Hard questions about hard woods: the exclusions in the Old English ‘Æcerbot’ Charm

Mary Ward

Landscape History, 2019, vol. 40, issue 1, 5-14

Abstract: The Old English charm whose rituals provide a remedy for land which is unproductive is designed to be undertaken by, for, and on behalf of, a community. Community in this instance includes not only a human component but every plant and animal that lives in or on the land in question with only two exceptions, a plant known as ‘glappan’ and a category of trees described as ‘hard trees’. This paper considers what is meant by ‘hard trees’ through an attempt to understand the practical context of application of the ritual prescribed. Interpreting the text thus allows for the possibility that the trees to be excluded are the particular individual trees which are the boundary markers of the estate.

Date: 2019
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DOI: 10.1080/01433768.2019.1600941

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