The Franks Casket (or the Auzon Runic Casket) is a little whalebone chest, dateable from its pagan elements to the early 7th century, decorated with images and Futhorc runic inscriptions. It is now kept in the British Museum. The 7th century is the period from 601 - 700 in accordance with the Julian calendar in the Christian Era. ... Technical note: Due to technical limitations, some web browsers may not display some special characters in this article. ... The centre of the museum was redeveloped in 2000 to become the Great Court, with a tessellated glass roof by Buro Happold and Foster and Partners surrounding the original Reading Room. ...

The majority of the history of the casket was unknown up until relatively recently. It was in the possession of a family in Auzon in Haute Loire (upper Loire region) France. It served as a sewing box until the silver hinges were traded for a silver ring. Without the support of these the casket fell apart. The parts were shown to Professor Mathieu from nearby Clermont-Ferrand, who sold them to an antique shop in Paris, where they were bought by Sir Augustus W. Franks who later donated the panels to the British Museum. A missing panel was later found in a drawer of the family in Auzon and is now in the Bargello Museum, Florence. Haute-Loire is a département in south-central France named after the Loire River. ... Clermont-Ferrand is a city of France, in the Auvergne region, with a population of approximately 140,000. ... City flag City coat of arms Motto: Fluctuat nec mergitur (Latin: Tossed by the waves, she does not sink) Location Coordinates Time Zone CET (GMT +1) Administration Country France Région ÃŽle-de-France Département Paris (75) Subdivisions 20 arrondissements Mayor Bertrand Delanoë  (PS) (since 2001) City Statistics Land... Florences skyline Florence (Italian: ) is the capital city of the region of Tuscany, Italy. ...

The Casket

Front panel(F)

left half of front panel

The front panel shows the murder and rape by Weyland on the left side, and the adoration of Christ by the Magi on the right. Around the panel runs the inscription, Image File history File links Franks_Casket_vorne_links. ... Image File history File links Franks_Casket_vorne_links. ... Weyland (also spelled Wayland, Weland and Watlende) is the mythical smith-god of the Saxon immigrants into Britain. ... This page is about the title or the Divine Person. For the Christian figure, see Jesus. ... The Wise Men are given the names Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthasar in this Romanesque mosaic from the Basilica of St Apollinarius in Ravenna, Italy. ...

hronæs ban

fisc . flodu . ahof on ferg

enberig

warþ ga:sric grorn þær he on greut giswom

Which may be interpreted as:

"whalebone

fish flood threw on fir

mountain

The ghost-king was sad when he swam onto the gravel"

Or more meaningful in the sequence object > subject, possible by stressing the subject, which alliterates with the object:

"Whalebone

The flood hove the fish on fergenberg (?)

The ghost-king was gloomy when he had swum on the gravel

These verses constitute the oldest piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry (stave rhyme verses here alliterating on f and g), original in text and material.

Number of runes and dots (..:) 72

Left panel (R)

oÞlæ unneg //

Romwalus and Reumwalus // twoegen

gibroðær

a // fœdde hiæ wylif // in Romæcæstri:.

"far from home / Romulus and Remus, two brothers / the she-wolf raised them in Rome-burg"

Number of runes and dots 72 The ancient bronze Capitoline Wolf suckles the infant twins Romulus and Remus; the twins were added in the late 15th century, perhaps by Antonio del Pollaiuolo. ... Nickname: The Eternal City Motto: SPQR: Senatus PopulusQue Romanus Location of the city of Rome (yellow) within the Province of Rome (red) and region of Lazio (grey) Coordinates: Region Lazio Province Province of Rome Founded 8th century BC Mayor Walter Veltroni Area    - City 1,285 km²  (496. ...

Rear panel (T)

her fegtaþ

+titus end giuþeasu HIC FUGIANT HIERUSALIM

afitatores

dom gisl

"Here fight / Titus and the Jews — here they flee Jerusalem / inhabitants / doom / hostage"

Number of runes, including those in the Latin part (IIISI) 48 For other uses, see Titus (disambiguation). ...

Right panel (H)

herh os sitæþ on hærmberge

agl(ac) drigiþ swa hir i erta e gisgraf

særden sorgæ and sefa tornæ

Translation is extremely difficult, but may be attempted like this:

The grove-goddess sits on harm-hill (left part of the picture)

she works ill luck as Erta has imposed on her (central part of the picture)

they created grief, sorrow and distress (right part of the picture)

These verses, too, belong the oldest pieces of Anglo-Saxon poetry (stave rhyme verses here alliterating on h, a and e, s).

The vowels are not runes but rune-like characters, which have to be deciphered. They are included into our counting.

Number of runes 74

Lid (Æ)

The lid shows a scene of an archer, labelled Ægili, single-handedly defending a fortress against a troop of attackers. His wife is also shown within the fortress. In Norse mythology, Egil is named as a brother of Weyland and the husband of the swan maiden Olrun in the Völundarkviða. The Pforzen buckle inscription, dating to about the same period as the casket, also makes reference to the couple. Norse or Scandinavian mythology comprises the pre-Christian religion, beliefs and legends of the Scandinavian people, including those who settled on Iceland, where the written sources for Norse mythology were assembled. ... Egil is a legendary hero of the Völundarkviða and the Thidreks saga. ... Weyland (also spelled Wayland, Weland and Watlende) is the mythical smith-god of the Saxon immigrants into Britain. ... Old Norse Ölrún, Old High German Ailrun, Modern German Alruna, Alraune is a Germanic female personal name, from Proto Germanic *aliruna, from ali- strange and runa secret. In German, Alruna was also used as a short form of Adelruna, a different name with a first element *athal- noble. In... Völundr and his brothers marry valkyries who dress in swan skins. ... The Pforzen buckle is a silver belt buckle found in Pforzen, Ostallgäu. ...

If we count the runes of "Ægili" and add all the other words filled into the pictures "mægi risci bita wudu" we gain the Number of runes 22

Total number of runes  : 288 = (12 x 24)

The programme

"The box is made of whalebone, richly carved on the sides and lid in high relief with a range of scenes with accompanying text in runic and Roman script in both English and Latin languages." (British Museum)

Nevertheless, the pictures and inscription seem to establish a programme: The box, made in the transition period from paganism to Christianity (and thus applying Christian and classic material to pagan practices) was not simply decorated with nice-to-look-at pictures, and inscriptions explaining the carvings. Quite contrary, the carver developed a most intricate programme in the best interest of his royal patron's course of life, a warrior-king's life. The scenes are emblematic, i.e. a certain motif stands for a certain period in life.

Front (F panel)

Life starts with birth, and so does the programme. It is a very noble birth to which the Mægi come— a King is born! Between them and the throne of mother and child there is a swan or goose present instead of an angel and that bird may be interpreted as the hero's fylgja, an Old Norse female guardian spirit; attendant spirit in animal form. The fylgja was known later as the valkyrie, a shapeshifter, who is invisibly present at birth. Moreover, there is a symbol known as the triquetra, a variant of a Valknutr otherwise known as Woden's knot over the back of the third pilgrim. The first of the pilgrim’s bears a chalice above which is a rosette of thirteen rays, which may hint at the months in a lunar year. The fylgja (following woman, here the swan maiden or Valkyrie) shows up in the Weland picture as the beer-bringing helper at his revenge, the only way to free the elfish smith. This picture may serve to secure the help of the fylgja or else may promote the family life of the hero. A fylgja (literally: she, who follows) was, according to Scandinavian mythology, a supernatural creature which accompanied a person. ... A statue from 1908 by Stephan Sinding located in Copenhagen, presents an active image of a valkyrie. ... Shapeshifting, transformation , transmogrification or morphing is a change in the form or shape of a person, especially: a change from human form to animal form and vice versa a change in appearance from one person to another Shapeshifting is not considered scientifically or medically possible for humans (and animal shapeshifting... A god of the Anglo-Saxon /Early English tribes brought with them from continental Europe, around the 5th and 6th centuries until conversion to Christianity in the 8th and 9th centuries CE. Woden is the carrier-off of the dead, but not necessarily with the attributes of his Norse equivalent... Since there are about twelve lunations (synodic months) in a solar year, this period (354. ...

Both pictures match the contents of the hoard box, from which the king rewarded and honoured his retainers. Weland was by name and profession synonymous with “wealth” (Old English ‘feoh’) as the Mægi were with “gift” (O.E. gifu, gift). And O.E. ‘feohgift’ (bounty giving, largess) describes the purpose of the chest. As if to underline that, the verses alliterate on the runes F (feoh) and G (gifu), with these runes placed in the left and right corners of the upper line. This way feoh-gifu establishes the context of the heterogeneous pictures and the verses on the whalebone.

Left (R panel)

Just as the text says Romulus and Remus (here: Romwalus and Reumwalus) are depicted here, though in a strange setting. The place is a grove not a grotto; there are four warriors not one shepherd; there are two wolves instead of one. Romulus and Remus were the sons of Mars, the Roman god of war, counterpart to Woden (earlier Tiw), as the Germanic god of war. Woden had two wolves at his side, and he was adored by warriors, not by shepherds. Divine twins were regarded as helpers at travel and war (Romulus actually adopted the office of a war-deity from the ancient god Quirinus). Quite appropriately the text is introduced with ‘un-near (one’s) domain’ and continues with and alliterates on the R-rune. According to the Anglo-Saxon Runic Poem it equates with ‘ride’ which ‘seems easy to every warrior while he is indoors and courageous …on highroads…’ Therefore, the picture and inscription are meant to protect the hero on his way to war. The fortune or fate of the band of warriors can be read from the trees they are grasping, if the roots are interpreted as twig runes. This article is about Tyr, the god. ... In Roman mythology, Quirinus was a mysterious god. ...

Back (T panel)

The peak of a warrior-king’s life is glory won by victory over his enemies. The carver chose Titus, the Roman emperor, here defeating the Jews and sitting in judgement over some people, as the T-rune stands for O.E. ‘tir’, which means ‘honour, glory’. The Runic Poem comments: ‘(honour) is a (guiding) star, well does it keep faith with princes’. At the same time Tir or Tiw is the name of the ancient Germanic god of war and justice. The upper picture shows a 'victory', the lower one a 'trial' (O.E. doom). The beasts under the arch may be the animals associated with Tiw and Woden (horses, respectively wolves and ravens). Three words of the text , ‘HIC FUGIaNT HIERUsaLIM’, are kept in Latin language and letters, apart from the ‘s’ which is clearly a rune, and the two letters ‘a’, which are rendered as majuscules, while the characters ‘I’ and ‘R’ can be seen as runes and letters alike.

Right (H panel)

The saga behind pictures and text is unknown. The topic is the death of a warrior; very appropriate at this point, because death in battle is the climax of a heroic life.

A warrior must not die in bed else he would go to hel ("Hell"). So (left scene) he meets Herh-os (grove-goddess), his fylgja and at this point Woden’s Gorgonian type of Valkyrie, who — not the enemy — brings death on him. In the middle section we have a grave with a body in it, and left and right of it a horse and a female with a rod and a chalice. We know similar scenes from the Ardre image stones, where Woden's Sleipnir is identified by valknutr (Woden's knots) and the alu-bringing fylgja in her human shape. She revives him and takes him to Walhalla. In Norse mythology, the realm Hel shares a name with its ruler, Hel. ... Medieval illustration of Hell in the Hortus deliciarum manuscript of Herrad of Landsberg (about 1180) Hell, according to many religious beliefs, is a place or a state of pain and suffering. ... The largest of the Ardre image stones The Ardre image stones are a collection of ten 8th century rune and image stones. ... For other uses see Valhalla (disambiguation). ...

The O.E. words risci, wudu, bita describe the fatal weapon, as it is repeatedly reported in the Edda. A twig (risci) changes into a spear (wudu is a kenning for that weapon, and bita a possible name). The rod continues into the t-rune, thus forming a lethal spear. If the twig-holding monster on the left is the death-bringing Valkyrie the bird may be she herself, flying to the grave of her hero, there to change into her human shape and to wake her protégée with alu ( magic formula for beer, 'ale'). According to the text they created grief, sorrow and distress the two hooded beings could be the ones guilty of the hero's death or daemonic characters leading him away. This may be part of the lost saga. Nevertheless a turn to the good, as the line alliterates on ‘s’ which means ‘sun’, i.e. ‘light’ or ‘life’. The carver has encoded the inscription. If the text could be read, its spell would work. But the King is still alive, and as he does not want the spell to become effective the rune-master replaces the vowels by rune-like symbols. The Edda are collections of poetically narrated folk-tales relating to Norse Mythology or Norse heroes. ... In literature, a kenning is a compound poetic phrase, a figure of speech, substituted for the usual name of a person or thing. ...

The lid(Æ)

The scene shows an archer, Ægili, defending a fortress against a band of gigantic attackers. He is supported by a woman sitting under an arch, a sacred building or enclosure perhaps. It could be his fylgja or valkyrian partner, one of the swan maidens mentioned in the Edda. Valknutr, arch and double-headed animals suggest that it is Valhalla, and if so the attackers would be the frost giants. If this is the meaning of the picture the carver would have procured a glorious afterlife for his royal protégée. Again he has chosen a suitable name, as the rune for Æ refers to the sturdy trunk of the ash tree, which “offers stubborn resistance, though attacked by many a man.” (Runic Poem)

Numbers and values

Quite obviously the carver tried to stick to a certain number of runes (288 = 12 x 24) and values defined by the position of the rune in the fuÞorc. In order to achieve these values the carver allowed himself a defined set of runes (e.g. a=20; b=5; c=5; d=10; e=20; f=10; g=20 etc.) and sometimes twisted words and grammar, which — because of that — cannot be used for the dating of the casket.

Literature

• Alfred Becker: Franks Casket. Zu den Bildern und Inschriften des Runenkästchens von Auzon (Regensburg 1973)

• Jane Hawkes and Susan Mills (editors), Northumbria's Golden Age (1999); with articles by L. Webster, James Lang, C. Neuman de Vegvar on aspects of the casket.

• Franks Casket: Bibliography [1]

External links

• The Franks Casket (British Museum page)
• The Franks Casket