Topical Herbal Remedies in the Lacnunga Manuscript
The Lacnunga Manuscript is a collection of mostly herbal remedies, composed in Old English and Latin, compiled in the late 10th or early 11th centuries in England. The Anglo-Saxon (Old English) name of this MS, Lacnunga, is translated to ‘remedies’, although that word doesn’t ever appear in the text itself. Its more modern presentation comes from editing by Oswald Cockayne in the 1800s.
While the Lacnunga reads like a common reductionist prescription of herbal remedies for common ailments, the text conceals a great deal about how the Anglo-Saxon folks perceived plants, worked with them, understood illness and its causes, and facilitated both healing from illness and preventative care. This manuscript has been a major influence in how I work with plants, as have all the extant remedial texts that abound. While the Nigon Wyrta Galdor (The Nine Herbs Charm) is by far the most famous entry in the Lacnunga, and for good reason, there is so much more to be inspired by in this text.
In this post I’d like to explore three of the topical herbal remedies presented in the Lacnunga alongside some of my own clinical observations about working with herbs topically- a format of herbal medicine I think deserves a greater deal of respect and application in modern practice.
Let’s start with the first entry in the Lacnunga which offers us a remedy against headache with plants that most modern herbalists would never consider. As with all the entries I’ll share in this post, I am more interested in looking at the topical application of the herbs rather than the herbs themselves, but will share a bit about them as we go along because I am not capable of not talking about them! I will be using translations by Stephen Pollington from his essential book Leechcraft for all entries cited in this post.
The first entry from the Lacnunga MS.
-1- Against headache; take the lower part of Hammerwort (Black Hellebore, Helleborus niger) and Everlasting (Dog’s Mercury, Mercurialis perennis); pound; lay on a cloth; crumble into water; stir it well so that it be very lathered; wash the head with the lather often.
There are a few things I adore about this entry. First, that two very poisonous plants are being employed at all- not something we often see in a remedy of this nature. The remedy shows us that the folk knew of the poisonous nature of the plants and how to navigate around the poison to get to the medicinal virtues. This remedy is in essence suggesting an herbal compress- herbal material extracted into liquid which is placed directly on the body to deliver the virtues as close to the affected area as possible. While compresses are most often employed to address more surface areas of the body such as skin, hair, fascia, muscle, and some joints, they can affect change in deeper layers for certain. If you’ve worked with a poultice or compress before, you may notice some unique things about this remedy. I am assuming that the plant is being gathered fresh since the remedy doesn’t specify anything else, and that fresh materia is pounded, likely with a pestle in a mortar or against another hard surface. This pounding will break up the plant’s physical structure, increase access to plant compounds, and increase the surface area of the plant materia for quick and efficient extraction into water. The pounded materia is then laid on a cloth without specifics of how long. The next line, however, tells us that the materia must be ‘crumbled into water’, so I think the herbs are given some time to dry on the cloth before the next step happens. This makes sense to me- materia that is allowed to dry can be more easily permeated by the water infusion so that any remaining cellular walls can be burst, releasing the plant constituents into the water.
From here, the water is stirred well to create a lather. I don’t think this would be a rich lather per se but more of a froth on top of the water’s surface. This lather alone, and not the water itself, is then used to ‘wash the head’ often.
So, as we get to the application of the charm we see that this is more of a compress than a poultice since none of the actual plant material is being applied to the skin, rather an infusion is being applied directly. Herein lies one of many aspects of topical herbal medicine that gets used very rarely in modern western herbalism. I am a big fan of having folks do strong herbal tea decoctions and then using the resulting infusion to wrap the affected area of the body in a soaked tea towel or cloth, covering with a second or third cloth to preserve body heat, unless evaporative cooling is desired.
Here we have two poisonous herbs that are taken through a simple process of preparation, not unlike the prepared poisonous herbs of the Chinese materia medica, before being agitated and applied to the head. Again, this allows for these potent plants to be worked with in a safer (notice I said safer, not safe) way.
-24- Against a swelling: take Lily’s roots (Madonna Lily, Lilium candidum*) and shoots of Dwarf Elder (Sambucus nigra) and Porleek’s Leaves (Leek, Allium porrum), and shred them very small and pound them greatly, and put them into a thick cloth and bind them on.
*There are many medicinal species of Lily which would have been available to the folk of this remedy. Grieve specifies that Madonna Lily can be employed for the same effects as this entry suggests, so I have chosen to reference it here.
Okay, here are some more approachable plants with much less safety concerns than those of the first entry. These three plants are also far more accessible to most folks in the western world and may even be herbs you’ve worked with before in one form or another.
Before I pick this entry apart, I want to remind you that I am interpreting this remedy based on what I know and have experienced by clinical applications of Anglo-Saxon herbal remedial alongside modern research and understanding of herbal medicine.
Here, I’d like to look at the three herbs being invoked in this remedy because the formulation they create is so graceful, relevant, and powerful.
Madonna Lily: the bulbs of this plant are exceptionally demulcent- imparting mucilage to water extracts. Most all demulcent herbs have a few things in common- they are moistening, cooling, and softening. I love that this herb is the foundation of the remedy for a topical application; all topicals, in my opinion, should have a strong demulcent base as to not aggravate the skin while encouraging the body to allow the medicine in. The cool, moist, softening nature of Madonna Lily will ease any growths (tumors, abscesses, etc.) which might be under the swelling addressed by this remedy, and more importantly move heat through cooling and dampening. This is a true topical ally for the quelling of hot inflammation.
Dwarf Elder: I believe that the reason for this plant being invoked in this remedy is to move blood. I consider Elder Berries to be a kind of western version of a true Chinese blood building tonic, but they do so by moving blood. Consider that the common name Elder comes from the Anglo-Saxon word æld, fire. Here we’re adding a warm herb to a hot, inflamed condition which is counterintuitive until we understand the nuances of topical heat in these cases. An herb like Elder can be utilized as an anti-rheumatic; clearing stagnation, swelling, and inflammation by warming, thinning, and moving whatever it is that’s causing the swelling. This is a brilliant application of Elder shoots, and one that would be easily overlooked by almost all modern western herbalists.
Leek Leaf: The common Leek is a revered healing ally through much of the British Isles. The Meddygon Myddfai which is a classic Welsh herbal text made me a true devotee of all plants allium! The leaf of Leek will bring the same aromatic and dispersing qualities we seek in the bulbs without the intense heat- we already have enough of that in Elder. Here, Leek is being employed as a breakthrough herb which is astute and effective. When you cut into any aromatic plant, such as leeks, garlic, onions, and the like, the whole room quickly permeates with the pungent scent. This same mechanism happens to the body with aromatic allies- they diffuse, disperse, and break through. Leek will move, ease, and flow the swelling by breaking through any obstructions or stagnations.
From a purely formulary perspective, I would personally prefer this remedy when the swelling is a cold type swelling. There is not redness, heat, flush, tenderness, or sharp pain. Rather, the tissue is lax, cold to the touch, depressed, soft and boggy feeling, and heavy. These warming herbs applied topically will heat, move, soften, and encourage flow so that regardless of the underlying issue, the swelling can resolve through the body’s own wisdom.
This is a true poultice- the fresh and pounded materia being applied to the area and wrapped in a binding.
-130- Make a salve against lice: in butter boil the lower part of Hemlock (Conium maculatum) and Wormwood (Artemesia absinthium) or Bothen (Possibly Rosemary, Rosmarinus officinalis or Thyme, Thymus vulgaris or Corn Marigold, Chrysanthemum segetum); smear the head with it; the salves makes it so that there will be less lice there.
One poison herb (Hemlock) and two famously potent allies come together in a base of butter to make what I am sure is a truly effective remedy against lice… and maybe against the presence of other humans, too! The butter base may seem strange, but this fatty substance was likely far more accessible to the folk of this remedy than base oils are to us now. Butter makes for an effective material into which fat and water soluble constituents of a plant can be easily extracted, and the consistency would make this an effective format for running through the hair and keeping the remedy in place long enough to deter lice. If this formula were to be duplicated, I would personally use an oil base such as Coconut or Almond; less greasy, easier to clean up, and a better scent as well. I think with substitute base oils this remedy would be equally as effective as it is with butter.
A fatty medium like butter or oil also makes sense as a topical application here for the treatment of lice in that they would be quite literally suffocating. I think it would be difficult for the lice to move, respirate, climb through hair, attach eggs, or otherwise be anything but stuck.
I would like to mention here that I would, as a hard rule, never boil butter or oil when crafting herbal medicine. Rather than a high heat : short infusion time method, I prefer a no heat : longer infusion time method. When infusing herbs into any fatty material like butter or oil, I work with only completely dry herbs to avoid introducing water to the remedy which are macerated in the base for anywhere from two to eight weeks depending on the remedy, time of year, average temperature of the space, and herbs being worked with. Bringing butter to a boil would break down the protein chains, make it more susceptible to going bad, and would likely make it smell like cooking food- not something I would want in my hair! That being said, if I was infested with lice I might do whatever needed to be done.
Where Pollington mentions several possible herbs for this remedy, I think Rosemary and Thyme make the most sense and one could use either of them, or both.
Hemlock: I have no personal experience working with this plant in any form. Here we see the root of the plant being infused into the butter with heat; another example of an internally-poisonous herb being worked with topically in a way that is safer.
Wormwood: The application of an herb that is quite literally named after the process of de-worming, ridding the body of unwanted guests, is really poignant here. Etymologically, Wormwood’s name comes from the Old English Wermod, into German Wermut which is where we get the name Vermouth. Where the ‘worm’ bit comes from it unclear to scholars, but I think it is what it is- an herb reputed for their ability to rid one of worms, both literal and figurative. Wormwood can be an effective anthelmintic herb both internally and externally for all kinds of invading worms, parasites, fungi, and the like. I know of no specific pediculicide references to Wormwood, but I think this would be my personal go-to ally in a lice case; anthelmintic action should not be stopped in the gut for any reason I can think of.
Rosemary and/or Thyme: There is some discrepancy here about which herb is being referenced. Pollington notes a scholarly preference for Rosemary, and I would say that both Rosemary and Thyme make sense from an herbal medicine standpoint. These are both Mint family (Lamiaceae) plants that are incredibly aromatic, warming, and rich in volatile oils. We work with many Mint family plants to chase away mice and rats as well as moths and mealworms; for the same reason I think these two Mint herbs make sense in this formula. Their strong aroma, rich essential oils, and warming energy make them a foe for the invading lice.
I hope that in this brief exploration of just three of the many topical herbal remedies found in the Lacnunga Manuscript, you have a new respect for the application of external herbal medicines, how they can be effective, how various types of herbs impart their virtues to topical work, and how they can be invoked in modern applications. While we tend to think of herbal medicine in its go-to forms of capsules, tinctures, and teas, there is a rich format of external application that can be just as effective as internal, and sometimes more effective. Keep in mind that external applications allow us to put the medicine where we need it most, and allow us to bypass the whole digestive system to ensure that even someone with a compromised digestion and assimilation process will still get everything our green wight kin share with us.
References:
Pollington, Stephen. Leechcraft. Anglo-Saxon Books, 2003.
Grieve, Maud. A Modern Herbal. Dover Publications, 1971.
Williams, Josh. Spiritual Herbalism. Aeon Books, 2022.
