16/5/2018 Bald's Leechbook Now Online - Medieval manuscripts blog

Medieval manuscripts blog

Main

Previous post | Next post

05 January 2016

Bald's Leechbook Now Online

The current Anglo-Saxon Digitisation project covers a wide range of manuscripts,
from Psalters to letters to lawcodes to schoolbooks to medical remedies. We are
pleased to announce that, for the first time, Bald’s Leechbook—a collection of
medical remedies, recipes, diagnostic guides, and charms, copied in the mid-10th
century—is now available online. Bald’s Leechbook has long fascinated scholars,
and it recently made headlines after a team in Nottingham discovered that one of its
recipes—for a poultice for an infected eye— can combat the superbug MRSA. For
more information on this discovery, see A Medieval Medical Marvel.

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/01/balds-leechbook-now-online.html 1/6
16/5/2018 Bald's Leechbook Now Online - Medieval manuscripts blog

Recipe for an eye salve, from Bald’s Leechbook, England (Winchester?), mid-10th
century, Royal MS 12 D XVII, f. 12v

Bald’s Leechbook is also interesting for its references to elves (about which more
later), its prognostic about the ‘Dog Days’, and its compiler[s] use of Greek medical
sources and more local medical sources, among other things. It even includes a
discussion of an early plastic surgery to fix a cleft palate, as well as cures for both
impotence and lustfulness – very useful, indeed.

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/01/balds-leechbook-now-online.html 2/6
16/5/2018 Bald's Leechbook Now Online - Medieval manuscripts blog

Cure for a harelip (haer-sceard), or cleft palate, involving a description of early plastic
surgery, from Bald's Leechbook, Royal MS 12 D XVII, f. 20v

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/01/balds-leechbook-now-online.html 3/6
16/5/2018 Bald's Leechbook Now Online - Medieval manuscripts blog

Cures for an overly lustful (wraene) man and for an impotent man, from Bald's
Leechbook, Royal MS 12 D XVII,, f. 54v

An expanded discussion of the subject can be found in our post Anglo-Saxon

Medicine, and please click over to Digitised Manuscripts to have a closer look at
Bald’s Leechbook!

Posted by Ancient, Medieval, and Early Modern Manuscripts at 12:01 AM

Tags
Anglo-Saxon, Decoration, English, Featured manuscripts, Humanities,
Manuscripts, Medieval, Medieval history

Technorati Tags: Anglo-Saxon, Bald's Leechbook, British Library, decoration,

Digitised Manuscripts, digitized manuscripts, English, featured manuscripts,
humanities, manuscripts, medicine, medieval, medieval history, Royal MS 12 D
XVII
http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/01/balds-leechbook-now-online.html 4/6
16/5/2018 Bald's Leechbook Now Online - Medieval manuscripts blog

432 362 33 3 2

Comments
Where can I get a hard copy re-print in with English subtitles, as it were?
_____________
Thanks for your comment. A full translation of Bald's Leechbook is contained in
*Leechdoms, Wortcunning, and Starcraft of Early England*, ed. by O. Cockayne,
Rolls Series, 3 vols (London: Longmans, 1864-66), vol II (1864) (available online at
https://archive.org/details/leechdomswortcun02cock). A printed facsimile can be
found in *Bald's Leechbook (British Museum Royal Manuscript 12 D XVII)*, ed. by C.
E. Wright and Randolph Quirk, Early English Manuscripts in Facsimile, 5
(Copenhagen: Rosenkilde and Bagger, 1955).
-Ancient, Medieval and Early Modern Manuscripts, The British Library

Posted by: Chris | 04 August 2016 at 09:35 PM

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

Posted by: |

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Post Edit
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been saved. Comments are moderated and will not appear until
approved by the author. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see
in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Escriba el texto

Continue

Post a comment
Comments are moderated, and will not appear until the author has approved them.

If you have a TypeKey or TypePad account, please Sign In

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/01/balds-leechbook-now-online.html 5/6
16/5/2018 Bald's Leechbook Now Online - Medieval manuscripts blog

()

Your Information

(Name is required. Email address will not be displayed with the comment.)

Name Name is required to post a comment

Email Address Please enter a valid email address

Web Site URL Invalid URL

Post Preview

Copyright © The British Library Board

http://blogs.bl.uk/digitisedmanuscripts/2016/01/balds-leechbook-now-online.html 6/6