Danielle Turner reports on the papers from the session The World of Images of the Scandinavian Rune Stones
13th-century Rune Stick discovered in Denmark
May 4, 2015 By
Archaeologists working in the Danish city of Odense have discovered a rune stick with Latin writing dating to the early 13th century.
The Rök Stone – Riddles and answers
May 2, 2015 By
Challenges to the mind were popular at the Frankish court at the time of the Rök Stone. Due to the political situation in Scandinavia at that time the stone was made in a combined Swedish and international context. The methods of the stone are clearly influenced by the Frankish renaissance initiated by Alcuin of York.
The Anglo-Saxon runic poem: a critical reassessment
November 30, 2014 By
I consider the runic poem in its most basic form, as a runic alphabet, and compare its runes and rune-names with the other Anglo-Saxon runic material collected in the Thesaurus.
Ancient Viking Art
August 18, 2014 By
These skilled warriors and seamen had a unique art. Probably the best known artifices of them are the tombstones with engraved drawings; most of them preserve writings with rune scripts and therefore they are called runastones.
Primstav and Apocalypse Time and its Reckoning in Medieval Scandinavia
May 22, 2014 By
This work is intended as an exploration of methods of time-reckoning and conception in Medieval Scandinavia. In the main this is tied to the dynamism between a duality: that of the cyclical and linear models of time‟s progression. Involved in this study are sources verbal and pictoral.
The Anglo-Saxon Name for the s-Rune: Sigel, a Precious Jewel
February 22, 2014 By
The Anglo-Saxon rune-name sigel has been interpreted as meaning ‘sun’. In some contexts Old English sigel does refer to the sun, in others it means ‘clasp’, ‘brooch’, or ‘jewel’. All these meanings, however, are difficult to reconcile with the maritime imagery of the Anglo-Saxon Rune Poem’s sigel stanza.
Christian Prayers and Invocations in Scandinavian Runic Inscriptions from the Viking Age and Middle Ages
February 8, 2014 By
Many runic inscriptions from the Viking Age and Middle Ages are directly related to Christian culture — they originate from a period during which Christianity was introduced and gradually institutionalized.
Norse Rune code cracked
February 7, 2014 By
A scholar of the University of Oslo has cracked one of the rune codes used by the Vikings, revealing they were sending each other messages such as ‘Kiss me’.
Runic and Latin Written Culture: Co-Existence and Interaction of Two Script Cultures in the Norwegian Middle Ages
February 1, 2014 By
Runic and Latin Written Culture: Co-Existence and Interaction of Two Script Cultures in the Norwegian Middle Ages Stephanie Elisabeth Baur: zur Erlangung des Grades Magistra Artium im Fachbereich Nordische Philologie Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen: Deutsches Seminar Abteilung für Skandinavistik, Magisterarbeit, 14. Juni (2011) Abstract When Latin writing finally reached Scandinavia sometime in the 11th century, it was […]
The Viking Age and the Crusades Era in Yngvars saga víðförla
December 1, 2013 By
The ‘Saga of Ingvar the Far-Traveller’ is based on a reliable fact, justified by about 25 runic inscriptions which date to the first half of the eleventh century, that a military expedition, led by Ingvar, went from Sweden to Eastern Europe, then moved to the South or to the South-West and perished there.
Rune Stones and Magnate Farms: The Viking Age in Vadsbo Hundred
April 16, 2013 By
What is the relationship between the Viking Age magnate farms and local place names? What of the numerous Rune stones, burial mounds, surface finds, and ancient monuments? Are they also tied to subsequent names? Can they help us place farms and other sites?
Saga Motifs on Gotland Picture Stones: The Case of Hildr Högnadóttir
March 17, 2013 By
This article will only examine one of these legends, namely the ‘Hildr legend’ in the context of two of these stones, lärbro stora hammars and stenkyrka smiss . An attempt will be made to place the images in a larger context than has been done before, and by doing so to strenghten the probability that they were indeed intended to refer to the original Hildr legend.
Novgorod the Great in Baltic Trade before 1300
March 3, 2013 By
The information on trade contacts between Novgorod and Scandinavian countries preserved in the works of Old Norse
The Old English Rune Poem – Semantics, Structure, and Symmetry
February 17, 2013 By
The later runic alphabets do, of course, follow the basic pattern of the earlier Germanic Fupark though considerably modified by the late eighth century, decreasing in the number of runes in Scandinavia whilst increasing in number in the runic alphabets of England.
Kind hearts are more than cunning heirs and simple pride than property
December 4, 2012 By
Reading the excursus alerts the reader and raises the question whether there is any foundation in the rune-stones for such revision as Birgit Sawyer argues for. One should bring along these doubts when turning to the two chapters dealing with rune-stone inscriptions as expressions of claims to inheritance of property.
Riddles, Runes and Tolkien in the “At-Risk” 8th Grade Classroom
September 21, 2012 By
The Hobbit, perhaps more so than Lord of the Rings, is clearly indebted in part to Old English literature and culture, notably in its use of runic writing in the map illustrations and in the story itself, and in the important role of riddles in Bilbo’s confrontation with Gollum
Runic Magic
July 19, 2012 By
A witty, not to say mischievous, Viking archaeologist has defined the first law of runic studies as ‘for every inscription there shall be as many interpretations as there are runologists studying it.’
The Runic System as a Reinterpretation of Classical Influences and as an Expression of Scandinavian Cultural Affiliation
April 22, 2012 By
Accompanying discussions of the runic system’s graphical origins are arguments concerning its geographical origins. Von Friesen’s theory that runes derived from Greek characters looked east to the Gothic territories, while scholars arguing for North Italic origins have pointed towards the Alps. Moltke, who looked to a largely Latin source for the runic characters, suggested a runic origin in Denmark.
Rune Stones Create a Political Landscape – Towards a Methodology for the Application of Runology to Scandinavian Political History in the Late Viking Age
February 24, 2012 By
The chapters are as follows. 1. Rune stones as historical sources 2. General information about Danish rune stones 3. The process of making a rune stone.
Runes in Changing Contexts: Viking Age and Medieval Writing Traditions
May 7, 2011 By
Runes in Changing Contexts: Viking Age and Medieval Writing Traditions Källström, Magnus 7th International Runic Symposium, Oslo (2010) Abstract The topic of Viking Age and medieval writing traditions is is a huge subject which is impossible to cover in a short speech during a conference. For that reason I will not try to give a […]
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