1.1.1 The Creed

Laity knew well the Creed and Pater Noster, for both were the gifts of Baptism. Adult candidates for membership, such as Danes who were converting, ideally received instruction on Christian belief and the mysteries of the Eucharist during the Lenten period preceding their Easter Baptisms.² The Apostles’ Creed functions throughout those forty days as a “Roman catechism for the instruction of candidates for baptism” (Jungmann Reference Jungmann1959: 78). The words and the meaning of the prayers were imparted by the bishop, who would later test his pupils. To be eligible for Baptism, catechumens must commit the Lord’s Prayer and Creed to memory. Most everyone else, baptized as infants, would learn the Pater Noster and Creed as children. Whether godparents act on behalf of children or adults are baptized, the entire congregation participates in the ceremony: at least every year at Easter, the community is reminded of their own baptismal vows. Confirmation – an independent rite in England since the tenth century – presented an additional opportunity for older children to be reminded of the prayers’ form and significance.³

After children were baptized, their godmothers and godfathers were duty-bound to teach them the Apostles’ Creed. For Wulfstan (Bishop of London, Worcester, and Archbishop of York, d. 1023), instruction should begin just as soon as the child was able to talk. Godparents repeated what they themselves had been taught. It was the clergy’s responsibility to teach and explicate the Creed for the entire congregation, often in sermons preached during Lent. Annually priests were obliged to preach on the meaning and significance of both Pater Noster and Creed. Sermons delivered in English were to reinforce the message, as Ælfric of Eynsham (abbot, c.955– c.1010) insists:

Wulfstan warns that adults who do not know the prayers are not good Christians and therefore cannot be baptized or confirmed, receive the Eucharist, or be buried in a consecrated grave.⁴ Ælfric states it plainly. Salvation is at stake: “for the sentence is very awful that Christ spake, that no unbaptized man shall come to eternal life” ‘for ðan ðe se cwyde is swiðe egelisc þe crist cwæð. þæt nan ungefullod mann ne becymð to ðam ecan life’ (Ælfric, “Sermon on the Lord’s Epiphany,” Catholic Homilies II.iii, Thorpe Reference Thorpe1844–46, II: 51; Godden Reference Godden1979: 26).

Those who commit the Creed to memory and are baptized escape spiritual penalties. Correspondingly, spiritual benefits await the baptized who affirm their faith. The Creed has a transformative effect upon speakers: in a recursive fashion, faith strengthens faith. As St. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) declares, “these few words are known to the faithful, to the end that in believing they may be made subject to God; that being made subject, they may rightly live; that in rightly living, they may make the heart pure; that with the heart made pure, they may understand that which they believe.”⁵

The one Creed learned by every Christian was the Apostles’ Creed. Typically the Apostles’ Creed was prayed in Latin, but even as early as the eighth century, Bede (c.672/673–735) recommends its translation into English along with the Pater Noster in order that “the unlearned, that is to say those who only know their own language,” whether laity, clergy, or monk, “must learn to say them in their own tongue and to chant them carefully” (“Letter to Egbert,” McClure and Collins Reference McClure and Collins1999: 345–46). To the same end, Ælfric, and Wulfstan after him, went so far as to provide an Old English translation of both.

Eadwine’s mid-twelfth-century Psalter (Cambridge, Trinity College Library, MS R.17.1, fol. 279r–279v) contains both the Latin text and glossed English translations of the Apostles’ Creed:

The Eadwine Psalter is an enhanced copy of the Utrecht Psalter with a beautifully illuminated “C” beginning the Latin Credo, and the rest of the first word written in gold paint.⁶ For the sake of comparison, here is the Apostles’ Creed said today:

Ælfric does not underestimate the gift of these vernacular translations:

Apart from the Mass, we find the Creed, or credal statements, appearing most prominently in the Christian rite of initiation; the sacrament of Baptism; and other ceremonies, including exorcisms, making use of “materials,” not only water but also oils and salt. There were two Creeds used in the early Church. First is the fourth-century Nicene Creed, also called the Mass Creed for its use in the Eucharist within the declaration of fellowship that begins the Mass of the Faithful.⁸ It enters the Roman Rite after 1014. Beginning Credo in unum Deum, the Nicene Creed stresses the nature of the Triune God. The other Creed is the so-called Apostles’ Creed, also known as the minor or baptismal Creed. The appellation derives from the medieval legend of its origins: the apostles were supposed to have written this Creed collectively, each contributing one essential article, on Pentecost when under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Although each of the doctrines espoused in this Creed can be correlated with statements current in the apostolic period, the legend itself dates from the sixth century.⁹ The Apostles’ Creed (Credo in Deum) was used by the Anglo-Saxons for Baptism, instruction, and in monastic liturgies, especially those at Easter.¹⁰

One additional credal statement was used by the early English Church: the Athanasian Creed, a long explanation of Catholic belief and worship emphasizing the unity of the Trinity. Liturgical documents refer to it by its opening words, Quicunque vult [salvus esse] ‘Whoever wishes [to be saved]’. From the end of the eighth century onward, the Athanasian Creed was inserted into psalters (for example, the Paris Psalter), along with the Lord’s Prayer and Apostles’ Creed (Kelly Reference Kelly1964: 43). In the Anglo-Saxon Church, the Quicunque vult was used at Prime on Sundays. It is not until the thirteenth century that the Athanasian Creed is generally considered one of “three creeds” (Kelly Reference Kelly1964: 44). As a result, I exclude the one charm containing the Quicunque vult, namely Contra febres, from my corpus of Creed charms.¹¹

1.1.2 Credal Statements in Poetry

Credal statements, like other material drawn from liturgy, accompany biblical narrative into Anglo-Saxon poetry. The creation of these texts in the native language of the people attests to society’s assimilation of the doctrine promulgated by the Church.¹² We find allusions to the Apostles’ Creed in poetic paraphrases and other alliterative verse. The Dream of the Rood restates part of the Apostles’ Creed fairly explicitly. We hear, for instance:

A looser paraphrase of the Creed is found in The Phoenix, though it clearly represents the article that Christ arose from the dead on the third day. Toward the end of the poem, the bird’s rebirth is likened to Christ’s Resurrection:

Another metrical version of the Apostles’ Creed is preserved in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Junius 121. In this devotional work, the Latin half of ten major tenets is followed by an English meditation on the significance of that verse.¹⁴ However the poetry was composed – orally or in writing – oral-traditional poetics incorporate the bilingual apposition as a form of variation. The Latin, Credo in deum patrem omnipotentem ‘I believe in God the Father Almighty’, for instance, alternates with the Old English, “ælmihtig fæder up on rodore” ‘Almighty Father in heaven on high’ (ll. 1–2, Dobbie Reference Dobbie1942: 78; Bradley Reference Bradley and James1995: 541). Following Tertia die resurrexit a mortuis ‘On the third day He rose again from the Dead’, the reader or hearer is reassured of God’s loyalty to His people:

Here, as elsewhere, the Creed’s presence in traditional English poetry reveals the strength and intimacy of its connection to the people.

1.1.3 Baptism

Before analyzing the role of the Creed and other baptismal components in charms let me place them in the context of the sacrament in early medieval England. While the seven sacraments were not established as such until the Council of Trent (1545–63), Baptism and the Eucharist were regarded as sacraments by Church Fathers.¹⁵ As a necessity for salvation, Baptism lay at the heart of Anglo-Saxon Christianity. Vernacular poetry honors Baptism, just as it honors the Creed. Poems in Old English commend the institution as a means of incorporating a person into the mystical body of Christ, as the heroic epic Andreas demonstrates. After a flood has punished the Mermedonians, cannibals who had captured the apostle St. Matthew and imprisoned his fellow apostle, St. Andrew, God raises the heathens from the dead in order that they might renounce the devil who had held them in thrall.¹⁶ The episode concludes when those who “rise up alive from their watery graves … partake / of the sacrament of Baptism through God’s power” (Andreas, l. 1669, ll. 1682–83, Williamson and Shippey Reference Williamson and Shippey2017: 233). In gratitude they build a church, whereupon,

Extolling Baptism as initiation into a worldly community of Christians, Andreas does not neglect its salvific import. As the people convert, Baptism provides them spiritually with “a promise of peace, / A covenant with God, a pledge of protection – / His grace and glory in a place beyond torment” (Andreas, ll. 1675–77, Williamson and Shippey Reference Williamson and Shippey2017: 233).

That sense of security would resonate with the poem’s audience, for Anglo-Saxon Christians were familiar with Baptism, through their own Baptisms or through participation in that of others. Preachers had taught them the meaning of the sacrament and had explained the liturgy. Both Ælfric and Wulfstan wrote homilies on Baptism in English. In his sermon on Epiphany, Ælfric summarizes the baptismal dialogue renouncing the devil and affirming belief. He avoids the Latin actually used for Baptism and explains the credal interrogation using English:

In order that English speakers could understand what happened during the ceremony, Wulfstan defines the meaning of the Latin words godparents would pronounce. They would say,

Baptism cleansed individuals from the guilt of original sin and its main penalty, damnation to hell. Other rites performed at Baptism helped to mitigate further consequences of original sin, as St. Augustine explains: “even little children undergo exsufflation, exorcism; to drive away from them the power of the devil their enemy, which deceived man that it might possess mankind” (“On the Creed: A Sermon to the Catechumens,” De Symbolo ad Catechumenos, Section 1, Schaff Reference Schaff1887: 368).¹⁷ By the tenth century, infant (that is, child) Baptism was the common practice in Western Christianity, including the Anglo-Saxon Church (although immigrants from Scandinavia might be received as adults).¹⁸ Performed as necessary throughout the year, especially when infants or adults were in danger of dying, Baptisms traditionally took place at the Easter vigil, that is, on Holy Saturday or on Pentecost.¹⁹ The Missal of Robert of Jumièges, for instance, celebrates the Resurrection with provisions for Baptism (see Wilson Reference Wilson1896: 93–100).

The Latin rite for Baptism used by the Anglo-Saxons in the eleventh century survives in four English service books (Keefer Reference Keefer and Pfaff1995: 101–102):

• The Leofric Missal (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Bodley 579);

• The Missal of Robert of Jumièges (Rouen, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 274);

• The Red Book of Darley (CCCC 422, pp. 367–422);

• The Winchcombe Sacramentary (Orléans, Bibliothèque Municipale, MS 127 [105]).

The baptismal formulas in these books follow the basic structure of Benedict of Aniane’s early ninth-century Supplemented Hadrianum version of the Gregorian Sacramentary, with the exception of Leofric, which has its component parts in the “wrong” order.²⁰ All of the Latin ordines presuppose primarily infant Baptism. Let me highlight the rites briefly. Baptism in the Red Book of Darley, which may have been designed for the use of local priests, contains additional rubrics such as specifications for the role and responses of the child’s godparents (Gittos Reference Gittos and Tinti2005b: 70–75). In addition to its baptismal ordines, The Missal of Robert of Jumièges (Bishop of London and Archbishop of Canterbury, died c.1052–55) contains an abbreviated ritual for baptizing the sick, which is comprised of an exorcism followed immediately by Baptism (Wilson Reference Wilson1896: 100). The Winchcombe Sacramentary integrates an ordo for Baptism with the Vigil Mass for Easter (Davril Reference Davril1995; Bedingfield Reference Bedingfield2002: 175).

Because the rites for infant Baptism had developed out of a sequence of instructional and initiatory rites intended for adults, early English ordines record “a sometimes clumsy conglomeration of actions” (Gittos Reference Gittos and Tinti2005b: 70–71). The arrangement of the rite also differs from one service book to another. Commonly, however, baptismal liturgies include prayers for the making of a catechumen, benediction of salt, exorcisms, anointing with oil and saliva, signing the Cross on the candidate’s head and body, renunciation of the devil, benediction of the font, credal interrogation and affirmation of belief in the Trinity, trine immersion with baptismal formula, and post-baptismal imposition of hands and anointing with chrism. A chrismal-cloth is laid on the candidate’s head, a lit candle placed in his or her hand, and a final prayer concludes the ceremony (Gittos Reference Gittos and Tinti2005b: 71–73).

Let us look more closely at the service from the Red Book of Darley, which incorporates English rubrics. A two-part dialogue between celebrant and child (represented by godparent) precedes Baptism: the priest asks a succession of questions, guided in the second half by the tenets of the Creed. Baptism proper begins with a series of exorcisms which culminate with the candidate’s being asked to renounce Satan, all his works, and all his pomp (cf. Lat. pompa ‘triumphal procession’; Jungmann Reference Jungmann1959: 80). The Red Book of Darley directs a child’s godfather – in English – to make avowals on his or her behalf:²¹

After candidates or godparents renounce the devil and his works in a triple interrogation, the candidate is then anointed.

Then another triple interrogation takes place, building to the climax of the rite. The candidate or godparent is asked to affirm belief in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and in the following articles of the Apostles’ Creed. Just as the response “I believe” is given to each of the three questions, so the candidate is plunged into the font water, three times in all, during which the priest proclaims, “I baptize you in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.” The baptismal rite ends with the neophyte’s first Communion. At the kernel of the rite of Baptism is, in the words of Cyril of Jerusalem, the confessing of the “saving confession” (Kelly Reference Kelly1950: 39).

In addition to this interrogatory creed, much earlier in the service or even in the course of the ceremonies preparatory to the Baptism itself, there was another occasion to affirm belief on behalf of candidate and community. This time it was the case of reciting a declaratory Creed, the content of which was in large measure adopted from the baptismal interrogations (Kelly Reference Kelly1950: 52). Rubrics in the Gelasian Sacramentary enjoin the priest to pronounce the Creed “with his hand on the children’s heads” outside of the baptistery (Kelly Reference Kelly1950: 38). When, over the years, Lenten scrutinies are abridged and incorporated into the baptismal liturgy, the Creed comes to precede the blessing of the font (for example, Red Book of Darley). Later practice, based to some degree in earlier custom, underscores the public nature of the affirmation. According to the Sarum Manual’s medieval form for the making of the catechumen, during the prelude to Baptism, the priest asks parents, godparents, and others assembled to say the Pater Noster, Ave Maria, and Credo in Deum. The priest then repeats these prayers out loud for everyone to hear (Collins Reference Collins1960: 30).

1.2.1 The Creed

Because the Creed protects the steadfast, St. Augustine advises its daily use:

For instance, by saying the Creed at the morning Office, as Bede advises (repeating St. Ambrose), the faithful should arm themselves “as a kind of spiritual antidote to the poison with which the devil tries by day and night” with wicked cunning to infect them (McClure and Collins Reference McClure and Collins1999: 345–46):

Along with the people’s knowledge of their words and meaning, their authorization by the Church encourages the use of both Pater Noster and Creed in charms (for example, Old English Penitential, fols. 1–19, Ecgbert’s Penitential, Frantzen Reference Frantzen2003–22). Ælfric informs his flock similarly: “he who wishes to journey any whither, let him sing his Paternoster and Credo, if he know [them], and cry to his Lord, and cross himself, and travel without care through God’s protection, without the devil’s sorceries.”²²

Declarations of belief taking the form of the Creed are included in Anglo-Saxon healing rituals for precise reasons. Most important, the Bible tells us that Jesus healed the faithful simply because they believed. While the Creed takes the form of an affirmation of belief, its illocutionary force as a speech act in charms is that of an indirect request for help fighting off danger or disease. Uttering the Creed, a supplicant asks the Lord for health by virtue of belief.

Because Anglo-Saxons had faith in its efficacy, in summary, prayer was commonly used in many circumstances outside of religious services, especially in healing rituals like those prescribed in charms. This is particularly true of the Pater Noster and the Creed, as we witness in a Lacnunga charm for a heart ailment:

Stephanie Clark’s assertion that both Pater Noster and Creed lack meaning in charms (and act as charm incantations because “their content has little relation to their use”) underestimates the tradition behind their use (Reference Clark2018: 211). Evidence from early medieval medical texts such as Bald’s Leechbook (Books I and II), Leechbook III, and Lacnunga indicates that the Church achieved its educational goals for personal use of the Lord’s Prayer and the Creed. Because both texts belong to Baptism, moreover, their presence in charms resonates within the context of the sacrament and its observance.

Through incantation sets, charm composers construct specific ritual environments in which they embed the uttering of the Creed. To a very limited extent, these environments exhibit a likeness to baptismal services. A careful balancing act is accomplished wherein baptismal actions occur in an altered setting. From the outset we must note that none of the charms contain the baptismal formula (ego te baptize in nomine Patris. et Filii. et Spiritus Sancti) or a variant of the words that baptize. It follows that none of the charms perform Baptism; nor do they attempt to imitate its administration. Indeed, the utterances and gestures that signify Baptism in charms are applied only indirectly to people. Healers anoint herbs that will be used to heal the sick. They anoint objects with Oil of Unction, then use them to simulate the anointing of a patient (as in Leechbook III lxii.d, discussed below). This sleight of hand would create infelicities in actual Baptism. Far from compromising traditional remedies, actions that sound and seem baptismal allude to the sacrament. What is more, these incongruities prove telling, for they reveal the integration of ecclesiastical texts and gestures into traditional practices.

For the charm performer, his or her patient, and for any other participants, charms could derive great power from the recitation of the Creed, which could wield the implicit power of faith for healing. When the Creed is prescribed in charms, the Latin and Old English forms, credo or creda, generally appear without specification of which Creed, if either, is required.²³ Beyond an opening word or phrase, the words themselves are not provided in the charm text. Familiarity with the text is assumed, in keeping with community knowledge. While we do not know how much of the Creed was to be uttered in each charm, instructions tell the performer to “sing” the Creed, indicating that the entire Creed was to be performed. Only twice does the opening line distinguish the form. Credo in deum patrem ‘I believe in God the Father’ identifies the Apostles’ Creed in one charm (Lacnunga lxiii, fol. 148r), and credo in unum ‘I believe in one [God]’ indicates the Nicene Creed in another (Lacnunga xxxi, fol. 140v).²⁴ Because the essential affirmation of faith is the same for both Creeds, it may not actually matter which Creed is repeated as a charm formula. Indeed the two are sometimes switched or conflated. Ælfric’s sermon on the Creed, for instance, begins with the Apostles’ Creed but then evolves into an exposition of the Nicene Creed’s statements on the nature of the Trinity (De Fide Catholica, Catholic Homilies I, Clemoes Reference Clemoes1997: 335–44). Then, too, the Red Book of Darley requires the priest to sing his mæsse credan … credo in unum Deum, rather than Apostles’ Creed, at the start of its baptismal liturgy.²⁵ Although ambiguous in most of the charms, evidence from the individual texts, namely, the presence of baptismal utterances and gestures, nevertheless suggests that the default was the Apostles’ Creed.

Having established a context of the Creed’s familiarity and baptismal significance, we can now scrutinize the Anglo-Saxon charms in which it appears. Seven charms containing nine distinct rituals in Bald’s Leechbook, Leechbook III, and Lacnunga require the singing of credo or creda. In all but two rituals, the unknown Creed is probably the declaratory Apostles’ Creed, given the larger context of each charm. The Apostles’ Creed is specified in one other charm. The Creed works on two levels when patient and audience hear it as an incantation. First, the Creed in itself reminded Christians that the strength of their belief could be used to “defend themselves against the assaults of evil spirits” (Bede, “Letter to Egbert,” McClure and Collins Reference McClure and Collins1999: 345–46). Second, it reminded them of their Baptism and the power of the sacrament. Although it is ancillary to Baptism when it appears in charms, the Creed transports the liturgical traditions associated with it into the charm. Whether actually said or merely cited, the presence of the Creed brings to the healing rite the confidence of catechetical instruction and the certainty of Church membership. The healer who repeats the Creed claims his or her baptismal birthright as a Christian, his or her soul sealed and marked as God’s own.

While the Creed functions within the context of Baptism, it functions within a similitude of baptismal action in charms. A number of elements from Baptism allude to the sacrament. Along with the Creed, to restate, the important indices of Baptism found in charms are water and its ritualized use for washing, the Pater Noster, anti-demonic formulas and prayers (simulating exorcisms) and exorcistic gestures (simulating exsufflation and Effeta), and signing the Cross. All these features are interdependent, and they act in concert. The presence of one baptismal constituent substantiates the allusiveness of another. In the presence of the Creed, these signs invoke Baptism.

Charms may also rely on prayers and other utterances that contribute to baptismal celebrations but are not at the core of the liturgical performance. These are strongly associated with Baptism but are not particular to it. Recalling the song of the angels at the birth of Jesus, the exclamation, Gloria in excelsis Deo, signals the joy of the neophyte’s first Communion. Following the Kyrie, the Gloria helps to open the Eucharist at the Easter Vigil. The Litany of the Saints (Litaniae Sanctorum) may be sung during the blessing of the font, especially at the Easter Vigil and Pentecost, but it is not necessary for the performance of the sacrament. Verses from the Gospel similarly may be read, but do not determine the success of the liturgy. All these belong to the solemnity of the performance, and accordingly, their allusiveness proves weaker than that of the signs just considered. Chiefly they support other allusions in the channeling of Baptism.

1.2.2 A Continuum of Usage

As we will see, the degree to which Baptism is evoked and invoked depends on the significance and frequency of baptismal allusions within a particular charm. Although the Creed’s expression of belief is crucial to the working of a charm, a larger constellation of elements in these charms call upon Baptism as a healing rite. While not every Creed charm also contains water and anti-demonic formulas and the sign of the Cross, the presence of some or all of these elements in combination with the Creed invokes the baptismal liturgy. In Lacnunga lxiii, as we will see, a critical mass of allusions suggests Baptism during the initial stages of preparing a salve.

When baptismal elements are exploited in charms, the strength and productivity of their allusiveness varies. In the absence of Creed and other important signs, the baptismal allusions in Leechbook III lxii.c may remain vague or unproductive, thus offering us a counter-example to baptismal evocation and a contra-indication of invocation. This charm for elf disease deploys baptismal elements such as the sign of the Cross and drops of holy water. It also relies on holy salt, which is blessed at Baptism and on Sunday before Mass and used for making ordinary holy water:

The charm’s holy salt, laid under the altar along with incense and edible plants, refers to salt consecrated previously in church. Later in the charm ritual, the patient is given three morsels of salt. Whether or not it is salt from the altar, the feeding alludes to the placement of salt in the mouth of the catechumen toward the beginning of Baptism as the celebrant states, accipe salem sapientie propitiatus in uitam aeternam ‘receive the salt of wisdom as a token of propitiation unto eternal life’.²⁶ John the Deacon (floruit ce 500) explains that the catechumen receives blessed salt to signify that “the distemper of corruption is thoroughly settled by the gentle action of the divine salt” (“Letter to Senarius,” c.500, Whitaker Reference Whitaker2003: 209). The three-fold dripping of holy water into the milk adds another, albeit indirect, reference, alluding to baptismal infusion or aspersion.²⁷ More holy water may be dripped on the patient, if the Old English preposition on refers to him or her and not to the ale. The cup of milk could represent another allusion; time has rendered it opaque, if so. The milk may allude to the milk and honey given to the newly baptized to signify God’s promise of a land flowing with milk and honey (Leviticus 20.24), the “land of resurrection to everlasting bliss.”²⁸ This practice, discontinued in the seventh century, may be lost to memory, rendering the allusion unproductive. As we can see, therefore, the presence of baptismal allusions does not automatically cause Baptism to be invoked. When, in contrast, the Creed is specified in charms, its clear and strong evocation leads to the channeling or invocation of Baptism.

We can situate baptismal referents – and gauge their productivity – by envisioning a continuum of usage. Table 1.1 illustrates the range of elements found in nine Creed charm rituals, from the minimal presence of Creed and water to the additional presence of anti-demonic anointing prayers (also associated with the Visitation of the Sick) to additional solemnities. The larger the cluster of baptismal features, the richer the associations and the more powerful the subsequent invocation of Baptism. Note that a single charm may have multiple allusions and may be listed more than once in the chart.

1.2.3 The Pater Noster

The use of the Creed and Pater Noster as charm incantations speaks to the success of the Church’s mission to teach the basic tenets of the Christian faith. Almost 80 percent (seven out of nine) of the charm rituals that deploy the Creed to invoke Baptism rely on the Pater Noster. Its connection to Baptism is both basic and profound, as we have seen. Children baptized as infants were given the prayer as a legacy of Baptism. For those baptized as adults, the Pater Noster provides a door to Baptism and thus to the Church. In both cases, the Lord’s Prayer is tied to remaining on the path to salvation.

Learned in childhood or at initiation into the Church, the Lord’s Prayer is to be prayed several times a day, according to churchmen. Inside a church or out, the English could pray it with a sense of entitlement. Theirs to pray in His name, the Lord’s Prayer is given to the people themselves directly by Christ. Teaching His followers to pray, He authorizes people to address God as “Father.” The only prayer Jesus gives His disciples survives in two versions and in three texts. Giving God’s people the prayer in their own tongue, Ælfric provides this text of the Lord’s Prayer:

The use of the Lord’s Prayer is both personal and communal. By tradition of its origin, the Lord’s Prayer serves as the vehicle for special requests of the Father. The English people prayed it privately and when they came together as a congregation for celebrations of the Eucharist, the Visitation of the Sick, and Baptism. At Baptism, the Pater Noster is uttered near the beginning of (or immediately prior to) the service. In the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, rubrics for it appear after the Gospel reading and shortly before the pre-baptismal Effeta.³⁰ In the Red Book of Darley, the priest recites the Pater Noster and Creed before tracing the sign of the Cross in the candidate’s right palm.³¹

Although the people heard and prayed the Lord’s Prayer during Baptism, the English were used to hearing and praying the Pater Noster in church, more generally, when they attended Mass, which they were expected to do on Sundays and feast days.³² Whether or not individuals themselves received Communion, they repeated the Pater Noster publicly, at least in part, when they were present at Mass. Because the prayer allowed the faithful to receive the sacrament of Christ’s Body and Blood, it was thought fitting that all of the faithful should participate in saying it (Jungmann Reference Jungmann and Brunner1951–55, II: 287). Directions in early service books tell us that the whole congregation was meant to join in its repetition. While some prayers are said by the priest alone, and other prayers are said by the priest on behalf of the people, the Pater Noster is apportioned between priest and people. By the eighth century, for instance, rubrics specify that all the people must conclude the prayer by saying Sed libera nos a malo ‘but deliver us from evil’ (Jungmann Reference Jungmann and Brunner1951–55, II: 288). Audience participation is more than symbolic; it is essential in the public praying of the Pater Noster. After all, it is the personal – albeit communally performed – prayer that is recited during the liturgy. Whether the assembly speaks the prayer’s final plea, which is the most appropriate part of the Pater Noster for curing maladies, or whether the choir or parish clerk speaks in their place, “the people say the Our Father along with the celebrant” (Jungmann Reference Jungmann and Brunner1951–55, II: 288).

Its role in the Eucharistic liturgy is ancient. Because the request for daily bread had been taken in the figurative sense as a plea for spiritual sustenance, the Pater Noster has long been used as a Communion prayer. In this location in the official service since the fifth or sixth centuries, it summarizes and recapitulates the Eucharistic prayer while initiating Communion. For this reason, the Pater Noster is used whenever Communion is celebrated outside the larger Mass, for example, on Good Friday and at Communion of the Sick. The prayer prepares a Christian for Communion and for the reception of the Sacrament and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.

When a person was gravely ill or dying, it was the Pater Noster that was brought along with the Host by visiting clergy. One wonders whether the sick might have come to expect the praying of the Pater Noster in a solemnity performed at their sickbeds. The praying of the Pater Noster within charm rituals might have offered a particular comfort because of its association with the Communion of the Sick administered during the Visitatio. The Lord’s Prayer accompanied Christians throughout their lives, as the Church ministered to them from Baptism to sickness and death.

In short, the Pater Noster is incorporated into charms not merely because everybody knows it, but because the Anglo-Saxons recognize its centrality to supplication and worship, private or communal. The regard that the early English held for the Lord’s Prayer is reflected in vernacular poetry and prose. Three poetic renderings of the Lord’s Prayer survive from the period.³³Perhaps better known among literary works are three separate dialogues between Solomon and Saturn. Written in Old English, they offer evidence of the early medieval devotion to praying the Pater Noster. The preservation of the dialogues in two manuscripts, one of which also contains the Red Book of Darley with its Anglo-Saxon baptismal liturgy, suggests the appeal of this literature. Whether or not the Solomonic dialogues were widely read in early medieval England, their treatment of the Pater Noster indicates its impact on the spiritual imagination (Anlezark Reference Anlezark2009: vii). In these dialogues the prayer is changed fantastically from linguistic utterance into animate being. The prayer that acts as a conduit to the Father becomes a creature who acts on behalf of the Father. The Our Father can even assume the form of our Father (Anlezark Reference Anlezark2009: 111–12).

Commensurate with the prayer’s embodiment, its written form wields power unsurpassed. In the poem Solomon and Saturn I, the individual Roman letters that spell out “Pater Noster” (accompanied by their runic symbols in CCCC 422) do battle with the devil and his demons on behalf of the human soul (Anlezark Reference Anlezark2009: 44). Medieval textual theory provides a context for the anthropomorphized letters. If texts “hold the power of speech of those absent,” as Katherine O’Brien O’Keeffe applies Isidore’s notion to their interpretation, then the letters of the Pater Noster embody the power of Christ, who spoke these words to the Father (Anlezark Reference Anlezark2009: 29; O’Brien O’Keeffe Reference O’Brien O’Keeffe1990: 52).

To the extent that the Pater Noster embodies the Word, “his” power is real rather than symbolic:

The eschatological battle continues in Solomon and Saturn Pater Noster Prose. Solomon explains that the Pater Noster assumes thirty guises as he fights the devil in his mutating form. In his final manifestation, “the Pater Noster will be transformed more gloriously into the likeness of the Lord” (Solomon and Saturn Pater Noster Prose, ll. 9–33, CCCC 422, Anlezark Reference Anlezark2009: 73). After describing the radiant heart of the Pater Noster, Solomon generalizes, “and the Pater Noster, he can press and twist all creation in his right hand” (Solomon and Saturn Pater Noster Prose, ll. 92–93, CCCC 422, Anlezark Reference Anlezark2009: 77). The Pater Noster’s ultimate victory makes the prayer the perfect lorica in the here-and-now:

The Solomonic dialogues exemplify the traditional resonance of the Pater Noster. Anglo-Saxons knew the Lord’s Prayer by heart, and tradition taught them its power.

The meaning and significance of the Pater Noster – along with Church authorization – make it ideal for charm healing. While the Lord’s Prayer brings independent power to healing rituals, it also helps to invoke Baptism in certain charm contexts. Unlike the Creed, its allusive power is not specific. Because the Our Father is used so generally, in a variety of circumstances both personal and liturgical, the strength of its baptismal resonance may depend on what else accompanies it in a given charm. Its versatility as a prayer may override specific associations, in other words, unless additional baptismal allusions foreground the Pater Noster’s role at Baptism. The Pater Noster does not gain resonance from other allusions in such cases, but rather, these highlight its traditional associations with Baptism.

The Pater Noster alludes to Baptism to treat wood-heart or frenzy, as we have seen, in the presence of Creed and litanies in Leechbook III lxviii, fols. 126v–127r. It is similarly productive in cooling fever. The Pater Noster alludes to Baptism in combination with the Creed, water, exorcistic language, and the sign of the Cross in Bald’s Leechbook I.lxii.c. Biblical quotations, psalms, the Sanctus, and the Memorial Acclamation add to the treatment:

Note the modified devil-expelling formula, Adiuro … (explored below). In this remedy, “fever” stands in for accursed devils and unclean spirits, but the exorcistic formula otherwise remains. The charm’s allusion to exorcism joins the Pater Noster, Creed, water, and the Cross to invoke Baptism.

If the Pater Noster’s distinctive power were not enough, its association with Baptism and its liturgical performance helps to evoke Baptism. The charm action signals for charm patients the spiritual grace that works on their behalf. Invocation of Baptism brings good medicine to the sick, along with comfort and reassurance to other charm participants.

1.2.4 Water

Having considered Pater Noster and Creed, let me survey the other important indices of Baptism as they appear in charms, beginning with water. Technically, water alone is the necessary matter of Baptism. Water’s role in charms is, of course, not inevitably associated with Baptism. Most charms incorporate water as an ingredient or means of preparing remedies (for example, for soaking herbs). Water offers a basic medium for pharmaceutical compounds, though its use is not by default. The selection of water is as purposeful as that of wine, goat’s milk, honey, oil, or ale. Willow twigs and oak bark are boiled in water, softening their flesh. Sweetened water is drunk, and cold water is heated by hot irons or stones to steam or bathe patients.

Water is also associated with spiritual purity, which gives it the power to transform. Restorative waters offer an important tool for the Anglo-Saxon leech. Most rituals that invoke Baptism require a particular kind of water, namely, holy water or water from a baptismal font (sometimes both kinds are used at different stages of preparation of a healing compound):

The Church gave the people font water for their personal use when the font was blessed.³⁶ Families could sprinkle their homes with this water, and healers could employ it in their remedies. Five charm rituals specifying holy water or font water also direct the utterance of the Creed. In two charms from Lacnunga we observe a correlation between the nature of the water and a specific Creed: Lacnunga lxiii requires baptismal-font water along with the baptismal (Apostles’) Creed, while Lacnunga xxxi requires holy water and the Nicene Creed (fol. 148r; fol. 140v). Regardless of which Creed is specified, eight of the nine charm rituals that contain the Creed rely on water that has been distinguished through blessing or set apart for ritual use. It may also be the case that the unspecified substance in Leechbook III lxviii was assumed to be water.

Along with font water, fresh water may also be used for Baptism, as it was routinely in the early Church. Between the sixth and the ninth centuries, English missionaries used local rivers for Baptism, in imitation of Christ’s Baptism in the River Jordan.³⁷ One charm ritual alluding to Baptism prescribes water from a running stream, and one depends on spring water, both of which have biblical precedents.³⁸ In the previously cited Lacnunga clxxvi against wens that affect the heart, the Creed and Pater Noster are sung over spring water drawn by a virgin.³⁹ Perhaps recalling Christ’s Baptism and ancient Baptisms by the river, a virgin (unmaelne mon ‘immaculate person’) in Lacnunga xxix must stand in a stream, to “fetch in silence against the current half a sextarius of running water.”⁴⁰ The water she scoops will make a holy drink against “elfish magic and … all the temptations of the Devil.” Let me repeat the text quoted in the Introduction:

Water is also used for ritual actions. The biblical texts written on a paten in Lacnunga xxix, are washed, that is, incorporated, into an herbal liquid (fols. 136r–137v). Water conveys the utterances into medicine when it washes the paten “swiðe cline” ‘very cleanly’ (fol. 137v).

Ceremonial actions performed with water are just as important as the water itself. In Baptism, “ablution” is performed three times while invoking the three persons of the Trinity. Charm parallels draw our attention. In several charms we find a kind of three-fold immersion akin to that performed in Baptism. Attacking elf disease, the healer is directed to “bind all the plants in a cloth; dip it three times in hallowed font water” (Leechbook III lxii.a, fol. 123v). In addition to immersion, charms enact infusion, imitating the pouring of water, which may be done at (and here allude to) Baptism of the sick. Holy water is poured three times into a medicinal drink in Leechbook III lxii.b (fol. 124r). Accompanied by prayer, proclamation, and ritualized gestures like those found in Baptism, charm water washes away the evils of disease.

1.2.5 Signing the Cross

Blessing or sanctifying in the name of the Trinity has significance for the English and is frequent in charms. The visual sign of blessing, that is the sign of the Cross, is connected with the Trinitarian formula. In Lacnunga xxix, prayers, psalms, and the Creed are intoned over a potion made with holy water, and then a Trinitarian formula is pronounced: “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit let it be blessed” (fol. 138r, Pettit Reference Pettit2001, I: 17). There is no doubt in Catherine Karkov’s mind that an Anglo-Saxon poetic audience would connect the signing of the Cross with liturgical performance (Reference Karkov, Gittos and Bradford Bedingfield2005: 248). Such would be the case for charm participants as well, who, in light of other baptismal allusions in performance, would identify the liturgical action as integral to Baptism. Within that evocative context the Cross gesture makes manifest the spiritual effects of Baptism.

Candidates for Baptism are marked with the sign of the Cross at numerous stages of the baptismal liturgy. After the breathing ceremony that opens the Darley Baptism, the priest makes the sign of the Cross (“rode tacn”) to bless the child, first on the forehead and then on the breast (p. 367, l. 2, Page Reference Page1978: 151). A post-baptismal anointing in Darley centers around the signing. Immediately upon baptizing him or her, the priest takes oil and marks the sign of the Cross on the child’s neck while saying, in nomine Patris. et Filii. et Spiritus Sancti (pp. 390–91, Graham Reference Graham1993: 443; Page Reference Page1978: 154). In the Missal of Robert of Jumièges, a pre-baptismal anointing applies Oil of Catechumens in the shape of the Cross. Following an exhortation for the devil to depart (recede), the priest or bishop begins to sign the Cross on the candidate’s body (eyes, ears, nose, heart) while saying, Signo te signaculo dei Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti ‘I sign you with the seal [or sign] of God the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit’ (Ad caticuminum faciendum, Missal of Robert of Jumièges, Wilson Reference Wilson1896: 93). The seal is the Name of God.

Whenever the sign of the Cross is made, the gesture conveys the power of the Crucified Christ. Clergy and religious sign the Cross to bless persons, animals, objects, and other parts of Creation. The English Church urged Christians to trace the sign of the Cross upon themselves. Laity and religious would have performed the Cross blessings found in charms that did not otherwise require a priest (Jolly Reference Jolly, Gittos and Bradford Bedingfield2005: 231). “Making” the Cross on oneself involves four touchings; “drawing” the Cross in the air or on something involves two strokes. Either action defies Satan and fights evil. Blickling Homily IV for the Third Sunday in Lent explains the devil’s retreat on seeing the sign,

In the context of late-Saxon Christianity, the Cross is, in Karen Jolly’s words, “both symbol and sign, the allegorical bridge mediating between the spiritual and the physical” (Reference Jolly, Gittos and Bradford Bedingfield2005: 236). Because the sign of the Cross has “miraculous powers,” medicinal remedies incorporate it as a “tool of empowerment” (Jolly Reference Jolly, Gittos and Bradford Bedingfield2005: 236).

Several Creed charms prescribe the sign of the Cross, just as other charms do (for example, Bald’s Leechbook I.ix, fol. 20v). Bald’s Leechbook I.lxii.c for fever, quoted above, also contains numerous Crosses written into the text by the scribe to direct the signing of the Cross. In Leechbook III lxii.a (fol. 123v) for elf disease, the charmer is to “writ him cristes mæl” ‘write Christ’s mark’ on the patient’s limbs. Leechbook III lxii.d, again for elf disease, prescribes a sequence of Cross blessings: using Oil of Unction to sign the Cross over a written formula, using the written formula to sign the Cross over a drink, and using the writing wet by the drink to sign a Cross over every limb (fol. 125r).

Blessing in the name of the Trinity and making the sign of the Cross do not in themselves allude to Baptism. The signing with Crosses is present in almost every sacrament and ritual. As it did in Bald’s Leechbook I.lxii.c, the signing of the Cross in Leechbook III lxii.d gains particular baptismal resonance in light of the Creed, font water, the Pater Noster, and anti-demonic formulas.

1.2.6 Anti-Demonic Formulas

Before discussing the use of anti-demonic formulas to vacate disease, a note about terminology is necessary. Following Henry Ansgar Kelly (Reference Kelly1985), exorcism generally refers to a rite or prayer for expelling possessing demons through prayers to God and threats addressed to the devil or demons. The term anti-demonic refers to “devil-expelling” and “devil-repelling” formulas. “Devil-expelling formulas” deal with indwelling demons already present, while “devil-repelling formulas” may be prayed against demons returning and are therefore apotropaic (Kelly Reference Kelly1985: 20–23). Formulas designed to ward off the temptations of the devil are also apotropaic, that is, protective. Used specifically, the term exorcism refers to the direct address of the devil or demons, which involves intimidating or threatening them in some way. Anti-demonic prayers or formulas urging God to expel spirits, or subjunctive prayers (for instance, “May God expel them”), represent indirect exorcisms.

While the term anti-demonic refers to formulas used liturgically, I use the term anti-demonic more generally to refer to the remedial analogues of Church formulas. I apply the term to charms in order to emphasize charms’ therapeutic reuse of the liturgical formulas. The retention of the term in a different context (charms) obscures to some extent charms’ different purpose. Within charms, anti-demonic forms vacate disease-spirits, not the devils or demons fought by the Church. My practice privileges the shape of the charm incantations. Even when anti-demonic formulas address fever and elves, their structure resembles their liturgical counterparts. The reuse of structures seems to be strategic on the part of the charm composer. Liturgical-looking, anti-demonic incantations fight disease with a show of Church power. They evoke the weapons used by the Church to defeat evil. As this book argues in Chapter 6, the reuse of a form for a different purpose exemplifies charms’ characteristic re-contextualization of ecclesiastical material to support remedy. More immediately, my application of a term with dual referents imposes the need for careful assessment of surface forms. Any ambiguity about the nature of an utterance that looks liturgical must be resolved through a careful examination of function. That determination requires us to assess discursive and socio-cultural context.

We find numerous allusions to ecclesiastical exorcism in charms. These take the form of anti-demonic prayers as well as acts of breathing and anointing that resemble exsufflation and Effeta. In analyzing the adaptation of exorcistic formulas or gestures for charms, it is not enough merely to recognize that a particular charm utterance or act originates in pre-baptismal exorcism or has an analogue in a particular rite’s pre-baptismal exorcism. Nor is it sufficient to observe that a charm defeating elf disease uses language originating in pre-baptismal exorcism (for example, Leechbook III lxii.d). Either or both may be the case, but why does source or analogue matter? As we observe later, by locating analogous texts we observe the charm forms’ distinctiveness, allowing us to infer its modification of a liturgical model. The anti-demonic prayers found in charms are not identical with or used in the same way as pre-baptismal formulas. Consider the anti-demonic prayer from Leechbook III lxii.d, which resembles an indirect exorcism from the Leofric Missal (the full Latin versions follow below):

• Almighty God, Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, drive out every attack of the Castalides from your servant, [Name to be supplied], through the imposition of this writing, from the head, …. (Leechbook III lxii.d, fols. 124v–125r);

• Holy Lord, Father Almighty, Eternal God, drive out the devil from this man, through the imposition of this writing and through the taste of this water, from the head, …. (Leofric Missal, fol. 312r–312v, Orchard Reference Orchard2002, II: 437–38).

Because ailments were attributed to spiritual agency, only forceful words and rituals could vanquish them (Jolly Reference Jolly1996: 123). Insofar as exorcism cast out the devil before Baptism, formulas from pre-baptismal exorcism were readily borrowed into charm utterances. By simulating exorcism in charms, utterances based in analogous anti-demonic prayers expel disease-spirits. Exorcistic gestures are adopted to the same end in charm rituals.

Let me review the liturgical formulas pronounced as precursor to Baptism. After the priest makes the sign of the Cross on the child’s head, according to Darley rubrics, his prayers culminate in the Ergo maledicte exorcism:

Here is the complete Ergo maledicte exorcism, as found in the Missal of Robert of Jumièges:

The celebrant’s demand that the devil acknowledge his sentence refers to the priest’s previous command that it depart “before the judgment of God,” given at the Effeta (discussed below).

Both indirect exorcisms and exorcistic formulas addressing the devil, as above, make their way into charms. Lacnunga lxiii, fol. 149 v contains an exhortation from a larger anti-demonic utterance associated with the Visitation of the Sick. Despite its use at the Visitation of the Sick (discussed in Chapter 4), the utterance draws upon the pre-baptismal exorcism just quoted:

Although originally meant for a person at Baptism, the Ergo maledicte is sung over medicinal herbs that are added to butter from a cow of one color to create a holy salve. It is to be chanted by a priest within the charm performance: “lay the plants by the bowl, and then let a priest consecrate them. Let him sing these prayers over them ….”⁴³ Amid other allusions to Baptism, the exorcistic formula also alludes to Baptism. In the world of charm logic, exhortations for the devil to vacate the salve ingredients protect the sick from the agents of illness, namely disease-spirits such as elves.

Indirect exorcisms (that is, prayers to God) are also adapted for charm rites. The utterance of the Leechbook III lxii.d prayer seen above helps to counter an ailment known as elf disease:

Like Lacnunga lxiii, Leechbook III lxii.d incorporates forms borrowed from the Visitation of the Sick that retain associations with Baptism. Appropriate to its medicinal use, the charm prayer corresponds closely with a post-baptismal prayer placed under the rubric svper energvmino baptizato, in the Leofric Missal.⁴⁵ This devil-expelling prayer is to be said after the Baptism of a person possessed by an evil spirit:

With its enumeration of body parts, the Leofric prayer has parallels at the chrismation after Baptism in the eighth- or ninth-century Stowe Missal.⁴⁶ Leechbook III lxii.d, in summary, contains an exorcistic prayer with parallels in baptismal liturgies. Relocated within a charm, the anti-demonic prayer finds a new context and application: sung over a medicinal preparation, the utterance encumbers elves.

1.2.7 Exsufflation and Effeta

During the baptismal ritual, the priest blows his breath into the face of a candidate in order to cast out the devil. If a bishop or priest blows into the face of a candidate before the act of Baptism, the breathing (known as exsufflation or insufflation) may be considered exorcistic (Kelly Reference Kelly1985: 87). If that breathing takes place elsewhere in the baptismal service, that is, after exorcism, it may be a further exorcistic operation. Alternatively, if specifically connected with the devil, it may constitute a “dramatic recapitulation” or “informal gesture of repudiation” rather than an exorcism (Kelly Reference Kelly1985: 87; Hill Reference Hill1985: 134). Whether exorcistic or rhetorical, exsufflation constitutes a mark of contempt for the devil. As John the Deacon remarks, the devil “receives exsufflation, because the old deceiver merits such ignominy” (“Letter to Senarius,” Whitaker Reference Whitaker2003: 209). In either case, the breathing ceremony could have a prophylactic or apotropaic function (Kelly Reference Kelly1985: 87). Kelly finds it just as likely that the breathing has a positive function in strengthening the candidate; it may signify the imparting of the Holy Spirit, rather than, or in addition to, removing evil from the candidate (Reference Kelly1985: 87).

Anglo-Saxon baptismal ordines sometimes include exsufflation, instructing that the devil is to be exorcized by the priest’s blowing his breath on the candidate’s face (Forbes Reference Forbes2013: 104). In the Red Book of Darley the baptismal rite opens with the priest breathing on the child:⁴⁷

After the priest’s breath has expelled demonic forces from the candidate, the child is blessed with the sign of the Cross (Darley, p. 367, ll. 2–4, Page Reference Page1978: 151).

Exorcism and blessing are followed by anointing in baptismal rites. Anointing lies at the center of Christian healing, but the Effeta, that is, anointing the ears and nose with saliva prior to Baptism, has a special rationale. The priest’s words, Epheta, quod est, adaperire in odorem suavitatis ‘Epheta, that is, be opened, unto the odor of sweetness’, echo the words of Jesus in Mark 7.32–35, Eppheta quod est adaperire, as He cured the man who could not hear or speak by putting His fingers into the man’s ears, and after spitting, touching his tongue.⁴⁹ During the pre-baptismal Effeta ceremony in the Gelasian Sacramentary, the priest touches the candidate’s ears and nose while bidding that his or her senses be opened to the odor of sweetness, and also warning the devil to “to flee before the judgment of God.”⁵⁰ Immediately following exsufflation in the Darley Baptism, the Effeta is performed through a series of movements:

We find – and explore below – an imitation of the exorcistic ceremonies of exsufflation and Effeta in Lacnunga lxiii: “put your spittle on it, and blow on it” (fol. 148r). These gestures join anti-demonic prayers and other baptismal allusions to invoke the sacrament of Baptism in the creation of a holy salve. Before turning to Lacnunga lxiii, let us examine an Effeta borrowed from Baptism in another charm. Although it lacks the Creed and other allusions that collectively evoke Baptism, Leechbook III xxiv exploits the baptismal Effeta to ease discomfort. The charm ritual consists entirely of an anointing, where the healer “spatl spiþ” ‘spits spittle’ on a painful joint while singing nine times, Malignus obligavit; angelus curavit; dominus Salvavit ‘The malignant one has bound [the sufferer]; the angel has cured [him]; the Lord has healed [him]’ (fol. 116r). The remedy re-contextualizes the baptismal action by anointing joints instead of the person’s face and uttering a healing incantation that works sympathetically in lieu of the declaration, Epheta.

1.2.8 Supplemental Gospel Lections

Sacred forms not necessarily associated with Baptism additionally support healing in charms: for example, psalms, Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Benedicite, and Gospel lections. Although they do not by themselves allude to Baptism, these forms are incorporated into charms that invoke the sacrament. The Gospel lections chosen in Lacnunga xxix deserve attention, for behind each selection is a history rooted in ancient baptismal traditions. The resulting allusions to Baptism are both productive and non-productive.

As we have seen, Lacnunga xxix channels Baptism through a variety of means. The Bible verses found there, however, are not common to the late-Saxon liturgy. The Gospel lection for Baptism in Darley (p. 376, l. 17, Page Reference Page1978: 152) is taken from Mark 10.13–16:

In Robert of Jumièges (Wilson Reference Wilson1896: 96) the Gospel, which is read before the blessing of the font with the Litany of the Saints, comes from Matthew 11.25–30:

Both passages support baptismal rites as they urge God’s people to come to Jesus with the trust of a child. They are also appropriate to infant Baptism.

Rather than assigning either of the passages used in contemporary baptismal ordines, three charms, Lacnunga xxix, Lacnunga lxiii, and Bald’s Leechbook I.lxii.c, incorporate John 1.1, a text associated with ancient celebrations of the sacrament. The opening words of St. John’s Gospel seem to have been popular in charms and remedies, and are repeated in medical texts from the Middle Ages into the sixteenth century (Pettit Reference Pettit2001, II: 38–39). In Lacnunga xxix and Bald’s Leechbook I.lxii.c the first verses of John are written on a paten and the Scripture is subsequently washed into the drink. Lacnunga lxiii similarly requires the charmer to sing, “In the beginning.” The passage from John 1.1 alludes to Baptism in these charms but succeeds only to the extent that charm participants recognize them as baptismal. In fact, they originate within the older pre-baptismal tradition of the giving of the Gospels, a series of actions that precedes the introduction of the Creed and the Pater Noster to the candidate during his or her catechumenate.⁵² During this ceremony, the deacon reads to the catechumens from the beginning of each of the four Gospels, after which the priest relates each Gospel to its author (Cabié Reference Cabié and Martimort1988: 66). The lection from the Gospel of John returns in late medieval rites of initiation: John 1.1–14 is read after Mark 9.16–28 in the Sarum Manual (Collins Reference Collins1960: 30; Pocknee Reference Pocknee1959: 499). Hence charms that mandate John 1.1 preserve relics of earlier ecclesiastical traditions. If, during the late-Saxon period, the allusive force of John 1.1 does not derive from Baptism, it may originate in the lection’s use in charm remedies. When, over time, the Bible verses are no longer pertinent or perceived as pertinent to the baptismal liturgy, the non-productive allusions remaining in charms may be re-analyzed. Now pertinent to the charm itself, the lections allude to charm healing.

With its selection of a second Gospel text in addition to John 1.1, Lacnunga xxix departs from baptismal allusions to substitute a passage relevant to physical healing. The ritual to produce a holy drink directs the writing of Matthew 4.23–25. This lection relates Jesus’s healing of the sick:

Because the text is associated with disease, the lection from Matthew 4.23–25 appears often in early missals (Pettit Reference Pettit2001, II: 39). With logic as well as liturgical precedent this Gospel is brought into charms. Its content befits the purpose of Lacnunga xxix: to target elfish magic and the temptations of the devil. Just as Jesus healed then, in Galilee, the healer bids, may He heal now, here in England. Scripture is put to use in the operation of sympathetic magic. In yet another way, something sacred is tailored for work in traditional medicine.

The non-baptismal reading from Matthew 4 joins a baptismal lection (John 1.1) that, by the time charm xxix is written into Lacnunga, no longer refers to Baptism but instead alludes to folk healing. The mixed set of Gospel allusions combines with the important baptismal allusions conveyed by Creed, water and washing, Pater Noster, and Triune blessing. Litanies further the evocation of Baptism. Psalms lend their aid, as does the Gloria in excelsis Deo, and the most powerful of all liturgies, the Eucharist. In the presence of these other baptismal allusions, the three Masses may also allude indirectly to the neophyte’s first Communion. Thus, singly and in combination, baptismal and other ecclesiastical utterances invoke Baptism to instill power within a curative drink.

Table 1.2 reviews the baptismal elements exploited by charms by presenting the incantation set used for the verbal medicine of invoking Baptism. The texts and gestures contained in the set represent possible choices from which individual charm composers draw in order to heal through the invocation of Baptism. In the far left hand column, the label, “contextual knowledge,” refers to the background knowledge, belief, and experience participants hold regarding Baptism. The label appears in braces to indicate that this knowledge, which varies for participants, frames the incantation set. The Church’s message about Baptism and examples of the ways in which people learn of its necessity are noted in this column. As previously established, contextual knowledge causes each allusion or reference to resonate for participants, leading to the invocation of Baptism through performance of the incantation set.

Within an individual charm, the selection of some or all of the elements reviewed in Table 1.2 combine with the Creed to evoke and subsequently invoke the baptismal liturgy.