Humoral Theory in the Medieval North

An Old Norse Translation of Epistula Vindiciani in Hauksbók

Abstract

The oldest preserved Old Norse text explaining the theory of the four humours is a roughly 900-word-long treatise, preserved in Hauksbók, under the title Af natturu mannzins ok bloði. This unique text in the Old Norse corpus can be described as consisting of two parts, which differ somewhat in nature. The first section is a theological preamble or premise, elucidating the divine creation and the nature of the elements (earth, water, air and fire) and their harmonious interaction. The second part is a physiological section with a systematic explication of the constitution of the humours and their effects on the character and disposition of men. In this essay, the ideas presented in the first part of Af natturu mannzins ok bloði are put into context with currents of thought transmitted in a body of medieval learned and theological texts, while maintaining a focus on the writings that we have grounds to assume were extant in medieval Iceland and Norway. Furthermore, the elucidation of the theory of the four humours, which appears in the second part of Af natturu mannzins ok bloði, is traced to a popular and widespread learned Latin text: Epistula Vindiciani ad Pentadium. The two texts are compared, and argued that this latter part of Af natturu mannzins ok bloði is an Old Norse translation derived from Epistula Vindiciani.