Runestones reveal story of Viking Queen
Archaeologists have used 3D scanning to investigate inscriptions carved on two groups of runestones, in Denmark revealing that four stones were likely made in dedication to a powerful Viking Queen from the tenth century.
Norse Runes were just as advanced as Roman Alphabet writing, historian finds
In the Middle Ages, the Roman alphabet and Norse runes lived side by side. A new doctoral thesis challenges the notion that runes represent more of an oral and less of a learned form of written language
The world of Orcadian runecarvers: the Western Sea, the South of the land, and Jerusalem
Andrea Freund talking about runic inscriptions from Orkney and what they can tell a modern reader about the world the runecarvers lived in: their language and names, their religion, their mental geographies, and the role social status played for them.
Viking runestone reveals fear of climate catastrophe, scholars find
The new interpretation suggests the inscription deals the conflict between light and darkness, warmth and cold, life and death.
Messages in Stone: Runic Carvings in North America and Oklahoma
More than 6,000 Runes are found worldwide, and present a history of Scandinavian life and exploration in the Medieval Age. This TedX lecture explores scholarly efforts to determine the authenticity of North American and Oklahoman stones, and popular television entertainment programs and corporate efforts to capitalize on a different story line.
What’s New in Scandinavian Rune Stones
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Runic and Latin Written Culture: Co-Existence and Interaction of Two Script Cultures in the Norwegian Middle Ages Stephanie Elisabeth Baur: zur Erlangung des…
The Viking Age and the Crusades Era in Yngvars saga víðförla
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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.’