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The Franks Casket (or the Auzon Runic Casket) is a little whalebone chest, dateable from its pagan elements to the mid 7th century (that is, the height of the Heptarchy and the period of Christianization of England), decorated with images and Futhorc runic inscriptions. It is now kept in the British Museum. Generally reckoned to be of Northumbrian origin, it is of unique importance for the insight it gives into secular culture in early Anglo-Saxon England.

The majority of the history of the casket was unknown until relatively recently. It was in 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 subsequently donated the panels to the British Museum in 1867. A missing panel was later found in a drawer by the family in Auzon and is now in the Bargello Museum, Florence.

Contents 1 Description 1.1 Front panel 1.2 Left panel 1.3 Rear panel 1.4 Right panel 1.5 Lid 2 Interpretation 3 Literature 4 External links

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 (compound continued on next line)

enberig

warþ ga:sric grorn þær he on greut giswom

Which may be interpreted as:

"whalebone

fish flood hove on mountain

The ghost-king was rueful when he swam onto the grit"

The two alliterating lines constitute the oldest piece of Anglo-Saxon poetry:

fisc flodu / ahof on fergenberig

warþ gasric grorn / þær he on greut giswom

oÞlæ unneg //

Romwalus and Reumwalus // twoegen

gibroðær

a // fœdde hiæ wylif // in Romæcæstri:.

"far from home / Romulus and Remus, twain brothers / the she-wolf fed them in Rome-chester"

her fegtaþ

+titus end giuþeasu HIC FUGIANT HIERUSALIM

afitatores

dom gisl

"Here fight / Titus and the Jews — here they flee Jerusalem / inhabitants / doom / hostage"

This panel contains three more alliterating lines:

herh os sitæþ on hærmberge

agl(ac) drigiþ swa hir i erta e gisgraf

særden sorgæ and sefa tornæ

Translation is difficult; usually her hos sitæþ is read, "here sits the horse" (there is a horse in the panel, but it isn't sitting). Becker reads herh os, "the god of the wood". Erta appears to be a proper name, perhaps Erce, the Anglo-Saxon Earth goddess. særden has various interpretations. Becker attempts the translation:

"the wood-god sits on harm's mountain"

"causing ill fortune, as Erta demanded"

"they cause sorrow and heartache".

inside the panel:

risci / bita / wudu

"twig / biter / wood"

The lid shows a scene of an archer, labelled Ægili, single-handedly defending a fortress against a troop of attackers. A lady who is probably his wife or lover is also shown within the fortress. In Norse mythology, Egil is named as a brother of Weyland, who is shown on the front panel of the casket. The Þiðrekssaga depicts Egil as a master archer and the Völundarkviða tells that he was the husband of the swan maiden Olrun. The Pforzen buckle inscription, dating to about the same period as the casket, also makes reference to the couple Egil and Olrun (Áigil andi Áilrun).

Becker (1973) attempted to interpret the casket as a whole, finding a "programme" documenting a warrior-king's life, with each of the scenes emblematic of a certain period in life, the front panel for "birth", the picture and inscription on the left panel meant to protect the hero on his way to war, the back panel documenting the peak of a warrior-king's life is glory won by victory over his enemies, the right panel alluding to a heroic death in battle. Becker also attempts a numerological analysis of the inscriptions, counting a total of 288 or 12 x 24 signs (runes, Latin letters and punctuation).

• Alfred Becker: Franks Casket. Zu den Bildern und Inschriften des Runenkästchens von Auzon (Regensburg 1973)
• Alfred Becker, Franks Casket Revisited," Asterisk, A Quarterly Journal of Historical English Studies, 12 (2003), 83 -128.
• E.G. Clark, "The Right Side of the Franks Casket," PMLA, 45 (1930), pp. 339-353.
• M. Clunies Ross, A suggested Interpretation of the Scene depicted on the Right-Hand Side of the Franks Casket, Medieval Archaeology 14 (1970), pp. 148-152.
• S.T.R.O. D'Ardenne, "Does the right side of the Franks Casket represent the burial of Sigurd?" Études Germaniques, 21 (1966), pp. 235-242.
• W. Krogmann, "Die Verse vom Wal auf dem Runenkästchen von Auzon," Germanisch-Romanische Monatsschrift, N.F. 9 (1959), pp. 88-94.
• J. Lang, "The Imagery of the Franks Casket: Another Approach," in J. Hawkes & S. Mills (ed.) Northumbria’s Golden Age (1999) pp. 247 – 255
• K. Malone, "The Franks Casket and the Date of Widsith," in A.H. Orrick (ed.), Nordica et Anglica, Studies in Honor of Stefán Einarsson, The Hague 1968, pp. 10-18.
• Th. Müller-Braband, Studien zum Runenkästchen von Auzon und zum Schiffsgrab von Sutton Hoo; Göppinger Arbeiten zur Germanistik 728 (2005)
• Jane Hawkes and Susan Mills (editors), Northumbria's Golden Age (1999); with articles by L. Webster, James Lang, C. Neuman de Vegvar on various aspects of the casket.
• M. Osborn, "The Grammar of the Inscription on the Franks Casket, right Side," Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 73 (1972), pp. 663-671.
• M. Osborn, The Picture-Poem on the Front of the Franks Casket, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 75 (1974), pp. 50-65.
• M. Osborn, "The Lid as Conclusion of the Syncretic Theme of the Franks Casket," in A. Bammesberger (ed.), Old English Runes and their Continental Background, Heidelberg 1991, pp. 249-268.
• K. Schneider, "Zu den Inschriften und Bildern des Franks Casket und einer ae. Version des Mythos von Balders Tod," in Festschrift für Walther Fischer," Heidelberg 1959, pp. 4-20.
• P. W. Souers, "The Top of the Franks Casket," Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, 17 (1935), pp. 163-179.
• P. W. Souers, "The Franks Casket: Left Side," Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, 18 (1936), pp. 199-209.
• P. W. Souers, "The Magi on the Franks Casket," Harvard Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature, 19 (1937), pp. 249-254.
• P. W. Souers, "The Wayland Scene on the Franks Casket," Speculum 18 (1943), pp. 104-111.
• K. Spiess, "Das angelsächsische Runenkästchen (die Seite mit der Hos-Inschrift)," in Josef Strzygowski-Festschrift, Klagenfurt 1932, pp. 160-168.
• A.L. Vandersall, "The Date and Provenance of the Franks Casket," Gesta 11, 2 (1972), pp. 9-26.
• L. Webster, "The Franks Casket," in L. Webster - J. Backhouse (eds), The Making of England: Anglo-Saxon Art and Culture, AD 600-900, London 1991, pp. 101-103.
• L. Webster, "The Iconographic Programme of the Franks Casket," in J. Hawkes & S. Mills (ed.) Northumbria’s Golden Age (1999), pp. 227 - 246
• L. Webster, "Stylistic Aspects of the Franks Casket," in R. Farrell (ed.), The Vikings, London 1982, pp. 20-31.
• A. Wolf, "Franks Casket in literarhistorischer Sicht," Frühmittelalterliche Studien 3 (1969), pp. 227-243.

• The Franks Casket (British Museum page)
• The Franks Casket (Alfred Becker, Web Site)