An Introduction to English Runes

An Introduction to English Runes PDF Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9780851159461
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 278

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Book Description
Introduction to the use of runes as a practical script for a variety of purposes in Anglo-Saxon England. Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the futhorc) to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last twenty years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy. It gives an idea of the immense range of informationon language and social history contained in these unique documents. The late R.I. PAGE was former Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge.

An Introduction to English Runes

An Introduction to English Runes PDF Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 9780851159461
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 278

Get Book

Book Description
Introduction to the use of runes as a practical script for a variety of purposes in Anglo-Saxon England. Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight. This book sets the record straight. It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous Anglo-Saxons and incoming Vikings. In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet (the futhorc) to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the Anglo-Saxon period. It discusses how runes were used for informal and day-to-day purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters. For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last twenty years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy. It gives an idea of the immense range of informationon language and social history contained in these unique documents. The late R.I. PAGE was former Professor of Anglo-Saxon in the University of Cambridge.

Runica Manuscripta

Runica Manuscripta PDF Author: René Derolez
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Runes
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Betrifft die Handschrift Cod. 118 der Burgerbibliothek Bern (S. 407).

Runica Manuscripta

Runica Manuscripta PDF Author: René Derolez
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Runes
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
Betrifft die Handschrift Cod. 118 der Burgerbibliothek Bern (S. 407).

Runes and Roman Letters in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts

Runes and Roman Letters in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts PDF Author: Victoria Symons
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
ISBN: 3110491923
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 236

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Book Description
This book presents the first comprehensive study of Anglo-Saxon manuscript texts containing runic letters. To date there has been no comprehensive study of these works in a single volume, although the need for such an examination has long been recognized. This is in spite of a growing academic interest in the mise-en-page of early medieval manuscripts. The texts discussed in this study include Old English riddles and elegies, the Cynewulfian poems, charms, Solomon and Saturn I, and the Old English Rune Poem. The focus of the discussion is on the literary analysis of these texts in their palaeographic and runological contexts. Anglo-Saxon authors and scribes did not, of course, operate within a vacuum, and so these primary texts are considered alongside relevant epigraphic inscriptions, physical objects, and historical documents. Victoria Symons argues that all of these runic works are in various ways thematically focused on acts of writing, visual communication, and the nature of the written word. The conclusion that emerges over the course of the book is that, when encountered in the context of Anglo-Saxon manuscripts, runic letters consistently represent the written word in a way that Roman letters do not.

Runes and Runic Inscriptions

Runes and Runic Inscriptions PDF Author: Raymond Ian Page
Publisher: Boydell & Brewer Ltd
ISBN: 9780851155999
Category : Germanic languages
Languages : en
Pages : 370

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Book Description
The essays that comprise this study range from detailed discussion of the forms of particular runes in the runic alphabet to the wider matters on which runes throw light, such as magic, paganism, literacy and linguistic change.

Bede the scholar

Bede the scholar PDF Author: Peter Darby
Publisher: Manchester University Press
ISBN: 152615319X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 287

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Book Description
Distilling a decade of research by leading experts on the Venerable Bede, Bede the scholar investigates the Northumbrian monk’s place within the wider intellectual developments of the early medieval world. Demonstrating the centrality of the Bible to his scholarship, chapters focus on Bede’s engagement with scriptural languages, his knowledge and use of earlier works of Latin literature, and a pastoral commitment to teaching and preaching. The book breaks new ground for our understanding of Bede’s self image by investigating his famous Ecclesiastical history of the English people alongside lesser-known works such as the Martyrology, the commentary On Genesis, and the chapter headings he developed for different parts of the Vulgate Bible. Contributors highlight the importance of appreciating Bede’s work within its local setting: the kingdom of Northumbria and the monastery of Wearmouth, whose founders, Benedict Biscop and Ceolfrith, inspired Bede in various ways. The monastery provided an environment in which Bede could flourish, and where he contributed to an intellectual enterprise which also generated the Codex Amiatinus, the earliest one-volume Vulgate to survive fully intact. Combining rigorous scholarly research with a celebration of the depth and complexity of Bede’s work, Bede the scholar deepens our understanding of the scholarly programme undertaken by one of the most important intellectual figures of the early middle ages.

Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry

Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry PDF Author: Thomas Birkett
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317070984
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 225

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Book Description
Reading the Runes in Old English and Old Norse Poetry is the first book-length study to compare responses to runic heritage in the literature of Anglo-Saxon England and medieval Iceland. The Anglo-Saxon runic script had already become the preserve of antiquarians at the time the majority of Old English poetry was written down, and the Icelanders recording the mythology associated with the script were at some remove from the centres of runic practice in medieval Scandinavia. Both literary cultures thus inherited knowledge of the runic system and the traditions associated with it, but viewed this literate past from the vantage point of a developed manuscript culture. There has, as yet, been no comprehensive study of poetic responses to this scriptural heritage, which include episodes in such canonical texts as Beowulf, the Old English riddles and the poems of the Poetic Edda. By analysing the inflection of the script through shared literary traditions, this study enhances our understanding of the burgeoning of literary self-awareness in early medieval vernacular poetry and the construction of cultural memory, and furthers our understanding of the relationship between Anglo-Saxon and Norse textual cultures. The introduction sets out in detail the rationale for examining runes in poetry as a literary motif and surveys the relevant critical debates. The body of the volume is comprised of five linked case studies of runes in poetry, viewing these representations through the paradigm of scriptural reconstruction and the validation of contemporary literary, historical and religious sensibilities.

Runic and Mediterranean Epigraphy

Runic and Mediterranean Epigraphy PDF Author: Richard Lee Morris
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 8774926837
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 190

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Book Description
Runic and Mediterranean Epigraphy examines the past 100 years of runic scholarship to show that previous investigations on the origin of the runes have been hampered by a series of ad hoc postulates, the greatest being that the runes cannot have come into existence before the birth of Christ. If one examines the runic, Greek, and Latin alphabets on the basis of letter shapes, graphic-phonological correspondences, direction of writing, the orthographic treatment of nasals, the use of ligatures, interpuncts, and double letters, without any regard to time, striking similiarities appear. These similarities occur between the runes on the one hand and the archaic, pre-classical Greek and Latin writing systems, but not the Latin and Greek writing systems after the birth of Christ. While comparison yields a definite relationship between the runes and the archaic Greek and Latin writing systems, the runes seem to have more in common with the Greek than with the Latin. Runic and Mediterranean Epigraphy demonstrates that the question, 'Where did the runes come from?' has not yet been answered.

Say what I Am Called

Say what I Am Called PDF Author: Dieter Bitterli
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
ISBN: 0802093523
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
Perhaps the most enigmatic cultural artifacts that survive from the Anglo-Saxon period are the Old English riddle poems that were preserved in the tenth century Exeter Book manuscript. Clever, challenging, and notoriously obscure, the riddles have fascinated readers for centuries and provided crucial insight into the period. In Say What I Am Called, Dieter Bitterli takes a fresh look at the riddles by examining them in the context of earlier Anglo-Latin riddles. Bitterli argues that there is a vigorous common tradition between Anglo-Latin and Old English riddles and details how the contents of the Exeter Book emulate and reassess their Latin predecessors while also expanding their literary and formal conventions. The book also considers the ways in which convention and content relate to writing in a vernacular language. A rich and illuminating work that is as intriguing as the riddles themselves, Say What I Am Called is a rewarding study of some of the most interesting works from the Anglo-Saxon period.

Runes

Runes PDF Author: Michael P. Barnes
Publisher: Boydell Press
ISBN: 1843837781
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 258

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Book Description
Offers a full introduction to and survey of runes and runology: their history, how they were used, and their interpretation. Runes, often considered magical symbols of mystery and power, are in fact an alphabetic form of writing. Derived from one or more Mediterranean prototypes, they were used by Germanic peoples to write different kinds of Germanic language, principally Anglo-Saxon and the various Scandinavian idioms, and were carved into stone, wood, bone, metal, and other hard surfaces; types of inscription range from memorials to the dead, through Christian prayers and everyday messages to crude graffiti. First reliably attested in the second century AD, runes were in due course supplanted by the roman alphabet, though in Anglo-Saxon England they continued in use until the early eleventh century, inScandinavia until the fifteenth (and later still in one or two outlying areas). This book provides an accessible, general account of runes and runic writing from their inception to their final demise. It also covers modern uses of runes, and deals with such topics as encoded texts, rune names, how runic inscriptions were made, runological method, and the history of runic research. A final chapter explains where those keen to see runic inscriptions can most easily find them. Professor MICHAEL P, BARNES is Emeritus Professor of Scandinavian Studies, University College London.