![]() We know of the runes through archaeological finds. Obviously the runes never completely died out, making occasional appearances, until the increasing interest and re-emergence over the last few centuries. However, this was not true of traditions within these now Christian cultures that held to the ‘old ways’, and also in the folk traditions there. It is thought that the Celts and their priesthood, the Druids, used a magical system called Ogham that was based on trees.Īfter the close of the Viking era, runes and the various Futharks (a collective term comprising all three rune rows) disappeared from public view. Influences from the Celtic era may be seen in the 4 to 5 runes that developed immediately after colonisation, as trees are strongly present. Christianity provided a significant cultural influence, but seemingly ignored the runes (perhaps due to denial, repression, exorcism, or all of those things), with the exception of the Northumbrian input. In Britain, Christianisation had been a lot earlier, properly beginning in the 7th century, although present before then. With the completion of Christianisation in Scandinavia the Viking era came to a close around 1100 CE. This may have been an attempt to re-establish the more magical use of the runes in the face of the progressive Christianisation that was occurring during this period. ![]() It is also apparent in the Viking era between 800 CE and 1100 CE when, in Northern Germany and Scandinavia, the rune row of the Elder Futhark underwent a reduction to 16 runes and being subsequently known as the Younger Futhark. This more magical association of the runes is detected in the later runes of the completed Futhorc. This may be due to the fact that the runes always had a magical component, so were increasingly and more exclusively used in this way whereas the Roman script under Christianisation, lacking this dimension, became more suitable and available for everyday usage. Although the runes have phonetic values that could be used for writing, this did not generally occur, except as inscriptions. Over this same period the Anglo-Saxon language developed and adopted the Roman script to become Old English. Also with a change of the 4th and 6th runes in name, shape, and phonetic expression, the Elder Futhark became in time the Anglo-Saxon or Old English Futhorc. Around the 8th and 9th centuries a further expansion of the Futhorc occurred in Northumbria so that there were now 33 runes in total. These extra runes number between 4 and 5. In these so-called Dark Ages the runes took on a distinctly English character and extra runes were added to the Elder Futhark’s 24 runes. This should be considered a very fluid state of affairs although our interest is marked by runic finds, which tend to be almost exclusively in the regions occupied by the Anglo-Saxons. Ireland, Wales and the West of England remained more Celtic, as did Scotland with the Picts and Scots. The Anglo-Saxons were relatively confined to England and evolved into what we know now as the English race. This rune row, or the linear sequence of runes, was called the Elder Futhark and comprised 24 runes, so named after the first six runes (‘th’ is one rune). They brought the early runes with them, which at this time had settled into an ‘alphabet’ of sorts. So, after the Roman departure in the 5th century CE the vacuum in England was filled by Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, collectively referred to as the Anglo-Saxons. Meanwhile, within Germany, many tribes were preparing to migrate and expand `their influence. At the start of the Common Era (CE) the Celts themselves were superseded by the Romans, in much of what is now present-day England. If so, they arise with the dawn of human consciousness and its evolution, representing an ancient means of communication.īy the time the runes emerged historically, the Celts, also a Teutonic people, had migrated to Britain (500 before the Common Era, or BCE) and developed their own culture there, with input from the indigenous peoples they superseded. In fact, the runes may represent an unbroken tradition from the Stone Age, as cave drawings and other preserved objects have painted and etched symbols with a runic quality. Historically the runes stem from the Teutonic regions, considered as mainly modern-day Germany, early in the Common Era (CE) although some commentators would see their origins to be many centuries earlier. Futhorc: The Anglo-Saxon Runes & Runology
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