I have a small amulet to bring me luck and protect me from evil. It holds some little charms I
have collected - pilgrim tokens, an elf-arrow, a petal from the first rose my consort won for
me - as well as prayers and my favourite saints names. The priests, neither of the Old Faith
nor the new Kirk, do not like these, so it stays hidden in a coffer, rather than worn around my
neck as of old.
Amulets, talismans and charms -- yes they are different things -- have a
very long history, it
seems back as far as we can recognise humankind. In 16th-century Europe religious reforms
and fervour had not succeeded in stamping out such practices.
One form which remained popular (versions can be found to this day) is that of the breverl,
breve, or brevu relating to the short text and reminders it contained (surviving in this useage
in the legal term brief). They typically consist of a couple of pages of folded written or printed
text accompanied by woodcuts of saints or the Holy Family and a selection of tiny charms
such as crosses, pilgrim tokens, pebbles or gems and the like. These were carefully folded
together and housed in small bags of leather, silk or metal; later pasteboard slipcovers
became common and Cellini drew designs for jewelled versions.
The text contained prayers, written charms or magic words aimed at protecting the wearer,
initially from plague, but just as much from temptation and sin, and also from more mundane
concerns like cramp or lightning strikes. Sometimes a small roll of paper or parchment would
contain a list of saints or intercessionary prayers.
St Thomas Aquinas approved of some types of amulets and the witch-hunting tome Malleus
Maleficarum recommended that the inquisitor wear one to protect against the spells of
witches (Skemer, pg 66). Perhaps not surprisingly, Martin Luther railed against the practice in
the late 1530s, saying it was "a frightful misuse and a piece of witchery to write the words In
principio erat verbum on a slip of paper..as a charm against thunder and storm" (Skemer, pg
67).
Although the Church in all its forms came to frown upon these, they remained a staple of
religious markets, predominantly popular in Garmany, Italy and Austria. I was pleased to find
a Scottish reference to their use, with John Ruthven (he of the Gowrie Conspiracy) wearing
one, though it clearly didn't aid him in his attack on James VI (Skemer, pg 134, footnote).
There is mention of ensuring that the amulets were locked like letters to retain their ju-ju
(Skemer, pg 145). Once opened, their divine powers were said to vanish; one rare extant
version was opened to find the magic text page was blank!
Oddly enough, the text in these contain mnemonics for various prayers/devotions -- it's hard
to see how useful they could be if the amulets weren't actually consulted....
My textual amulet (to use the technical academic term) contains inspirational quotes I like,
the Baronial Oath, a list of virtues as well as some Biblical verses and prayers. For the Scots
touch there are conversion units for money, weights and measures, and an extract from a
1541 church dedication record for Andrew Ker of Fernihirst (12 pounds donated to St
Catherine's altar!).
The woodcut of the saints is a 1488 one by Domenec showing at top the 15 mysteries of the
rosary and Christ's life; in the bottom half is (left) St Dominic, St Thomas Aquinas, and St
Catherine of Alexandria, surrounding the Madonna and Child. The extant versions were
backed with printed art papers which looked a little modern to my eye so I backed mine with
some parchmenty paper.
The list of saints starts with ones that katherine venerates: St Jerome, St Barbara, St
Katherine, St Dominic and St Thomas, along with others of interest. It also includes a
reminder of the Hours.
The charms include a collection of event tokens: a St Thomas clover leaf from the
Coronation I co-stewarded; a St Katherine wheel from an Ildhafn event; an Alan
Garner-inspired flower-owl from one of the first quests I ever ran; and a lion from a
Canterbury Faire feast, for St Jerome and my lord-husband Bartholomew. Also a milagros
cross, a broken Kingdom award (Prix Jongleur), a flint arrowhead, some amber chips and a
set of my Kingdom triple gems, a gold wooden tower crafted by my son Pippin when he was
a wee lad. All these are backed by dried rose petals from the May Crown Rose Tourney
where Sir Radbot fought for me. As with the extant examples, they have been glued to a card
with four saints' names and scrap fabric in red and green across the corners.
The extant versions I have been able to track down thus far are from the 1650s-1720s.
Period references mention silk or leather bags, rather than the pasteboard slip-cover of the
later versions. I intend to make a small taffetta bag in "katherine green" to hold my amulet,
but in the meantime I have tucked it together in a letter-locked style to hold things in place.
Let's hope it brings me luck!
Skemer, Don C: Binding Words: Textual Amulets in the Middle Ages; Pennsylvania State
University Press, 2006
Amulets - "Breverl.", Entry 2, pg 3
Breverl 1690-1710
Breverl: folding paper amulet, 1650-1726:
Video of folding:
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