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.^[1] The charm is named for its opening words, "wiþ ymbe", meaning "against (or towards) a swarm of bees".^[2]

In the most often studied portion, towards the end of the text where the charm itself is located, the bees are referred to as sigewif, "victory-women". The word has been associated by Kemble,^[1] Jacob Grimm, and other scholars with the notion of valkyries (Old English wælcyrian), and "shield maidens", hosts of female beings attested in Old Norse and, to a lesser extent, Old English sources, similar to or identical with the Idise of the Merseburg Incantations.^[3] Among some recent scholars the term has been theorized as a simple metaphor for the "victorious sword" (the stinging) of the bees.^[4]

Lorscher Bienensegen manuscript

In 1909, the scholar Felix Grendon recorded what he saw as similarities between the charm and the Lorsch Bee Blessing, a manuscript portion of the Lorsch Codex, from the monastery in Lorsch, Germany. Grendon suggested that the two could possibly have a common origin in pre-Christian Germanic culture.^[5]

Charm text

Sitte ge, sīgewīf,Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). and it is related to the Sigel (Sowilo) rune.</ref> sīgað tō eorðan, næfre ge wildeCite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). Wilde means wildly, whereas wille means willfully, as well as a literal or figurative stream.[1]</ref> tō wuda fleogan, beō ge swā gemindige,Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). </ref> mīnes gōdes, swā bið manna gehwilc, metes and ēðeles.Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page). </ref> ^ Bosworth (1889).		Settle down, victory-women, never be wild and fly to the woods. Be as mindful of my welfare, as is each man of border and of home.[1] ^ Greenfield (1996), p. 256.

Notes

References

1. Kemble (1876), pp. 403-404.
2. Bosworth (1889).
3. Davidson (1990), p. 63.
4. Greenfield (1996), p. 256.
5. Grendon (1909).

Citations

• Kemble, John Mitchell (1876). The Saxons in England, A History of The English Commonwealth, Till The Period of The Norman Conquest. 1. London: B. Quaritch.
• Grendon, Felix (1909). The Anglo-Saxon Charms.
• Grimm, Jacob (1854). Deutsche Mythologie (German Mythology). Göttingen: Dieterische Bechhandlung.
• Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1889–1921). An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary with Supplements and Corrections by T. Northcote Toller.
• Greenfield, Stanley B.; Calder, Daniel Gillmore (1996). A New Critical History of Old English Literature. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-3088-4.
• Davidson, Hilda Ellis (1990). Gods and Myths of Northern Europe. Penguin. ISBN 0-14-013627-4.