FREE THE PDF

Leslie Webster | 64 pages | 07 Jan 2013 | PRESS | 9780714128184 | English | London, United Kingdom Franks Casket - Overview

We use cookies to make our website work more efficiently, to provide you with more personalised services or advertising to you, and to analyse traffic on our website. For more information on how we use cookies and how to manage The Franks Casket, please follow the 'Read more' link, otherwise select 'Accept and close'. Skip to main content Please enable JavaScript in your web browser to get the best experience. Read more about our cookie policy Accept and close the cookie policy. Museum numberDescription Lidded rectangular box made of whale-bone, carved on the sides and top in with scenes from Roman, Jewish, Christian and Germanic tradition. The base is constructed from four sides slotted and pegged into corner uprights, the bottom plates fitted into grooves at the base of the sides. It possibly stood on four low feet. Only one decorative panel now survives in the lid, the remaining elements being almost The Franks Casket replacements. There are scars left by lost metal fittings on the exterior - handle, lock, hasps and hinges - and crude internal repairs. The five surviving decorated panels are variously accompanied by carved texts in and , using both conventional and encoded as well as Insular script, in a variety of orientations. Each side is bordered by a long descriptive text and The Franks Casket contain additional The Franks Casket the lid The Franks Casket has The Franks Casket the latter, though a longer text may originally have accompanied it. The main inscription takes the form of a riddling alliterative verse about the casket's origin. The Franks Casket left-hand end depicts nurtured by the wolf with an inscription describing the scene. The main inscription is in a mixture of Old English, Latin, runes and insular script. The right-hand end poses special problems of interpretation. The apparently episodic scene is evidently from Germanic legend but has The Franks Casket been satisfactorily identified. The main runic text is in alliterative verse partly encoded by substituting cryptic forms for most of its vowels and perhaps certain other letters. Production date 8thC early. Materials whalebone. Technique carved. Dimensions Height: Curator's comments Published and mentioned: Karkov, C. In: Frojmovic, E. Abingdon: Oxford, pp. Paz, J. Almost everything about this perplexing and ostentatiously erudite object is enigmatic, including its history. It was first recorded in the possession of a family at Auzon in the Auvergne, during which time it was dismantled. The right-hand end became separated from the rest around this time, and passed eventually into the Museo Nazionale del Bargello in Florence, where it remains. A replica of this is mounted on the original The Franks Casket. The other panels were bought from a Paris The Franks Casket and presented to the British Museum by the collector and curator Augustus Franks, whose name it bears. Its history prior to its surfacing in Auzon is unknown, The Franks Casket one second-hand account suggests that it came from the nearby church and cult-centre of St Julian at Brioude, from which it could have been looted at the Revolution. How and when the casket came to France can only ever be a matter for speculation, though Wood has managed to identify one early medieval candidate who in theory could have taken it from the north of England to Brioude - the Frankish scholar Frithegod who was active in both areas in the middle tenth century Wood Still more speculative is the question of where and why it was made. The language of The Franks Casket inscription shows that the carver used a Northumbrian or north Mercian dialect current in the early eighth century. The style of decoration, with its many details recalling Northumbrian manuscript art of the first half of the eighth century, accords with this Webster b, A Northumbrian origin is thus probable, though since even monastic craftsmen may be mobile not strictly necessary. The Casket's heady mix of Roman Christian, Jewish and Germanic traditions certainly reflects an interest in cosmography recorded in seventh- to eighth-century Northumbrian aristocratic and monastic circles e. Wood8, fn. The casket's programme, in so far as we understand it, is however not merely a parade of learning and of epigraphic virtuosity. The Adoration of the The Franks Casket, for example is The Franks Casket with The Franks Casket Weland legend, in which the birth of a hero also makes good sin and suffering, while the adjacent sides symbolising the founding of Rome and destruction of Jerusalem draw an obvious contrast. However, while the Germanic scenes on the lid and right-hand side remain opaque to analysis, it The Franks Casket impossible to say whether the device of parallelism underlies the Casket's entire iconographic programme. Nevertheless, the access to the Early Christian models evident in the use of parallels is matched in the Casket's form and design. This is manifestly based - possibly at some remove - on an Early Christian reliquary similar to the Brescia casket, which itself shares with the Franks Casket both a programme which makes notable use of parallels and a remarkably similar layout of central scenes bordered by there iconic commentaries. No doubt prestigious potential The Franks Casket of this kind reached either through direct contacts with Rome of the kind regularly made by such as Benedict Biscop, Ceolfrid and , or, as Wood has argued, via contacts with Frankish Gaul. The heady impact on Anglo- Saxon culture and Christianity and with it the world of antiquity is nowhere more strikingly seen than in this extraordinary object. Select bibliography: Napier, A. Farrell ed. Condition There are scars left by lost metal fittings on The Franks Casket exterior - handle, lock, hasps and hinges - and crude internal repairs reflect a chequered history see curatorial comment. Associated places Topographic representation of: Jerusalem. Acquisition date Acquisition notes Bought in Auzon. Department Britain, Europe and Prehistory. Registration number , The Franks Casket - Treasures of Heaven

The Franks Casket or the The Franks Casket Casket is a small Anglo-Saxon whale's bone not "whalebone" in the sense of baleen chest from the early 8th century, now in the British Museum. The casket is densely decorated with knife-cut narrative scenes in flat two-dimensional low- relief and with inscriptions mostly The Franks Casket Anglo-Saxon runes. Generally reckoned to be of Northumbrian origin, [1] it is of unique importance for the insight it gives into early Anglo-Saxon art and culture. Both identifying the images and interpreting the has generated a considerable amount of scholarship. The imagery is very diverse in its subject matter and derivations, and includes a single Christian image, the Adoration of the Magialong with images derived from Roman history Emperor and Romulus and Remusas well as a depiction of at least one legend indigenous to the : that of Weyland the Smith. It has also been suggested that there may be an episode from the legend, an otherwise lost episode from the life of Weyland's brother Egila Homeric legend involving The Franks Casketand perhaps even an allusion to the legendary founding of England by . The inscriptions "display a deliberate linguistic and alphabetic virtuosity; though they are mostly written in Old English and in runes, they shift into Latin and the Roman alphabet; then back into runes while The Franks Casket writing Latin". A monastic origin is generally accepted for the casket, which was perhaps made for presentation to an important secular figure, and Wilfrid 's foundation at Ripon has been specifically suggested. Weale revealed that the casket The Franks Casket belonged to the church of Saint-Julien, Brioude The Franks Casket Haute Loire upper Loire regionFrance; it is possible that it was looted during the French Revolution. It served as a sewing box until the silver hinges and fittings joining the panels were traded for a silver ring. Without the support of these the casket fell apart. The parts were shown to a Professor Mathieu from nearby Clermont-Ferrandwho sold them to an antique shop in Pariswhere they were bought in by Sir Augustus Wollaston Frankswho subsequently donated the panels in to the British Museum, where he was Keeper of the British and Medieval collections. The missing right end panel was later found in a drawer by the family in Auzon and sold to the Bargello MuseumFlorencewhere it was identified as part of the casket in The British Museum display includes a cast of it. The casket is The mounts in precious metal that were undoubtedly originally present are missing, and it is "likely" that it was originally painted in colour. Leslie Webster regards the casket as probably originating in a monastic context, where the maker "clearly possessed great learning and ingenuity, to construct an object which is so visually and intellectually complex. What used to be seen as an eccentric, almost random, assemblage of pagan Germanic and Christian stories is now understood as a sophisticated programme perfectly in accord with the Church's concept of universal history". It may have been intended to hold a book, perhaps a psalterand intended to be presented to a "secular, probably royal, recipient" [12]. The front panel, which originally had a lock fitted, depicts elements from the Germanic legend of Wayland the Smith in the left-hand scene, and the on the right. Another female figure is shown in the centre; perhaps Wayland's helper, or Beaduhild again. To the right of the scene Wayland or his brother catches birds; he then makes wings from their feathers, with which he is able to escape. In a sharp contrast, the right-hand scene shows one of the most The Franks Casket Christian subjects depicted in the art of the period; however here "the birth of a hero also makes good sin and suffering". A goose-like bird by the feet of the leading magus may represent the Holy Spiritusually shown as a dove, or an angel. The human figures, at least, form a composition very comparable to those in other depictions of the period. Richard Fletcher considered this The Franks Casket of scenes, from left to right, as intended to indicate the positive and benign effects of conversion to Christianity. Around the panel runs the following alliterating inscription, which does not relate to the scenes but is a riddle on the material of the casket itself as whale bone, and specifically from a stranded whale :. Whale's bone. The left panel depicts the mythological twin founders of Rome, Romulus and Remusbeing suckled by a she-wolf lying on her back at the bottom of the scene. The same wolf, or another, stands above, and there are two The Franks Casket with spears approaching from each side. The inscription reads:. Carol The Franks Casket de Vegvar observes that other depictions of Romulus and Remus are found in East Anglian art and coinage for example the very early . The inscription is partly in Old English and partly in Latin, and part of the The Franks Casket portion is written in Latin letters indicated below in upper case letterswith the remainder transcribed phonetically into runic letters. Two isolated words stand in the lower corners. At the centre of the panel is a depiction of a building, probably representing the Temple of Jerusalem. In The Franks Casket upper left quadrant, the Romans, led by Titus in a helm with a sword, attack the central building. The Franks Casket the upper right quadrant, the Jewish population flee, casting glances backwards. The Franks Casket the lower left The Franks Casket, a seated judge announces the judgement of the defeated Jews, which as The Franks Casket in Josephus was to be sold into slavery. The lid as it now survives is incomplete. Leslie Webster has suggested that there may have been relief The Franks Casket in silver making up the missing areas. The The Franks Casket round area in the centre probably housed the metal boss for a handle. InSophus Bugge "followed up his explanation of the Weland picture on the front of the casket with the suggestion The Franks Casket the bowman on the top piece is EgilWeland's brother, and thinks that the 'carving tells a story about him of which we know nothing. We see that he defends himself with arrows. As nominative singular, it would indicate that the archer is Achilles, while as dative singular it could mean either that the citadel belongs to Achilles, or that the arrow that is about to be shot is meant for Achilles. Schneider himself interprets the scene on the lid as representing the massacre of Andromache 's brothers by Achilles at Thebes in a story from the Iliadwith Achilles as the archer and Andromache's mother held captive in the room behind him. Other authors see a Biblical or Christian message in the The Franks Casket Marijane Osborn finds that several The Franks Casket in The Franks Casket 90, "especially as it appears in its Old English translation, The prophet would then be wearing a hood, typical of Semitic populations, and holding a staff. This, the Bargello panel, has produced the most divergent readings of both text and images, and no reading of either has achieved general acceptance. At left The Franks Casket animal figure sits on a small rounded mound, confronted by an armed and helmeted warrior. In the centre a standing animal, usually seen as a horse, faces a figure, holding a stick or sword, who stands over something defined by a curved line. On the right are three figures. Raymond Page reads the inscription as. However, a definitive translation of the lines has met with The Franks Casket, partly because the runes are run together without separators between words, and partly because two letters are broken or missing. As an extra challenge for the reader, on the right panel only, the vowels are encrypted with a simple substitution cipher. Three of the vowels are represented consistently by three invented symbols. Bredehoft has suggested the alternative reading. Page writes, "What the scenes represent I do not know. Excited and imaginative scholars have put forward numbers of suggestions but none convinces. Elis Wadstein proposed that the right panel depicts the Germanic The Franks Casket of Sigurdknown also as Siegfriedbeing mourned by his horse Grani and wife Guthrun. Eleanor Clark added, "Indeed, no one seeing the figure of the horse bending over the tomb of a man could fail to recall the words of the Guthrunarkvitha II,5 :. While Clark admits that this is an "extremely obscure legend," [31] she assumes that the scene The Franks Casket be based on a Germanic legend, and can find no other instance in the entire of a horse weeping over a dead body. She interprets the three figures to the right as Guthrun being led away from his tomb by his slayers Gunnar and Hogne, and the female figure before Grani as the Norn-goddess Urdwho passes judgement The Franks Casket the dead. The warrior to the left would then be Sigurd again, now restored to his former prime for the afterlife, and "sent rejoicing on his way to Odainsakerthe realms of bliss for deserving mortals. The gateway to these glittering fields is guarded by a winged dragon who feeds on the imperishable flora that characterised The Franks Casket place, and the bodyless cock crows lustily as a kind of eerie genius The Franks Casket identifying The Franks Casket spot as 's wall. Although the Sigurd-Grani thesis remains the most widely accepted interpretation of the right panel, Arthur Napier remarked already in"I remain entirely unconvinced by the reasons [Wadstein] puts forward, and believe that the true explanation of the picture has still to be found. Bouman and Simonne d'Ardenne [35] instead interpret the mournful stallion Old English hengist at the centre of the right panel as representing Hengist, who, with his brother Horsa, first led the Old Saxons, Angles, and Jutes into Britain, and eventually became the first Anglo-Saxon king in England, according to both 's Ecclesiastical History of the English People and the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. Bouman suggests that the female mourner could then be Hengist's famous daughter Renwein. Bouman and d'Ardenne identify the strange creature on the left with the head of a horse, the clothing and posture of a man, and the wings of a spirit, as Horsa again, this time as a spirit seated on his own burial The Franks Casket. Horsa whose name means horse in Old English would then be the "Hos" referred to in the panel's inscription as sitting on a "sorrow-mound. However, Wilhelm Krause instead separates herh temple and os divinity. On the left, a warrior "has met his fate in guise of a frightening monster As the outcome, the warrior rests in his grave shown in the middle section. There left of the mound we have a horse marked with two trefoils, the divine symbols Above the mound we see a chalice and right of the mound a woman with a staff in hand. It is his , The Franks Casket has left her seat and come to The Franks Casket in the shape of a bird. Now she is his beautiful sigwifthe hero's benevolent, even loving companion, who revives him with a draught from that chalice and takes him to . The horse may be SleipnirWoden's famous stallion. Two other pictures of the Franks Casket show this symbol. On the front it marks the third of the The Franks Casketwho The Franks Casket myrrh. It also appears on the lid, where according to Becker, Valhalla is depicted. The Franks Casket Peeters proposes that the right panel provides a pictorial illustration of the biblical Book of Danielch. Some of the details Peeters cites are specific to the Old English poem based on Daniel. The cryptic runes on this panel may be intended to invoke the mysterious writing that appeared on the palace wall during these events. David Howlett identifies The Franks Casket illustrations on the right panel with the story of the death The Franks Casket Balderas told by the late 12th- century Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus in his . Hother wounds Balder, who dies three days later and is The Franks Casket in a mound. Howlett identifies the three figures at the right with the three wood maidens who may be the three Nornsand the shrouded man within the central mound with Balder. Ute Schwabfollowing Heiner Eichnerinterprets the left and central scenes on the right panel The Franks Casket relating to the Welsh legend of Rhiannon. According to the Mabinogiona medieval collection of ancient Welsh stories, Rhiannon was falsely accused of murdering and eating her infant son Pryderiwho, according to Schwab, is represented by the swaddled infant in the central scene. As a penance, she was required, as depicted in the scene on the left, "to sit beside the horse-block outside the gates of the court for seven years, offering to carry visitors up to the palace on her back, like a beast of burden Rhiannon's horse-imagery and her bounty have led scholars to equate her with the Celtic horse-goddess . This he translates, "The idol sits far off on the dire hill, suffers abasement in sorrow and heart-rage as the den of pain had ordained for it. The first member tae- is a rare form of the particle-prefix to. The inscription refers specifically to the scene on the left end of the casket's right side. According to Simmons, the 'idol' herh is in the form of an The Franks Casket, being tortured by a personified Hell in helmet. The scene is a reference to the apocryphon Decensus ad Inferosa popular medieval text translated into Anglo-Saxon. In one version of the story of the Harrowing of Hella personified Hell blames Satan for having brought about the The Franks Casketwhich has allowed Christ to descend to Hell's kingdom and free the imprisoned souls. Therefore, Hell tortures Satan in retribution. Simmons separates the other scenes on the right side and interprets them as depictions of the Nativity and the Passion. Each The Franks Casket runic letter The Franks Casket an acrophonic Old English name, which gave the rune itself the connotations The Franks Casket the name, as described in the Old English . The Franks Casket: A Tribute to the Founding and Destiny of England

This lidded Anglo-Saxon casket is made of whale bone; it is carved on The Franks Casket sides and top in relief with scenes from Roman, Jewish, Christian and Germanic traditions. The The Franks Casket surviving decorated panels are accompanied by carved texts in Old English and Latin. Each side is bordered by a long descriptive text. The left-hand end depicts Romulus, Remus and the she-wolf that cared for them. Full catalogue details. The Exeter Book, compiled by 10th-century clerics, contains a number of surprisingly euphemistic riddles. Megan The Franks Casket explores what these The Franks Casket puzzles tell us about sex and gender in Anglo-Saxon England. Information Description This lidded Anglo-Saxon casket is made of whale bone; it is carved on the sides and top in relief with scenes from Roman, Jewish, Christian and Germanic traditions. This item is featured in: Discovering Literature: Medieval. Explore further Related articles. The Exeter Book riddles in context Article by: Megan Cavell Themes: Gender and sexuality, Form and genre The Exeter Book, compiled by 10th-century clerics, contains a number of surprisingly euphemistic riddles. The Exeter Book riddles in context Article by: Megan Cavell The Exeter Book, compiled by 10th-century clerics, contains a number of surprisingly euphemistic riddles. Exeter Book 2nd half of the 10th century. Aldhelm's Riddles Late 10th century — early 11th century. Middle English Bestiary — Share this page. British Library newsletter Sign up to our newsletter Email.