his errors in that field can be pardoned.

The thing I like most about Pollington's work in this case is that he endeavors to provide both source material and translations, so for students who know Old English, the actual source material from the translations is available. All of the manuscript texts are provided with facing page translations, and where he cites Old English material, he provides the original first with a translation following.

The one thing that could have been done to make this far better would have been if illustrations had been reproduced from the original texts (as it is, I have to go to Gratten and Singer's work to get the ones from the Lacnunga).

All in all, a strong book, well thought out and written.

I have two of Pollingtons books and they are both great, as is this one. This book is mainly a HUGE in depth look at the old folk cures and herbal/plant remedies for sickness in old English times. Many of these cures, some of which have been scientificly proven as being effective, were labled Satanic, evil, withchcraft, etc and banned by witchhunting Christians. Much of this book is Pollingtons translations of the text from the original documents from old English to modern English, and he also includes the old English version too. But beyond that Pollington also goes into other beliefs and practices in Anglo-Saxon England, shamanism, amulets, causes of disease, charms, dreams, omens and tree-lore. Pollington is solid academicly, and I don't know if he is an Odinist or Anglo-Saxon Heathen, but he seems to have a deep inner feeling to the subject matter in all of his books.

I took a bit of a risk with this book, I specialise in complimentary therapies but tend to use the meridian & chakra systems, and occassionaly the four elements/humours. I am extremely interested in healing & its history, and payday came so I bought it! I have really enjoyed reading it, and discovering a bit more about my own country's healing traditions. It was also nice to see some source material (translation & original)in the book, rather than just hearing anothers opinion on nebulous evidence, thus allowing the reader to make their own observations. As a practicing witch I also found the material on healers as witches & shamans fascinating, and also the chapters on magic, charms & tree lore (an interesting adjunct to my knowledge on Ogham). Another appealing feature of this book is the writing style which is clear, rather than being filled out with pretentious phrases & outmoded words, a rarity in a historical book! Anyone who is really interested in this countrys healing traditions and their sources, witchcraft or just early English history in general could do a lot worse than buying this book.