The
Merseburg Incantations or
Merseburg Charms are two
medieval magic spells, charms or
incantations, written in
Old High German. They are the only known examples of
Germanic pagan belief preserved in this language. They were discovered in 1841 by
Georg Waitz, who found them in a theological manuscript from
Fulda, written in the 9th or 10th century, although there remains some speculation about the date of the charms themselves. The manuscript (Cod. 136 f. 85a) was stored in the library of the
cathedral chapter of
Merseburg, hence the name.