Text over time : the written word in English charm before 1350

• Main Author: Hindley, Katherine
• Other Authors: School of Humanities
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2020
• Subjects: Humanities::Language::English; Anglo-Saxon; Caracteres
• Online Access: https://ojs.folklore.ee/incantatio; https://hdl.handle.net/10356/143613
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

After the Norman Conquest, many of the charms that had circulated in Anglo-Saxon England disappeared from the written record, while new charming tech-niques 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.