Franks Casket. The right side
By Finn Rasmussen
Klithoejvej 1, DK3390 Hundested
The starting point will be the careful examination of Franks Casket made by Alfred Becker . I have some comments based on my own studies of Germanic religion, especially studies of the divine twins .
Becker realized, that the right side consists in three settings. In the first one we see a warrior, probably the kind of person which the casket was made for. He is standing in front of a goddess, who is sitting on a hill. The goddess has bird?s wings like a valkyrie and seems to tell the warrior about his death. In her hands she holds a living branch with leaves, symbolizing her power over life. My supplement is an explanation of the snake. The snake winds around the nose of the goddess and reaches out and points with its tongue to the spearhead. The snake is here used as a symbol of invisible spiritual power, which is common in Germanic symbolism. The goddess here seems to say that the warrior will have a heroic death and will be wounded by a spear.
In the second setting we see a floating horse. Becker correctly says that this horse has the same function as the horse seen on tomb-stones on Gotland from the eight century, that is to bring the dead soul to the world of the dead. On top of the horse we see the runic inscription RISKI, probably meaning ?the swift one?. Odin?s death-horse on the Gotland stones had a similar name, Sleipner, meaning ?the slippery one?. Between the legs of the horse we see two triple knots, similar to knots seen on the Gotland stones. The knot is probably a symbol for a free flying spirit. Beside the horse flyes a bird, and similar birds are seen on Gotland stones. The bird is a valkyrie, who shows the soul which way to fly.
There are two trees with roots below the horse, that is on the right side of the horse, and two trees above the horse, that is on the left side of the horse. The horse is floating in a wood. At the bottom of the setting is a runic inscription: WUDU, meaning wood. Here I will point out, that Freya had a residence called Fensalir, meaning ?moor-hall? and also called Folkvangr, meaning ?warriors? field?. The dead warriors were kept in the fen, and after some time they might be born again. Freya is the nordic goddess of birth and death, and she is also the mistress of the nine valkyrier.
The horse is welcomed by a person with long hair and necklace, probably the goddess of the world of death. She is offering the arriving soul a drink of life from a chalice. A similar situation is seen on Gotland stones, where a female person offers the visitor a drink from a horn. The goddess on the casket has a stick in her hand and with the stick she points at the runic inscription: BITA. I don?t follow Beckers interpretation of this word. The meaning is ?bite, mouthfull?, because the same word might be used for eating as well as for drinking.
Under the horses head we see a burial mound. In the earth lies a body, wrapped up without visible arms and legs. This is probably the body of the deceived warrior. In front of the burial mound is seen many quadrangles. I will interpret them as tomb-stones in a graveyard.
The third setting shows three hooded persons.Two of them are holding the cowl of the third one, and leading him on the way. The person in the middle has no mouth in contrast to the other two. Becker correctly says, that the person in the middle is the soul of the deceased warrior. The two guiding persons, however, have not been explained. They are the divine twins, and I have to comment on them.
The divine twins are the most important gods in the pagan germanic culture next to the great goddess, Mother Earth. The documentation for this statement are the archaeological finds with pictures. Unfortunately the Germanic tribes had traditions for cutting in wood and not in stone. Therefore most of the pictures and runic inscriptions are lost. Nevertheless the remaning objects of wood, and in particular objects of metal show, that most of the picture symbols are the divine twins.2
The rich ship grave in Sutton Hoe has eksamples of the divine twins. King Redwald died in 628 and had a pagan funeral here. On his purse we see a man flanked by two mythical dogs, who whisper in his ears. This means that the divine twins are guiding the king. On his helmet is a picture of two warriors dancing with their weapons and twin-snakes on their head. This shows a ritual dance in honour of the divine twins.
In the Sutton Hoe grave are also found remains of a pair of drinking horns. Pairs of drinking horns are found in almost every Germanic chief?s grave. This is because the divine twins were called in, and adored with a drinking ritual. The golden horns from Gallehus in Southern Jutland from about 400 AD are an example of such ritual horns. Their decorations show the divine twins in many different forms: dolphins, dogs, warriors or horned humans. The longer horn shows how the divine twins in the shape of a double snake guides a human being in many situations of his life. The horn has a crypted inscription, where the double snake says: ?I am immortal, I guide you? .
Some of the names of the Germanic divine twins can be deduced from written sources. Tacitus about AD 100 reports that they are called Alchi, and this word means ?protectors?. Tacitus also indirectly tells that their names were Ing and Hermund. Ing means ?breeder? or ?young?. A tribe, the Angles, took their name after Ing, and the tribe?s name gave name to their new land, England. Hermund means ?high protector?. Another tribe, the Hermundures took their name after him. The names of the two twins reflect their characters. Ing guides the generation and growth of all living creatures, even the sun. He dies in the night and regenerates in the morning. Hermund protects the end of life of all living creatures. He cares for the harvest of plants, fishing and hunting and helps human beings through the underworld. He is a healer. In the Nordic mythology the names of the divine twins were Frey and Njord. The name Frey means ?vigorous? and has approximately the same meaning as Ing. The name Njord means ?gracious? not far from the meaning of Hermund.
Many germanic tribes regarded twins as their ancestors. They believed that the divine twins had taken abode in a pair of human beings. This is the case for the mythical twins, Hengest and Horsa, supposed to be the first anglo-saxons that arrived in England AD 440. In Christian times the divine twins take the shape of saints or angels. The most popular pair of saint twins in the Catholic church was Cosmas and Damian, regarded as physicians. In pictures from the eight century you sometimes see Crist flanked by two angles or by two birds. Here I will only mention one more eksample of the importance of the divine twins in germanic culture. Many vikingships had a dragonhead in both sterns. Since the divine twins are reported for helping men at sea, there should be no doubt, that these dragons are symbols of the divine twins.
Next, I will deal with the runic inscription. The inscription on the right side differs from the other inscriptions on the casket in the respect, that all the vowels are replaced by meaningless symbols. Becker correctly explains that this is due to the magical purpose of the pictures and inscriptions. The front of the casket has the theme to gain wealth: The story of the goldsmith Weyland and the story of three magi, who bring presents. The top has the theme protection of the wealth. The left side shows the myth of the roman twins, Romulus and Remus and other divine twins. The theme is here protection of man away from home. The back side shows how Titus conquered the Jews. This story will bring the owner of the casket inspiration for victory, good luck and fame. The theme of the right is death and afterlife. The owner should have a glorious death and an afterlife in a world of light. However, these wishes should only be effective in time of death. They are hidden in order not to harm the living beings.
When the vocals are determined from the context, the inscription is:
H?rhos sitath on Harmb?rga
Agl? drigith swa hiri ?rta? gisgraf
Sarden Sorga and S?fa torna
The letters with allitterations are here underlined. They are always in accented syllables. The poem has two accentuations in the first line, two in the second line and three in the third line. This metre is known as ljodahattr in Norse poetry. The three lines clearly relate to the three settings. The accentuated runes in each line have a magical meaning.
In the first line we have the rune H, which means ?strike or fight?, and relates to the glorious and violent death of the warrior. The word Harmb?rga means ?harmfull hill? and we see the valkyrie sitting on that hill. Very often a battle took place on a hill, and this particular hill is harmfull to the warrior, because he is killed here. The last part of the word H?rhos is ?os?. Original ?os? or ?as? was the name of the gods Odin, Thor and their company, but later it just ment ?god?. Oswy was king of Northumbria 642-670. His name means ?dedicated to God?. A village in Northumberland is called Osmotherley, which means ?Godsmothers place?.
Concerning the name of the valkyrie-goddess, H?rh, I have some ideas. Pictures of a bird-goddess transporting a human face is found on king Redwald?s shield in Sutton Hoe. Similar pictures from the seventh century are found i North Jutland and in Sk?ne. The goddess H?r is mentioned in nordic mythology. In North Jytland we have place names like H?rsted, H?rdum and H?rningh. In Sk?ne we have H??r, H?rby and Herrljunga. Near Sutton Hoe we have Harwich. Ivar Vidfadme, son of the king of Sk?ne, went home from Northumbria around 670 AD. That is about the time Franks Casket was made. He and his company were probably mercenaries in England. They travelled with sailing ships through Limfjorden in North Jutland. The word H?r means ?high?, and H?rh seems to have been the high flying aspect of the great goddess, Mother Earth. H?r is the old crane, who fetches the dead soul. The first line can be transated: ?The High Goddess sits on the harmfull hill?
In the second line the accented rune is the open vocal A, which means ?invisible spirit? or ?speech?. This line relates to the travelling of the dead spirit in the second setting. The first word, Agl? is mysterious because a rune is missing, and my interpretation is different from Becker?s. The word is probably related to agile, and this meaning fits very well with the other names mentioned before of the mythical floating horse. This horse is female. The name ?rta? is related to gothic airtha, meaning ?soil? or ?earth?. ?rta? is a name of Mother Earth. The second line can be translated: ?The swift one draws so as her(the swift one) Earthmother did prescribe?.
In the third line the accented rune is S, which means ?sunlight?, ?warmth? or ?energy?. Becker has explained that the first word Sarden means ?wounding? coming from a swedish verb ?s?ran?. In danish we have a similar verb ?s?re?. Conserning the last two accentuated words, my theory is different from Becker?s. The two words must be names of the divine twins. Sorga means ?mourn?, but it allso means ?take care of? or ?look after?, and this corresponds with the energetic twin. S?fa means ?to save?, and this corresponds with the accepting twin, ?the saviour?. The third line can be translated: ?Wounding, the caretaker and the saviour will turn (remowe).?
Finally I will try to identify the last symbols in the third setting. Two snakes seems to have a firm bite in the cowl of the deceased. Snakes are very common in pictures of the underworld, and the two snakes are well known companions of Hermes, who also guides in the underworld. The deceased seems to have a pearl or a jewel on his breast. This is a common symbol of the immortal soul. Behind one of the twins we see a flower cross. This symbol means the heavenly light, and it is used in pagan as well as Christian iconography. Here it means that the twins will bring the deceased out of the darkness of the underworld and into a new life in daylight. The symbol behind the other twin is very hard to identify, but it would fit very well to the context if it was some kind of medical instrument like a sickle for operation.
Becker, A.: Franks Casket. Zu den Bildern und Inschriften des Runenk?stchens von Auzon. Regensburg 1973.
Rasmussen, F.:Germanerne og vikingerne ? myter og magt. ISBN 8798626817. Denmark 2004
Rasmussen, F.: Guldhornenes tydning. ISBN 8788742539. Denmark 1990