[MR] New Book: Henry of Huntingdon's Herbal

[Garth Groff]

Noble Friends,

Just arrived at UVA's Alderman Library: ANGLICANUS ORTUS: A VERSE HERBAL 
OF THE TWELFTH CENTURY by Henry of Huntingdon, edited and translated by 
Winston Black (ISBN 9781851242849; our call number QK41 .H46 2012). A 
verse herbal? Why not? Lots of medieval works were in verse, and anyway, 
when it is translated (from the Latin), the English text comes out in 
blank verse. My experience with herbals is small (mainly Culpeper's, and 
that was years ago). I wouldn't want to try these concoctions, but 
reading about them can be very interesting. This work presents a clear 
English text opposite the original Latin. It is backed by a huge 
commentary, which explains any obscure terms, as well as other 
interesting tid-bits about how and why that particular plant was used. 
There is an extensive bibliography, and FOUR indexes, all mostly in 
Latin. If you want to look up a plant under a common name (I chose mint, 
thinking it would be easy), you have to know the Latin name. However, 
the table of contents gives both the Latin and English names of the 
plants, though not in alphabetical order. Sorry, but there are no 
illustrations. Whether this book is useful as an herbal today, I cannot 
say. As a historical text, and especially in English translation, it my 
prove of great interest to Scadian students of herbalism, and to those 
who dabble in 12th century literature.

Yours Aye,


Lord Mungo Napier, That Crazy Scot
(aka Garth Groff, UVA Library Cataloging & Metadata Services Dept.)