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The Franks Casket (or the Auzon Runic Casket) is a little whalebone chest, dating due to its pagan elements to early 7th century, decorated with images and Futhorc runic inscriptions. It was probably a treasure chest of an Anglo-Saxon king, such as Edwin of Northumbria, or Penda of Mercia, the last pagan king of Anglo-Saxon England. It is now kept in the British Museum.
The majority of the history of the casket is unknown up until relatively recently. It was 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 ended up in the Bargello Museum, Florence.
The Casket
Front panel(F)
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,- 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
Rear panel (T)
- her fegtaþ
- +titus end giuþeasu HIC FUGIANT HIERUSALIM
- afitatores
- dom gisl
Number of runes, including those in the Latin part (IIISI) 48
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 no runes but rune-like characters, which have to be deciphered. They are, anyway, 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.
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.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.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, anyway, 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. 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 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 *
External links
- The Franks Casket (British Museum page)
- The Franks Casket
Runenkästchen von Auzon | Anglo-Saxon England | Anglo-Saxon art | Runology
"Franks Casket"