For a Swarm of Bees is an Anglo-Saxon metrical charm intended for use in keeping honey bees from swarming. It is named for the opening words of the text in which it was found by John Mitchell Kemble[1], which were in Old English "wiþ ymbe" meaning "to(wards) a swarm of bees".[2] In the most often studied portion, towards the end of the text where the charm itself is located, the bees are referred to as "victory-women" (Old English sigewif). Scholar Felix Grendon noted remarkable similarities between this charm and the German Lorsch Bee Blessing (Lorscher Bienensegen).[3]
Despite the ostensibly mundane intent of the magic charm to control bees, many scholars have seen the sigewif as either metaphors for, or a direct reference to supernatural beings to be called on for aid in battle.[1][4][5]
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- Settle down, victory-women,
- never be wild and fly to the woods.
- Be as mindful of my welfare,
- as is each man of eating and of home.[10]
Literally meaning "victory-women" or "victorious women", sigewif has been associated by Kemble[1], Jacob Grimm, and other scholars with the notion of valkyries (Old English wælcyrian), and "shield maidens", hosts of female beings attested in Old Norse and, to a lesser extent, Old English sources. Grimm[4] offers equivalents for the term sigewif in other langages: siguwip in Old High German and sigrvif in Old Norse.
Among some scholars the term has been theorized as a simple metaphor for the "victorious sword" (the stinging) of the bees.[10] However, still other recent scholars maintain as was proposed in the 19th century that sigewif represent a variety of supernatural beings to be called upon in battle and are similar to or identical with the Idise of the Merseburg Incantations.[5]
From the monastary in Lorsch, Germany, famous for the Lorsch Codex, a manuscript portion known as the Lorscher Bienensegen or Lorsch Bee Blessing, was identified by Felix Grendon[3] as having remarkable similarities to the Anglo-Saxon bee charm, possibly reflecting some common origin in pre-Christian Germanic culture.
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