HEL l The Anglo-Saxon world

the Franks casket

A small Anglo-Saxon chest from the early 8th century. Decorated with knife-cut narrative scenes with inscriptions mostly in Anglo-Saxon runes

Wearmouth and Jarrow

A monastery in which Venerable Bede spent most of his lifetime

Synod of Whitby

a meeting held by the Christian church of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria in 663/664 to decide whether to follow the Celtic or the Roman rite.

How does the area of Whitby and Jarrow relate to the Franks casket?

the area of Whitby and Jarrow might have been the home of Franks casket or the home of a person who carved the inscription.

Franks casket read more in your notes

Franks casket riddle

fisc flōdu āhof on fergenberig wearþ gasric grorn þær hē on greot giswom hronæs bān. There’s alliteration indicating verse. The repetition of the same sounds in stressed syllables of lexical words.

gi: early form of the prefix ge

aes: early form of the saxon genitive es'

prefix ge (gi) is used to indicate the collective meaning

the meaning of Franks casket riddle

fish raised waters against steep wall the savage creature became sad when it swam onto sand whale’s bone

the answer to the riddle

The Franks casket is made out of whale bone. Medieval riddles were a part of Anglo-Saxon tradition. The last word of the riddle: hroanes ban (whalebone) is the answer to the riddle.

Ruthwell cross

the most famous and elaborate Anglo-Saxon sculpture. Contains the oldest surviving text in OE poetry. The running inscription running along the edges on the side wall represent the Northumbrian version of Dream of the Rood.

Brussels Cross

fragment of Dream of the Rood in Latin. Has an inscription: Drahmal made me.

Vercelli Book

second half of the 10th century. One of the oldest of the four Old English Poetic Codices. Contains:

• Andreas

• The Fates of the Apostles

• Soul and Body

• Dream of the Rood

• Elene

• a fragment of a homiletic poem

the Armarium

an upright cupboard, cabinet, or chest used by monks to store sacred books. Since early medieval monastic libraries were small, books were often stored in this type of secure, enclosed wooden cabinet rather than a separate library room.

metal bosses

Metal bosses: metal pins placed on the edges, center, back. Animal skin is sensitive to humidity. It’s used to keep it in the same shape.

The bosses are used for protecting the books from being scratched.

How Dream of the Rood begins in Vercelli Book?

hwaet

Beowulf

an annonymous epic poem of 3182 lines in alliterate metre preserved in Vercelli Book. Beowulf also beings with hwaet.

Exeter Book

a mansucript dated in the 10th century. Containing OE alliterate verse.

lacuna

blank spaces in the text

Caedmon’s hymn

he was the first English poet known by name. A herdsman who cared for the animals at the Whitby Abbey, during the abbacy of St. Hilda (657–680); originally ignorant of ‘the art of song’, Cædmon was divinely inspired to compose religious verse; he later became a monk and an accomplished Christian poet.

vocabulary in cademon’s hymn

weard=guard

hlaf=bread

Brytenrices weard

rices weard

wuldor=glory

wuldor feader=in old germanic tradition it’s the father of armies (norse mythology; Woden/Odin is called herja-fathir)

why caedmon used words from Old Norse?

Caedmon uses this pre-christian term into christian reality (synonym for God). Used vernacular to talk about Christian matter, using words rooted in the Old Language to create Christian poetry. That’s why the manuscript survived.