Merseburger Zaubersprüche

Merseburger Zaubersprüche, two magic spells entered in the 10th c. on a blank page of a missal preserved in the Capitular Library at Merseburg and first published by J. Grimm in 1842. They are the only spells which clearly reveal pre-Christian origins. The first spell is designed to secure the release of a prisoner of war, the second to heal a lame horse. They have a dual structure: first, a successful similar past occurrence is narrated, whereupon a magic imperative formula is uttered. The narrations in these two spells are heathen, concerning in (1) idisi, probably a kind of Valkyrie, and in (2) Germanic gods, Phol and Wotan. The spells are composed in alliterative verse. (See also Zaubersprüche.)