634 runes, runic script, and inscriptions
was called Mawlana,“Our Master,” in Persian. He was the
founder of the confraternity of the Mevlevis,known as the
dancing or whirling dervishes in the West. With his fam-
ily, he left his homeland because of the devastations of
the MONGOLinvasions in the 1220s and after a period of
wandering settled at Konya in ANATOLIAin 1228, then
the capital of the SELJUKSof Rum and the place where his
father had taught theology. There he soon began to teach
and to play an important role in intellectual and religious
life. His most influential and didactic work was the mys-
tical poem the Mathnawi,of some 25,000 verses. Rumi
also wrote Rubaiyatand a lyrical and metaphorical poem,
the Diwan-e Shams,in honor of his teacher, Shams al-Din
of Tabriz (d. 1247). Rumi had been so obsessed with this
wandering mystic that his students supposedly murdered
Shams in order to refocus Rumi’s attention on them. His
ideas and visions were based on an intense desire for
union with GODthrough LOVEand the spiritual dance or
samato the sound of a reed flute. His work remained
popular throughout the Islamic world until this day. He
died at Konya in Anatolia on December 17, 1273.
See alsoSUFISM.
Further reading:Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Mathnawi of
Jalaluddin Rumi,ed. Reynold A. Nicholson, 3 vols. (Lon-
don: Printed for the Trustees of the E. J. W. Gibb Memo-
rial, 1977); Jalal al-Din Rumi, The Mystical Poems of Rumi,
trans. Arthur J. Arberry (Chicago: University of Chicago
Press, 1968); Afzal Iqbal, The Life and Work of Jalal-ud-din
Rumi(London: Octagon Press, 1983); Fatemeh Keshavarz,
Reading Mystical Lyric: The Case of Jalal al-Din Rumi
(Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1998);
Annemarie Schimmel, I Am Wind, You Are Fire: The Life
and Work of Rumi(Boston: Shambhala, 1992).
runes, runic script, and inscriptions The name
runichas been applied to the script that the early Germans
used from the third century C.E. It became almost an
exclusively Scandinavian art after the conversion of most
of the Germans to Christianity and their adoption of the
Latin script. The runic alphabet first comprised 24 signs,
in three groups of eight runes each. These were reduced to
16 around the year 800 for the business requirements of
VIKING MERCHANTS. The 24 runes initially corresponded
to the phonetic needs of a language, early Norse. The 16
new runes could be thought of as similar to modern short-
hand. Runes at the same time were thought to be magic
signs, a more or less esoteric means of communication,
even in a secular sense or for religious purposes. The
word runecan also be read as a “mystery,” a “secret,” or a
“whispered message.” Runes were usually engraved with a
stylus or a punch on a hard surface such as stone, wood,
bone, IVORY, metal, or, leather and did not lend themselves
to the writing of long texts.
Further reading: Elmer H. Antonsen, A Concise
Grammar of the Older Runic Inscriptions(Tübingen: M.
Niemeyer, 1975); Ralph W. V. Elliott, Runes: An Introduc-
tion(New York: Philosophical Library, 1959); R. I. Page,
Runes(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1987).Rupert of Deutz(1075–1129/30) reactionary monastic
theologian, conservative reformer
Rupert was born in 1075 in the region of Liège and there
entered Saint Lawrence’s monastery in Liège for his edu-
cation. Rupert followed his abbot into exile between 1092
and 1095. The abbot had been expelled in favor of an
appointment bought by SIMONY. He fought with the
bishop of Liège and was not reconciled with him until- At about the same time, he experienced a spiritual
change marked by visions encouraging him to write.
Between 1111 and 1117, he wrote On the Trinity,which
analyzed the historical books of the BIBLE. He also wrote
a commentary on the gospel of John. In another, On the
Will of God,he began to try to refute early Scholastic
ideas and practices.
From 1116 he found a safer and calmer refuge with
the abbot of Siegburg, and later the archbishop of
COLOGNE, who allowed, in 1120, his election as the abbot
of Deutz. After his earlier writings had been approved by
the pope, he went on to compose a Commentary on the
Song of Songs,the Glorification of the Trinity,and a dia-
logue between a Jew and a Christian. The dialogue was
intended to demonstrate the superiority of the Christian
New Testament over the Jewish Bible. He then went on
to write polemics against the German emperor; pre-
Scholastics such as ANSELM of Laon; the CISTERCIAN
ORDER; and regular canons, such as those linked with
NORBERT of Xanten. He unfailingly rejected the new
dialectic method and nascent Scholastic intellectual spec-
ulations. He emphasized the value of PRAYERand cele-
brated the Virgin MARY, whom he proposed as an ideal
model for the church. He died in 1129/30.
Further reading:Jean Leclercq, The Love of Learning
and the Desire for God: A Study of Monastic Culture,trans.
Catharine Misrahi (New York: Fordham University Press,
1961); John Van Engen, Rupert of Deutz(Berkeley: Uni-
versity of California Press, 1983).
Rurik (Rlurik Ryurik, Roerck) (d. 879)Viking leader,
founder of the first principality at Novgorod
Rurik is known basically only as a legendary Scandina-
vian chieftain of the VARANGIANS. With his brothers
Rurik took power at NOVGORODin the ninth century.
IGOR, perhaps his son, was the first historically attested
member of the family. Igor reigned at Kiev in the first half
of the 10th century and was the real founder of the
dynasty. After him, the throne of Kiev passed to his son,
Svatyslav (r. 945–972); his grandson, VLADIMIR I THE
GREAT; and then YAROSLAV THE WISE, whose direct
descendants reigned over the principality until the Mon-
gol invasion. Rurik died in 879 probably near Novgorod.