Did you know…

…medieval scribes put curses in their books lest anyone harm them?

I’m not sure I blame them. Being a scribe in the Middle Ages would have been slow, detailed work. Can you imagine writing this?

Apparently these scribes weren’t interested in sharing their books with people who wouldn’t care for them well. So they added dramatic curses threatening anyone who would steal or damage their books.

Protect Your Library the Medieval Way, With Horrifying Book Curses lists these curses, collected from old manuscripts by Marc Drogin.

There were the straight forward ones:

May the sword of anathema slay
If anyone steals this book away. 

Which is sweet, to the point, and even rhymes.

There are ones with more feeling:

“If anyone take away this book, let him die the death;
let him be fried in a pan;
let the falling sickness and fever size him;
let him be broken on the wheel, and hanged. Amen.”

I think the “Amen” at the end really seals the deal.

Then, for the medieval scribe who had just had it up to here with people disrespecting books:

“For him that stealeth, or borroweth and returneth not, this book from its owner, let it change into a serpent in his hand & rend him. Let him be struck with palsy & all his members blasted. Let him languish in pain crying aloud for mercy,  & let there be no surcease to his agony till he sing in dissolution. Let bookworms gnaw his entrails in token of the Worm that dieth not, & when at last he goeth to his final punishment, let the flames of Hell consume him for ever.”

So, there you have it.

Next time you lend a book to a friend, consider jotting a quick curse at the front to make sure they walk the straight and narrow, and bring your book back in good shape.

Happy Reading!

Janice