spine width 27mm 290306 Norwegian Runes Ar N Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees U D N TERJE SPURKLUND M I Runes, a unique functional writing system exclusive to northern and eastern AC Europe, were used for some 1300 years in Scandinavia, from about AD 200 G A until around the end of the fourteenth century. Carved in stone, and on I MINDY MACLEOD teaches linguistics at jewellery, weapons, utensils and wood, the content of the inscriptions is very CM runic The runic alphabet, in use for well over a Deakin University, Melbourne, Australia; varied, from owner and carpenter attributions on artefacts to memorials to O thousand years, was employed by various U BERNARD MEES is a fellow in history at the deceased on erected stones. The typical runic inscription varies from the B Germanic groups in a variety of ways, the University of Melbourne. deeply religious to the highly trivial, such as ‘I slept with Vigdis when I was JL including superstitious and magical rites. E in Stavanger’. This book presents an accessible account of the Norwegian CE A MULETS Formulaic runic words were inscribed onto T examples throughout the period of their use. The runic inscriptions are T small items that could be carried for good luck; discussed not only from a linguistic point of view but also as sources of SS runic charms were carved on metal or wooden information on Norwegian history and culture. amulets to ensure peace or prosperity; there are invocations and allusions to pagan and Christian gods and heroes, to spirits of disease, An Introduction to English Runes and even to potential lovers. Few such texts are unique to Germanic society, and most of the runic amulets considered in this book R. I. PAGE show wide-ranging parallels from a variety of European cultures. This book shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes The question of whether runes were magical in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming aM n or not has divided scholars: early criticism Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the da runic alphabet (the fffuuuttthhhooorrrccc)) ttoo EEnnggllaanndd iinn tthhee fifi fftthh aanndd ssiixxtthh cceennttuurriieess,, tthhee M c embraced fantastic notions of runic magic, L forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until ee leading not just to scepticism, but in some eo its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes sad cases to a complete denial of any magical were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as element whatsoever in the runic inscriptions. AND decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners’ or makers’ names This book seeks to re-evaulate the whole on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. The book presents question of runic magic, attested to not only many runic objects, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, in the medieval Norse literature dealing with M AGIC and gives an idea of the immense range of information on language and runes but primarily in the fascinating magical social history contained in these unique documents. texts of the runic inscriptions themselves. Jacket photograph by Katherine Alexander: Silver mounting for a sword, found in the Thames and OBJECTS now in the British Museum. BOYDELL & BREWER Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge IP12 3DF (GB) and 668 Mt Hope Ave, Rochester NY 14620-2731 (US) BOYDELL Runic Amulets.indd 1 29/03/2006 14:39:51 Runic Amulets and Magic Objects Runic Amulets and Magic Objects MINDY MACLEOD and BERNARD MEES THE BOYDELL PRESS © Mindy MacLeod and Bernard Mees 2006 All Rights Reserved.Except as permitted under current legislation no part of this work may be photocopied, stored in a retrieval system, published, performed in public, adapted, broadcast, transmitted, recorded or reproduced in any form or by any means, without the prior permission of the copyright owner First published 2006 The Boydell Press, Woodbridge ISBN 1 84383 205 4 Publication of this work was assisted by a publication grant from the University of Melbourne The Boydell Press is an imprint of Boydell & Brewer Ltd PO Box 9, Woodbridge, Suffolk IP12 3DF, UK and of Boydell & Brewer Inc. 668 Mt Hope Avenue, Rochester, NY 14620, USA website: www.boydellandbrewer.com A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library This publication is printed on acid-free paper Typeset by Pru Harrison, Hacheston, Suffolk Printed in Great Britain by Cambridge University Press Contents List of illustrations vii Acknowledgements viii Preface ix Abbreviations x 1 Introduction 1 The principal runic alphabets 13 The names of the runes 14 2 Gods and heroes 15 3 Love, fidelity and desire 40 4 Protective and enabling charms 71 5 Fertility charms 102 6 Healing charms and leechcraft 116 7 Pagan ritual items 163 8 Christian amulets 184 9 Rune-stones, death and curses 211 10 Runic lore and other magic 233 11 Conclusion 254 Bibliography 257 Index 270 Illustrations 1. Pforzenbuckle 20 2. Ribeskullfragment 26 3. Charnaybrooch 43 4. Narsaqstick 69 5. Lindholmenamulet 72 6. DahmsdorfandKovelspearheads 79 7. Undley,LellingandTjurköpendants 91 8. Björketorpstones 114 9. Sigtunaamulet 119 10. Hemdrupstaff 128 11. Bergenstick 158 12. Frøyhovfigurine 172 13. Gallehushorn 176 14. Ikigaatcross 195 15. Umîviarssukamulet 200 16. Maltstone 223 Acknowledgements All illustrations are by Bernard Mees, except for figure 6 which is reproduced from L.F.A. Wimmer, Die Runeninschrift (1887), figure 13 from Danmarks Runeindskrifter(1941)andfigure14fromMeddelelseromGrønland67(1924). TherunicfontsusedarefreewarebyOddEinarHaugen;seehttp://helmer.aksis. uib.no/Runefonter. Preface In 1997 the Uppsala professor, Dr Henrik Williams, was visiting Australia as a guestoftheDepartmentofGermanicStudiesattheUniversityofMelbourne.He haddiscovered,tohissurprise,thatthereweretwopeopleinMelbournewriting independently on runic matters and decided to bring them together. The first productsofourensuingcollaborationweretwojointlywrittenpapers.Wefound thatourdifferingbackgroundsservedtocomplementeachother’sweaknesses,if notalwaysstrengths,andwesoondiscoveredwewereoftenabletocoveralot moregroundthanasinglewritercouldbeexpectedto. Our respective backgrounds as a Scandinavist on the one hand, and as a Germanist (who has also read in classics), on the other, are a good guide to the principalauthorshipofthedifferentthemesandgeographiescoveredinthiswork. Itgrewfromoursecondjointpaper,whichwasinspiredbyanobservationbythe AmericanlinguistDrThomasL.Markey. Researchforthisworkwassupportedbytwogenerousgrants,fromtheGladys Krieble Delmas Foundation of New York and the Greta Hort bequest to the University of Melbourne, which enabled research trips to Italy and Denmark respectively.ThanksarealsoduetotheDepartmentsofMedievalArchaeology andEnglishattheUniversityofÅrhus,Denmark.TheUniversityofMelbourne, andespeciallyitsDepartmentofHistory,hasalsohelpedfundthestudybymeans notjustoftheuseofitsfacilities,butalsointheformofpublicationsubsidies.