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Writing in runes
Runes were easy to carve in stone
or wood, with straight or diagonal
lines. The basic alphabet had
16 runes. Runes were still used in
Scandinavia well into the Middle
Ages. The calendar stave from
Sweden (above) shows how
they developed.
Medieval calendar stave (staff) carved with 657 different symbols Runes begin:
“Hart’s horn...”Secret runes t hat have
not yet been decipheredINSCRIBED ANTLER
Bills, accounts, even
love messages were written in runes on sticks.
Part of this deer’s antler from Dublin, Ireland, has
been flattened to make a space for an inscription.
Snake’s tail
Runic text
inside snakesSECRET RUNES FROM GREENLAND
This pine stick from around 1000 has the runic alphabet on one side. The other two
sides are carved with secret and magical runes. No one knows what they mean.Cross, which
shows t hat
Jarlabanke
was a
ChristianTHORFAST’S COMB
Everyday objects were sometimes labelled in runes to declare their owner
or maker. The runes on this comb case say: “Thorfast made a good comb.”FUTHARK
The basic runic alphabet was called fut hark, after the first six letters. The first
runic inscriptions, from around 200, are in a longer alphabet, with 24 characters.
Around 800, the Viking alphabet with eight fewer runes was developed. Most
inscriptions on stone were in normal runes. Another version of the alphabet
was used for everyday messages on wood or bone.Snake’s headSHOWING OFF
Jarlabanke was a wealthy 11th-century landowner
who thought a lot of himself. He built a roadway
over marshy land at Täby in Sweden. Then he
raised four rune stones, two at each end, to
remind travelers of his good deed. He also had
this stone erected in the churchyard of Vallentuna,
a village nearby. The runes say: “Jarlabanke had
this stone raised in memory of himself in his
lifetime, and made this Thing place, and alone
owned the whole of this Hundred.” The “Thing
place” was the spot where the assembly for the
district met (pp. 28–29). A Hundred was the
area governed by a Thing.SAINT PAUL’S STONE
In 1852, the end slab of a splendid tomb was
found in the churchyard of St. Paul’s Cathedral
in London, England. The whole tomb must
have been shaped like a box. This is a color
painting of the great beast (p. 60) that decorates
the slab. The colors are based on tiny traces of
pigment found on the stone. The beast is very
dynamic, twisting and turning around a smaller
animal. The decoration shows that it was
carved in the 11th century. The runes on the
edge of the slab say: “Ginna and Toki had
this stone set up.” These two may have been
warriors in Cnut the Great’s army. Cnut
became King of England in 1016 (p. 63).F U TH A R K H N I A S T B M L R