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The Merseburg charms or Merseburg incantations (german: die Merseburger Zaubersprüche) are two
medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
magic spells, charms or incantations, written in
Old High German Old High German (OHG; german: Althochdeutsch (Ahd.)) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally covering the period from around 750 to 1050. There is no standardised or supra-regional form of German at this period, and Old Hig ...
. They are the only known examples of Germanic pagan belief preserved in the language. They were discovered in 1841 by
Georg Waitz Georg Waitz (9 October 1813 – 24 May 1886) was a German medieval historian and politician. Waitz is often spoken of as the leading disciple of Leopold von Ranke, though perhaps he had more affinity with Georg Heinrich Pertz or Friedrich Christ ...
, who found them in a theological manuscript from
Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...
, written in the 9th century, although there remains some speculation about the date of the charms themselves. The manuscript (Cod. 136 f. 85a) is stored in the library of the
cathedral chapter According to both Catholic and Anglican canon law, a cathedral chapter is a college of clerics ( chapter) formed to advise a bishop and, in the case of a vacancy of the episcopal see in some countries, to govern the diocese during the vacancy. ...
of
Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a dioces ...
, hence the name.


History

The Merseburg charms are the only known surviving relics of pre-Christian,
pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. I ...
poetry in Old High German literature. The charms were recorded in the 10th century by a cleric, possibly in the abbey of
Fulda Fulda () (historically in English called Fuld) is a town in Hesse, Germany; it is located on the river Fulda and is the administrative seat of the Fulda district (''Kreis''). In 1990, the town hosted the 30th Hessentag state festival. Histor ...
, on a blank page of a liturgical book, which later passed to the library at
Merseburg Merseburg () is a town in central Germany in southern Saxony-Anhalt, situated on the river Saale, and approximately 14 km south of Halle (Saale) and 30 km west of Leipzig. It is the capital of the Saalekreis district. It had a dioces ...
. The charms have thus been transmitted in Caroline minuscule on the flyleaf of a Latin sacramentary. The spells became famous in modern times through the appreciation of
Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...
, who wrote as follows:
:Lying between
Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
,
Halle Halle may refer to: Places Germany * Halle (Saale), also called Halle an der Saale, a city in Saxony-Anhalt ** Halle (region), a former administrative region in Saxony-Anhalt ** Bezirk Halle, a former administrative division of East Germany ** Hal ...
and
Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...
, the extensive library of the Cathedral Chapter of Merseburg has often been visited and made use of by scholars. All have passed over a
codex The codex (plural codices ) was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term ''codex'' is often used for ancient manuscript books, with ...
which, if they chanced to take it up, appeared to offer only well-known church items, but which now, valued according to its entire content, offers a treasure such that the most famous libraries have nothing to compare with it...
The spells were published later by Jacob Grimm in ''On two newly-discovered poems from the German Heathen Period'' (1842). The manuscript of the Merseburg charms was on display until November 2004 as part of the exhibition "Between Cathedral and World - 1000 years of the Chapter of Merseburg," at Merseburg cathedral. They were previously exhibited in 1939.


The texts

Each charm is divided into two parts: a preamble telling the story of a mythological event; and the actual spell in the form of a magic analogy (''just as it was before... so shall it also be now...''). In their verse form, the spells are of a transitional type; the lines show not only traditional
alliteration Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...
but also the end-rhymes introduced in the
Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι� ...
verse of the 9th century.


First Merseburg Charm

The first spell is a "Lösesegen" (blessing of release), describing how a number of " Idisen" freed from their shackles warriors caught during battle. The last two lines contain the magic words "Leap forth from the fetters, escape from the foes" that are intended to release the warriors.


Second Merseburg Charm

Phol is with
Wodan Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victor ...
when Baldur's horse dislocates its foot while he is riding through the forest (''holza''). Wodan intones the incantation: "Bone to bone, blood to blood, limb to limb, as if they were mended". Figures that can be clearly identified within
Continental Germanic mythology Continental Germanic mythology formed an element within Germanic paganism as practiced in parts of Central Europe occupied by Germanic peoples up to and including the 6th to 8th centuries (the period of Germanic Christianization). Traces of ...
are "Uuôdan" (
Wodan Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victor ...
) and "Frîia" (
Frija Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wet ...
). Depictions found on
Migration Period The Migration Period was a period in European history marked by large-scale migrations that saw the fall of the Western Roman Empire and subsequent settlement of its former territories by various tribes, and the establishment of the post-Roma ...
Germanic bracteates are often viewed as Wodan (Odin) healing a horse. Comparing
Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern per ...
, Wodan is well-attested as the cognate of
Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...
. Frija the cognate of
Frigg Frigg (; Old Norse: ) is a goddess, one of the Æsir, in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about her, she is associated with marriage, prophecy, clairvoyance and motherhood, and dwells in the wet ...
, also identified with
Freyja In Norse paganism, Freyja (Old Norse "(the) Lady") is a goddess associated with love, beauty, fertility, sex, war, gold, and seiðr (magic for seeing and influencing the future). Freyja is the owner of the necklace Brísingamen, rides a chario ...
. ''Balder'' is Norse
Baldr Baldr (also Balder, Baldur) is a god in Germanic mythology. In Norse mythology, Baldr (Old Norse: ) is a son of the god Odin and the goddess Frigg, and has numerous brothers, such as Thor and Váli. In wider Germanic mythology, the god was ...
. ''Phol'' is possibly masculine form of ''Uolla'', and, as Grimm suggested, the context makes it clear that it is another name for Balder. ''Uolla'' is cognate with Old Norse Fulla, a goddess there also associated with Frigg. Sunna (the personified sun) is in Norse mythology Sól.
Sinthgunt Sinthgunt is a figure in Germanic mythology, attested solely in the Old High German 9th- or 10th-century "horse cure" Merseburg Incantation. In the incantation, Sinthgunt is referred to as the sister of the personified sun, Sunna (whose name is ...
is otherwise unattested.


Parallels

The First Merseburg Charm (loosening charm)'s similarity to the anecdote in
Bede Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom ...
's '' Hist. Eccles.'', IV, 22 () has been noted by
Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...
. In this Christianized example, it is the singing of the mass, rather than the chanting of the charm, that effects the release of a comrade (in this case a brother). The unshackled man is asked "whether he had any spells about him, as are spoken of in fabulous stories", which curiously has been translated as "loosening rune (about him)" ( oe, álýsendlícan rune) in the
Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo-Saxons happened wit ...
translation of Bede, as has been pointed out by
Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runi ...
. Bugge makes this reference in his edition of the Eddaic poem '' Grógaldr'' (1867), in an attempt to justify his emending the phrase "Leifnir's fire (?)" ( on, leifnis elda) into "loosening charm" ( on, leysigaldr) in the context of one of the magic charms that Gróa is teaching to her son. But this is an aggressive emendation of the original text, and its validity as well as any suggestion to its ties to the Merseburg charm is subject to skepticism. Many analogous magic incantations to the Second Merseburg Charm (horse-healing spell) have been noted. Some paralleling is discernible in other Old German spells, but analogues are particularly abundant in folkloric spells from Scandinavian countries (often preserved in so-called " black books"). Similar charms have been noted in Gaelic, Lettish and Finnish suggesting that the formula is of ancient Indo-European origin. Parallels have also been suggested with Hungarian texts. Some commentators trace the connection back to writings in
ancient India According to consensus in modern genetics, anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent from Africa between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. Quote: "Y-Chromosome and Mt-DNA data support the colonization of South Asia by ...
.


Other Old High German and Old Saxon spells

Other spells recorded in Old High German or
Old Saxon Old Saxon, also known as Old Low German, was a Germanic language and the earliest recorded form of Low German (spoken nowadays in Northern Germany, the northeastern Netherlands, southern Denmark, the Americas and parts of Eastern Europe). I ...
noted for similarity, such as the group of ''wurmsegen'' spells for casting out the "Nesso" worm causing the affliction. There are several manuscript recensions of this spell, and
Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...
scrutinizes in particular the so-called "Contra vermes" variant, in Old Saxon from the Cod. Vindob. theol. 259 (now ÖNB Cod. 751). The title is Latin:
Contra vermes (against worms) Gang ût, nesso, mit nigun nessiklînon, ût fana themo margę an that bên, fan themo bêne an that flêsg, ût fana themo flêsgke an thia hûd, ût fan thera hûd an thesa strâla. Drohtin, uuerthe so!
As Grimm explains, the spell tells the ''nesso'' worm and its nine young ones to begone, away from the marrow to bone, bone to flesh, flesh to hide (skin), and into the ''strâla'' or arrow, which is the implement into which the pest or pathogen is to be coaxed. It closes with the invocation: "Lord (''Drohtin''), let it be". Grimm insists that this charm, like the ''De hoc quod Spurihalz dicunt'' charm ( MHG: ''spurhalz''; german:
lahm Lahm is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Frank P. Lahm (1877–1963), American pilot *Philipp Lahm Philipp Lahm (; born 11 November 1983) is a German former professional footballer who played as a full-back. Considered by ...
"lame") that immediately precedes it in the manuscript, is "about lame horses again" And the "transitions from marrow to bone (or sinews), to flesh and hide, resemble phrases in the sprain-spells", i.e. the Merseburg horse-charm types.


Scandinavia

Jacob Grimm Jacob Ludwig Karl Grimm (4 January 1785 – 20 September 1863), also known as Ludwig Karl, was a German author, linguist, philologist, jurist, and folklorist. He is known as the discoverer of Grimm's law of linguistics, the co-author of t ...
in his ''Deutsche Mythologie'', chapter 38, listed examples of what he saw as survivals of the Merseburg charm in popular traditions of his time: from Norway a prayer to Jesus for a horse's leg injury, and two spells from Sweden, one invoking Odin (for a horse suffering from a fit or
equine distemper Strangles (equine distemper) is a contagious upper respiratory tract infection of horses and other equines caused by a Gram-positive bacterium, ''Streptococcus equi''. As a result, the lymph nodes swell, compressing the pharynx, larynx, and tr ...
) and another invoking Frygg for a sheep's ailment. He also quoted one Dutch charm for fixing a horse's foot, and a Scottish one for the treatment of human sprains that was still practiced in his time in the 19th century (See #Scotland below).


Norway

Grimm provided in his appendix another Norwegian horse spell, which has been translated and examined as a parallel by Thorpe. Grimm had recopied the spell from a tome by Hans Hammond, ''Nordiska Missions-historie'' (Copenhagen 1787), pp. 119–120, the spell being transcribed by
Thomas von Westen Thomas von Westen (13 September 1682 – 9 April 1727) was a Norwegian Lutheran priest and missionary. He was a driving force in the Sami mission, and founded the education institution ''Seminarium Scholasticum'', the later Seminarium Lapponic ...
c. 1714. This appears to be the same spell in English as given as a parallel by a modern commentator, though he apparently misattributes it to the 19th century. The texts and translations will be presented side-by-side below:
The number of Norwegian analogues is quite large, though many are just variations on the theme. Bishop
Anton Christian Bang Anton Christian Bang (18 September 1840 in Dønna, Helgeland – 29 December 1913) was a Norwegian theologian, historian and politician for the Conservative Party of Norway. Bang was one of the more prominent figures within the Church of ...
compiled a volume culled from Norwegian black books of charms and other sources, and classified the horse-mending spells under the opening chapter "Odin og Folebenet", strongly suggesting a relationship with the second Merseburg incantation. Bang here gives a group of 34 spells, mostly recorded in the 18th–19th century though two are assigned to the 17th (c. 1668 and 1670), and 31 of the charms are for treating horses with an injured leg. The name for the horse's trauma, which occurs in the titles, is no, vred in most of the rhymes, with smatterings of ''raina'' and ''bridge'' (''sic.''), but they all are essentially synonymous with ''brigde,'' glossed as the "dislocation of the limb" (dislocation of the limbs). in Aasen's dictionary.
pdf
From Bishop Bang's collection, the following is a list of specific formulas discussed as parallels in scholarly literature: * No. 2, "Jesus og St. Peter over Bjergene red.." (c. 1668. From Lister og Mandal Amt, or the modern-day
Vest-Agder Vest-Agder (; "West Agder") was one of 18 counties (''fylker'') in Norway up until 1 January 2020, when it was merged with Aust-Agder to form Agder county. In 2016, there were 182,701 inhabitants, around 3.5% of the total population of Norway. ...
. Ms. preserved at the Danish Rigsarkivet) * No. 6, Jesus red sig tile Hede.." (c. 1714. Veø, Romsdal). Same as Grimm's LII quoted above.Grimm#LVII and Bang's no.4 have spelling differences, but both cite Hammond as source, and the identity is mentioned in * No, 20, "Jeus rei sin Faale over en Bru.." (c. 1830. Skåbu,
Oppland Oppland is a former county in Norway which existed from 1781 until its dissolution on 1 January 2020. The old Oppland county bordered the counties of Trøndelag, Møre og Romsdal, Sogn og Fjordane, Buskerud, Akershus, Oslo and Hedmark. The c ...
. However Wadstein's paper does not focus the study on the base text version, but the variant Ms. B which has the "Faale" spelling) * No. 22, "Vor Herre rei.." (c. 1847. Valle, Sætersdal. Recorded by
Jørgen Moe Jørgen Engebretsen Moe (22 April 1813–27 March 1882) was a Norwegian folklorist, bishop, poet, and author. He is best known for the '' Norske Folkeeventyr'', a collection of Norwegian folk tales which he edited in collaboration with Pe ...
) It might be pointed out that none of the charms in Bang's chapter "Odin og Folebenet" actually invokes
Odin Odin (; from non, Óðinn, ) is a widely revered god in Germanic paganism. Norse mythology, the source of most surviving information about him, associates him with wisdom, healing, death, royalty, the gallows, knowledge, war, battle, victory, ...
. The idea that the charms have been Christianized and that the presence of Baldur has been substituted by "The Lord" or Jesus is expressed by Bang in another treatise, crediting communications with Bugge and the work of Grimm in the matter. Jacob Grimm had already pointed out the Christ-Balder identification in interpreting the Merseburg charm; Grimm seized on the idea that in the Norse language, "White Christ (''hvíta Kristr'')" was a common epithet, just as Balder was known as the "white
Æsir The Æsir (Old Norse: ) are the gods of the principal pantheon in Norse religion. They include Odin, Frigg, Höðr, Thor, and Baldr. The second Norse pantheon is the Vanir. In Norse mythology, the two pantheons wage war against each other, ...
-god" Another strikingly similar "horse cure" incantation is a 20th-century sample that hails the name of the ancient 11th-century Norwegian king
Olaf II of Norway Olaf II Haraldsson ( – 29 July 1030), later known as Saint Olaf (and traditionally as St. Olave), was King of Norway from 1015 to 1028. Son of Harald Grenske, a petty king in Vestfold, Norway, he was posthumously given the title '' Rex Per ...
. The specimen was collected in Møre, Norway, where it was presented as for use in healing a bone fracture:
This example too has been commented as corresponding to the second Merseburg Charm, with Othin being replaced by Saint Olav.


Sweden

Several Swedish analogues were given by
Sophus Bugge Elseus Sophus Bugge (5 January 1833 – 8 July 1907) was a Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scholarly work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runi ...
and by Viktor Rydberg in writings published around the same time (1889). The following 17th-century spell was noted as a parallel to the Merseburg horse charm by both of them:''Studier over de nordiske Gude- and Helte-sagns Oprindelse'' ; Germ. tr. by Brenner,
Another example (from Kungelf's Dombok, 1629) was originally printed by Arcadius:
A spell beginning "S(anc)te Pär och wår Herre de wandrade på en wäg (from Sunnerbo hundred,
Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized f ...
1746) was given originally by Johan Nordlander. A very salient example, though contemporary to Bugge's time, is one that invokes Odin's name:
::) ::(from Jellundtofte socken, Västbo hundred in
Småland Småland () is a historical province () in southern Sweden. Småland borders Blekinge, Scania, Halland, Västergötland, Östergötland and the island Öland in the Baltic Sea. The name Småland literally means ''Small Lands''. The Latinized f ...
, 19th century)


Denmark

A Danish parallel noted by A. Kuhn is the following:


Scotland

Grimm also exemplified a Scottish charm (for people, not horses) as a salient remnant of the Merseburg type of charm. This healing spell for humans was practiced in
Shetland Shetland, also called the Shetland Islands and formerly Zetland, is a subarctic archipelago in Scotland lying between Orkney, the Faroe Islands and Norway. It is the northernmost region of the United Kingdom. The islands lie about to the n ...
(which has strong Scandinavian ties and where the
Norn language Norn is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Northern Isles ( Orkney and Shetland) off the north coast of mainland Scotland and in Caithness in the far north of the Scottish mainland. After Orkney and Shetland were pledge ...
used to be spoken). The practice involved tying a "wresting thread" of black wool with nine knots around the sprained leg of a person, and in an inaudible voice pronouncing the following: Alexander Macbain (who also supplies a presumably reconstructed Gaelic "Chaidh Criosd a mach/Air maduinn mhoich" to the first couplet of "The Lord rade" charm above) also records a version of a horse spell which was chanted while "at the same time tying a worsted thread on the injured limb".,
Macbain goes on to quote another Gaelic horse spell, one beginning "Chaidh Brìde mach.." from '' Cuairtear nan Gleann'' (July 1842) that invokes St. Bride as a "he" rather than "she", plus additional examples suffering from corrupted text.


Ancient India

There have been repeated suggestions that healing formula of the Second Merseburg Charm may well have deep Indo-European roots. A parallel has been drawn between this charm and an example in
Vedic literature upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...
, an incantation from the 2nd millennium BCE found in the ''
Atharvaveda The Atharva Veda (, ' from ' and ''veda'', meaning "knowledge") is the "knowledge storehouse of ''atharvāṇas'', the procedures for everyday life".Laurie Patton (2004), Veda and Upanishad, in ''The Hindu World'' (Editors: Sushil Mittal and G ...
'', hymn IV, 12:
} art thou, grower, grower of severed bone; make this grow. O ''arundhatī'' :2. What of thee is torn, what of thee is inflamed (?), what of thee is crushed (?) in thyself ::may Dhātar excellently put that together again, joint with joint. :3. Let thy marrow come together with marrow, and thy joint together with joint; ::together let what of your flesh has fallen apart, together let thy bone grow over. :4. Let marrow be put together with marrow; let skin grow with skin; :: let thy blood, bone grow; let flesh grow with flesh. :5. Fit thou together hair with hair; fit together skin with skin; ::let thy blood, bone grow; put together what is severed, O herb..., etc. ,
This parallelism was first observed by
Adalbert Kuhn Franz Felix Adalbert Kuhn (19 November 1812 – 5 May 1881) was a German philologist and folklorist. Kuhn was born in Königsberg in Brandenburg's Neumark region. From 1841 he was connected with the Köllnisches Gymnasium at Berlin, of w ...
, who attributed it to a common Indo-European origin. This idea of an origin from a common prototype is accepted by most scholars, although some have argued that these similarities are accidental. The Rohani (Rōhaṇī sa, रोहणी) here apparently does not signify a deity, but rather a healing herb; in fact, just an alternative name for the herb arundathi mentioned in the same strain.


See also

* Eggja stone *'' Lorsch Bee Blessing'' *'' Nine Herbs Charm''


Explanatory notes


Citations


References

;Editions * * * ;The Merseburg Charms * * * * (reprint) * * * * * * ;General * *, p. 287, 549- (addendum to p. 284ff) * * * * * (in: "Cap. XXXVIII. Sprüche und Segen"; "Beschwörungen") * * *Hoptman, Ari (1999). "The Second Merseburg Charm: A Bibliographic Survey." Interdisciplinary Journal for Germanic Linguistics and Semiotic Analysis 4: 83–154. * * * : Cont. in
''The Highland Monthly'' 4 (1892-3)
pp. 227–444 * : Cont. in:
''Transactions'' 18 (1891-2)
pp. 97–182 * (discusses Rydberg and Bugge's commentary) * * (Reprint) :(Revised version; containing and his ''Anglo-Saxon Trial by Jury'' (2000)) * {{Dísir and idisi Germanic mythology Germanic paganism Merseburg Old High German literature Sources on Germanic paganism Incantation Medieval documents of Germany