Henbane in History: Seeress Graves, Rain Charms and Poison

Henbane (Hyoscyamus niger) is a poisonous plant of the nightshade family whose history runs through Greek medicine, Germanic religion, medieval brewing, witchcraft trials and modern pharmacology. Its seeds were found in the grave of a Viking Age woman thought to have been a seeress, an eleventh-century bishop condemned a rain charm built around it, and Renaissance physicians named it among the ingredients of witches' ointments. This article treats henbane as history and folklore only: the plant is highly toxic, and nothing here is a guide to its use.

The Plant and Its Names§

Henbane is a coarse, sticky, foul-smelling annual or biennial of waste ground, field edges and old settlements, with hairy leaves and funnel-shaped, cream-yellow flowers netted with purple veins. Its seed capsules, ringed with stiff teeth, have been compared to small lidded jars. All parts of the plant are poisonous. Like belladonna and mandrake, it contains tropane alkaloids that block part of the nervous system, producing dry mouth, racing heart, confusion, hallucinations and, in serious cases, coma and death.

Its names reflect this reputation. The Greek hyoskyamos means "hog's bean," and the English "henbane" means "hen's death." The German Bilsenkraut and Old English belene belong to a family of Germanic names whose origin is uncertain; a link to the Celtic god Belenus has been proposed, but it remains speculation. In the late antique Latin Herbarium of Pseudo-Apuleius, henbane appears as symphoniaca, and some modern writers identify it with the herba Apollinaris, "Apollo's herb," of the same tradition, though that identification is uncertain. The wider group of poisonous plants associated with witches is described in the guide to the witch's garden.

Henbane in Greek and Roman Medicine§

Greek physicians knew several kinds of hyoskyamos, distinguished by the colour of their seeds and flowers. Dioscorides, in the first century CE, recommended the white kind as the least dangerous and described the plant as soporific and pain-relieving, while warning that it causes madness. Pliny the Elder likewise treated it as a potent medicine that could unsettle the mind, and Roman physicians used it in remedies for pain, coughs and inflammation. These were learned medical uses, carefully hedged by authors who knew the plant could kill.

The possible name "Apollo's herb" has led some modern writers to suggest that henbane smoke inspired the prophetess of Delphi. No ancient source says so. Ancient explanations of the Pythia's inspiration speak of a vapour rising from the earth, and modern debates have focused on geology rather than plants, as the article on the Oracle of Delphi explains. The henbane theory is best treated as an interesting guess without evidence.

Seeresses and Rain Charms in Germanic Europe§

The most striking evidence for a ritual role of henbane in northern Europe comes from archaeology. At Fyrkat, a Viking Age ring fortress in Jutland, Denmark, excavators found the late tenth-century grave of a woman buried in the body of a wagon with rich and unusual goods, among them silver toe rings and a small pouch containing henbane seeds. Archaeologists have interpreted her as a völva, a seeress of the kind described in the Old Norse sagas, and the article on seiðr discusses the staffs and graves that support that interpretation. Whether the seeds were used to induce trance, as medicine or as an amulet cannot be known; some scholars suggest they were burned, since the seeds give off fumes when heated, but this is inference.

A written source points in another direction. Around 1012, Bishop Burchard of Worms compiled a penitential, the Corrector, which asked confessors to question their flocks about lingering superstitions. One question describes a rain-making ritual in a time of drought. Village women gathered, chose a young girl, and had her uproot the plant called in German belisa, generally identified as henbane, then led her to a river with the plant bound to her foot and sprinkled her with water, hoping for rain. Burchard prescribed a penance for those who took part. The passage is one of the most vivid glimpses of medieval village magic, and it shows henbane in a ritual concerned with weather and fertility rather than intoxication.

Henbane Beer and the Brewing Laws§

In medieval Germany and elsewhere, beer was flavoured not only with hops but with mixtures of herbs, and henbane was among the additives some brewers used to make beer stronger in effect. Its use is attested in herbals and regulations, and the place-name and plant-name scholarship of the nineteenth century speculated about connections between Bilsen and brewing towns, though these etymologies are doubtful.

Authorities repeatedly tried to control what went into beer. The Bavarian ordinance of 1516, later famous as the Reinheitsgebot or "purity law," limited beer's ingredients to barley, hops and water. Historians have suggested several motives, including the regulation of prices and the reservation of wheat for bread, and some have argued that excluding dangerous additives such as henbane was among them. The evidence for that particular motive is indirect, but the law marks the end of an era in which psychoactive herbs could find their way into ordinary drink.

Henbane in Witches' Ointments and Early Modern Debate§

From the fifteenth century, demonologists and physicians began to discuss the ointments that witches were said to use before flying to the sabbath. Renaissance writers such as Giambattista della Porta and the physician Andrés Laguna listed henbane among the plants that could produce deep sleep and vivid dreams, and Johann Weyer, in his De praestigiis daemonum (1563), used such recipes to argue that many accused witches were deluded or drugged rather than in league with the Devil. The history of these debates, and of Laguna's famous test of an ointment on a sleepless patient, is told in the guide to flying ointments.

Henbane had a parallel life in folk medicine. A widespread medieval and early modern remedy held that toothache was caused by worms in the teeth, which could be driven out by the fumes of henbane seeds. The practice caused poisonings, and sceptical observers suspected that the tiny "worms" seen afterwards were nothing more than the curled embryos of the seeds themselves. English herbalists such as John Gerard, in his Herball of 1597, warned that henbane brought frenzy and sleep resembling drunkenness, and they recommended it, if at all, only with great caution.

From Poison to Pharmacy: Hyoscine, Crippen and Modern Lore§

In the nineteenth century chemists isolated henbane's alkaloids. Hyoscyamine was described in the 1830s, and scopolamine, also called hyoscine, was identified later in the century. Hyoscine entered medicine as a sedative and, in the early twentieth century, as part of the controversial "twilight sleep" used in childbirth, which left mothers with little memory of labour. It is still used today, under medical control, against motion sickness and for other purposes.

The same substance made henbane notorious. In 1910 the American doctor Hawley Harvey Crippen was convicted in London of murdering his wife, Cora, whose remains were found to contain hyoscine; the case, in which Crippen was caught at sea with the help of the new wireless telegraph, became one of the most famous trials of the century, though modern scholars have reopened some of its forensic questions. Some readers have also connected henbane with the poison "hebenon" poured into the ear of the old king in Shakespeare's Hamlet, but the word has been identified with several plants and the question is unresolved.

In modern witchcraft and occult literature, henbane is often listed among baneful or "poison path" plants associated with Saturn, the underworld and the dead, a symbolic role drawing on its old reputation. Such lists are modern compilations, and practitioners who include the plant in their symbolism generally stress that it is not to be ingested. Henbane poisoning is a medical emergency, and anyone exposed to it needs immediate medical help.

Frequently asked questions§

Is henbane poisonous?§

Yes. Every part of henbane contains tropane alkaloids, chiefly hyoscyamine and scopolamine, which can cause delirium, hallucinations, a racing heart, coma and death. It has caused many accidental poisonings throughout history. Suspected poisoning requires emergency medical care.

Was henbane used by Viking seeresses?§

A woman buried at Fyrkat in Denmark in the late tenth century, interpreted by archaeologists as a seeress, had a pouch of henbane seeds among her grave goods. This suggests that henbane had some ritual or medical significance for her, but how it was used is unknown. The sagas themselves do not mention henbane.

Why is henbane associated with witches?§

Early modern demonologists and physicians named henbane among the plants of the ointments witches supposedly used to fly to the sabbath. Its power to cause sleep, confusion and vivid dreams made it a natural explanation for confessions of flight, and folklore gave it a sinister reputation that modern witchcraft writers have inherited.

Was henbane really used in beer?§

Yes, medieval and early modern sources record henbane among the herbs some brewers added to beer, particularly in German-speaking lands. Its use declined as hops became standard and as laws such as the Bavarian ordinance of 1516 restricted beer's ingredients.

Sources and further reading§

• De materia medica — Pedanius Dioscorides, c. 70
• Natural History — Pliny the Elder, 77
• The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes — John Gerard, 1597
• De praestigiis daemonum — Johann Weyer, 1563
• The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia — Neil Price, 2002
• Medieval Handbooks of Penance — John T. McNeill & Helena M. Gamer, 1938
• Witchcraft Medicine: Healing Arts, Shamanic Practices, and Forbidden Plants — Claudia Müller-Ebeling, Christian Rätsch & Wolf-Dieter Storl, 2003