CONTENTS 



CHAPTER I 

 The Anglo-Saxon Herbals i 



Evidence of the existence of books on herbs in the eighth century — 

 Tenth-century manuscripts — Their importance as the first records of 

 Anglo-Saxon plant lore and of folk medicine of a still earlier age — Pre- 

 liminary survey of the more important manuscripts — Leech Book of 

 Bald — Authorship and origin — Oldest Leech Book written in the 

 vernacular in Europe — Saxon translation of the Herbarium Apuleii 

 Platonici — Illustrations — Saxon translation of the n^pi At5a!;,ea>v — The 

 Lacnunga — Importance of these manuscripts to the student of folk lore — 

 Folk lore of the origin of disease — Doctrine of the " elf -shot " — " Flying 

 venom " — Doctrine of the worm as the ultimate source of disease — 

 Demoniac possession — Herbal remedies — Picturesqueness of Saxon 

 methods of treating diseases — Smoking patient with fumes of herbs — 

 Cattle similarly treated — Use of herbs as amulets — Binding on with red 

 wool — Specially sacred herbs — Charms and incantations to be used in 

 picking and administering herbs — Transference of disease — Predomi- 

 nance of the number nine — Ceremonies to be observed in the picking 

 of herbs — Nature-worship in these ceremonies — Eostra — Prayer to 

 Earth. 



CHAPTER II 



Later Manuscript Herbals and the Early Printed Herbals . 42 



Later manuscript herbals — Copies of Macer's herbal — Treatise on the 

 virtues of rosemary sent by the Countess of Hainault to Queen Philippa 

 cf England — Bartholomaeus Anglicus, De Proprietatibiis rerum — Popu- 

 larity of his writings — Characteristics of De herbis — Trevisa's translation 

 — Bartholomaeus on the roje, the jviolet, etc. — Pleeting pictures of 

 mediaeval life in De herbis — Feeding swine, making bread, building 

 houses, making linen, life in the vineyards, woods, etc. — Wynken de 

 Worde's poem at the end of his edition of De Proprieiatibus rerum — 

 Banckes's Herbal — Possible sources — Later editions — Rose recipes — 

 Mediaeval belief in wholesomeness of fragrant herbs — Descriptions of 

 herbs in Banckes's Herbal — " The boke of secretes of Albartus Magnus " — 

 Herb lore and magic — The Crete Herball — Its origin — Peter Treveris — 

 Characteristics of this herbal — The vertnose book of Jjie Dystillacion of 

 the Waters of all maner of Herbes. 



