The Lorsch Bee Blessing (German: ''Lorscher Bienensegen'') is a

bee-keeping Beekeeping (or apiculture, from ) is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Honey bees in the genus '' Apis'' are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as '' Melipona'' stingless bees are al ...

prayer intended to bring home

honey bee A honey bee (also spelled honeybee) is a eusocial flying insect within the genus ''Apis'' of the bee clade, all native to mainland Afro-Eurasia. After bees spread naturally throughout Africa and Eurasia, humans became responsible for the ...

s in good health to their hives. It is believed to have been written in the 9th century, and was discovered in a manuscript (on fol. 58r of the ''Pal. lat. 220'' in the

Vatican Library The Vatican Apostolic Library (, ), more commonly known as the Vatican Library or informally as the Vat, is the library of the Holy See, located in Vatican City, and is the city-state's national library. It was formally established in 1475, alth ...

, a copy of the

Apocalypse of Paul The Apocalypse of Paul (, literally "Revelation of Paul"; more commonly known in the Latin tradition as the or ) is a fourth-century non-canonical apocalypse and part of the New Testament apocrypha. The full original Greek version of the Apoc ...

) from the monastery in

Lorsch Lorsch () is a town in the Bergstraße district in Hessen, Germany, 60 km south of Frankfurt. Lorsch is well known for the Lorsch Abbey, which has been named a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. Geography Location Lorsch lies about 5 km ...

, Germany, famous for the

Lorsch Codex The Lorsch Codex (Chronicon Laureshamense, Lorscher Codex, Codex Laureshamensis) is an important historical document created between about 1175 to 1195 AD in the Lorsch Abbey, Monastery of Saint Nazarius in Lorsch, Germany. The codex is handwrit ...

. Despite being a Christian prayer written in

Old High German Old High German (OHG; ) is the earliest stage of the German language, conventionally identified as the period from around 500/750 to 1050. Rather than representing a single supra-regional form of German, Old High German encompasses the numerous ...

, it has remarkable similarities to the

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons, in some contexts simply called Saxons or the English, were a Cultural identity, cultural group who spoke Old English and inhabited much of what is now England and south-eastern Scotland in the Early Middle Ages. They traced t ...

and apparently pagan "

For a Swarm of Bees "For a Swarm of Bees" is an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm that was intended for use in keeping honey bees from swarming. The text was discovered by John Mitchell Kemble in the 19th century. The charm is named for its opening words, "'", meaning "agai ...

" (Old English "''wiþ ymbe''") magic charm. It may reflect a common pre-Christian Germanic cultural heritage.Grendon (1909:209)

Text

Old High German

:''Kirst, imbi ist hûcze'' :''Nû fliuc dû, vihu mînaz, hera'' :''Fridu frôno in munt godes'' :''gisunt heim zi comonne'' :''Sizi, sizi bîna'' :''Inbôt dir sancte Maria'' :''Hurolob ni habe dû'' :''Zi holce ni flûc dû'' :''Noh dû mir nindrinnês'' :''Noh dû mir nintuuinnêst'' :''Sizi vilu stillo'' :''Uuirki godes uuillon''

Translation

:Christ, the bee swarm is out here! :Now fly, you my animal, come. :In the Lord's peace, in God's protection, :come home in good health. :Sit, sit bee. :The command to you from the Holy Mary. :You have no vacation; :Don't fly into the woods; :Neither should you slip away from me. :Nor escape from me. :Sit completely still. :Do God's will.

Notes

External links

Pal. lat. 220 (Vatican, Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana)
– digital facsimile (Bibliotheca Laureshamensis - digital) * Meinolf Schumacher
''Majas Ahnfrauen? Über Bienen in der mittelalterlichen Literatur''

References

{{Authority control Beekeeping Germanic mythology Sources on Germanic paganism Christian prayer Incantation Manuscripts in the Vatican Library