Two Charms in a Late Medieval English Manuscript at Nijmegen University Library

Abstract

This article introduces and prints two charms from the fifteenth-century English manuscript Nijmegen, Universiteitsbibliotheek, HS 194. Nijmegen 194 is little studied, which is presumably why most of the English items remain unnoticed. Some of these items are hitherto unknown in Middle English scholarship, including the first of the two charms printed here. This first charm is a type of Heavenly Letter that we have termed the Letter of Joseph of Arimathea. The second is a Latin verbal charm that protects its user from a wide range of dangers. After a discussion of the charms as protective devices in the context of accompanying prayers and directions in the manuscript, we analyse their textual traditions and publish the charms from Nijmegen 194.

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