The Anglo-Saxon runic rings
Three finger-rings carrying almost the same thirty-character runic formula, which is not Old English and does not mean anything. They are the best carved evidence for the late futhorc runes that manuscripts otherwise monopolise.
At a glance
- Alphabet
- Anglo-Saxon Futhorc
- Date
- 9th–10th century
- Where
- Cumbria and West Yorkshire, England
- Now
- British Museum, except the Bramham Moor ring, which is in Copenhagen
The text
Why none is reproduced here.
This entry covers a class of source rather than a single object, so there is no one text to give. Look it up under its name in the standard catalogues, where the readings are given with their apparatus.
Where it survives
The Kingmoor ring, gold and about 27 mm across, was found in 1817 at Greymoor Hill near Carlisle. The Bramham Moor ring, electrum inlaid with niello, had surfaced in West Yorkshire before 1732 and is now in the National Museum of Denmark. A third, of agate, is associated with Linstock Castle near Carlisle and carries a garbled version of the same text. Kingmoor and Linstock are in the British Museum.
Why it matters
Kingmoor and Bramham Moor carry the same thirty characters, ærkriufltkriuriþonglæstæpontol, in almost identical form, which is remarkable for two objects found two counties apart. The sequence is not Old English and has no agreed sense; a related form turns up in a charm against bleeding in Bald's Leechbook, which is the main reason the rings are read as amulets rather than as ornaments with writing on them. They also matter for the alphabet: this is where calc, otherwise a manuscript character, can be seen cut on an object.
Common misconceptions
Claims about this object that circulate widely and do not hold up.
Translations of the ring formula appear online and are inventions. The sequence is not a sentence in Old English or in any other identified language, and its relationship to the Leechbook charm shows how it was used without showing what, if anything, it said.
The Linstock Castle ring is sometimes counted as independent confirmation of the formula. Its text is a corrupt version of the same sequence, which makes it evidence that the formula was being copied by people who did not understand it, a different and in some ways more interesting point.
Runes attested here (1)
Every dictionary entry that cites this object, with the reason it gives.
- CalcFuthorc
The Kingmoor and Bramham Moor rings carry this rune inside their charm formula. With the Ruthwell Cross they are where calc can be seen used rather than merely listed in a manuscript row.
Sources
Full references on the sources page.