Title: Eating Words and Burning Them The Power of Destruction in Medieval English Charm Texts
Abstract: The Power of Destruction in Medieval English Charm TextsWhen we think of text, we usually think of it as a form of communication.One person's words, written down, can be transmitted across continents and centuries, for as long as the writing survives.Destroying that writing destroys, at least symbolically, the ideas it records-one reason that burning a book is seen as an act more violent than burning an equivalent amount of unmarked paper.This is not the only way, however, to think about text or about its destruction.In many cultures, both medieval and modern, texts can be seen as carrying physical or spiritual power, power that is not necessarily destroyed along with the text itself.1 Viewed in this way, the destruction of a text can serve a greater creative purpose by releasing and activating the power of the words it contains.In this paper I focus specifically on the destruction of charm texts in medieval England, exploring the variety of ways in which texts could be destroyed for healing purposes and pointing to two broad categories that imply different understandings of textual power.In one, the destruction of text serves to activate its power.In the other, destruction is the only way to limit its effect on the body.In medieval England the healing power of written words was often harnessed through the creation of textual amulets for the patient to wear.2This study is based on my own collection of one thousand and thirty-five instructions for the performance of spoken and written charms, all recorded in manuscripts copied or owned in medieval England.Three hundred and eighty-three of those charms make use of written words, and roughly a quarter of those-ninety-four examples-require the text to be destroyed.Although it is impossible to know how commonly each recorded charm was used in practice, these figures mean that roughly nine percent of the verbal charms copied in these manuscripts make use of the destruction of text as part of their healing ritual.Examples of charms involving destruction range in date from the late tenth century to the end of the fifteenth century.3Their instructions appear in French, 1 See, for example, Bos 1995, 42-43; Bumbacher 2012, 65-67;Robson 2008; Zadeh 2014. 2 For further discussion of textual amulets see Skemer 2006. 3 The earliest charms in my sample come from the Old English medical compilations Lacnunga (ff.137r-138r), Bald's Leechbook (ff.39v and 51r), and Leechbook III (ff.124v-125r), all dating from the tenth or early eleventh centuries.