Gripla - 2022, Side 134

GRIPLA132
The contents of Læknisfræði intersect with those in a late fifteenth-/
early sixteenth-century Icelandic manuscript, AM 434 a 12mo (although
the ordering of the material is different) and with the fifteenth-century
RIA 23 D 43 (again, with different ordering).99 Parts of Læknisfræði also
find parallels in the work of thirteenth-century Danish canon Henrik
Harpestræng, who is known for introducing Salernitan medical concepts
into Scandinavia.100
AM 194 8vo’s Læknisfræði contains a range of treatments, both curative
and enhancive. The curative treatments, like those in the lapidary, address
physiological symptoms and ailments (e.g., toothache,101 dysentery,102
burns,103 spider bites,104 weak-sightedness105 etc.), just as they can im-
prove or alter cognitive function (e.g., incense is used to improve one’s
memory).106 Other enhancive therapies include the ingestion of salvia “til
biartrar radar” (for a clear voice),107 an outcome which does not necessarily
presuppose an underlying ailment to treat or symptom to alleviate. Also
relevant is the use of “pistinaca” (parsnip?) to attract a man to a woman,108
which parallels Illiasborius’s ability to make a man “powerful in all lust for
women.”109
Like the lapidary stones, Læknisfræði’s remedies can be applied topically
as well as taken internally. Typically, topical treatments are used for ail-
ments that are visible and reside on the surface of the body (e.g., wounds,
bites etc.) while ingested treatments are used for internal ailments (e.g.,
fever, poisoning, urinary retention etc.). This pattern is similarly seen
99 In RIA 23 D 43, the compiler, or one of his sources, attempted to group entries for the
same illness together and arrange entries in order from head to feet.
100 Ben Waggoner (ed. and trans.), Norse Magical and Herbal Healing. A Medical Book from
Medieval Iceland (New Haven, CT: Troth, 2011), xxxvi. Also relevant here is the Icelandic
physician Hrafn Sveinbjarnarson, who travelled extensively in Europe and whose saga
reflects familiarity with Salernitan medical practices in late twelfth- and early thirteenth-
century Iceland.
101 AÍ, 64, 73.
102 AÍ, 68–69.
103 AÍ, 73.
104 AÍ, 74.
105 AÍ, 64, 68.
106 AÍ, 67.
107 AÍ, 72.
108 AÍ, 68: “Etr madr mikit af henne, þa fysir mann til konu.”
109 See footnote 59.