Nytt om runer 21 (2006, publ. 2007)

The Sixth International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions, Lancaster, 11th-16th August 2005

In 2005, the International Symposium on Runes and Runic Inscriptions met in England. The organisers of this sixth meeting in the series were Michael Barnes of University College London, Judith Jesch and David Parsons of the University of Nottingham. As the venue, they chose the University of Lancaster. This was for two reasons. (1) It was an advantage to be on a modern university campus where accommodation, food, lecture rooms and other necessities could be provided in one and the same location. (2) Lancaster offered an excellent starting-point for visits to the outstanding runic monuments of north-west England and southern Scotland. Neither England nor Scotland has a large number of such monuments, but the chosen area compensates by offering a range of important inscriptions in both the Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian runic scripts.

The sixty-five delegates came from as far away as Australia and America, with many from Scandinavia and Continental Europe. It was particularly pleasing to see a number of students, whose attendance offers some assurance about the future of the subject. A full programme of lectures covered many aspects of the main theme of the conference: "Languages and scripts in contact". There were papers on runes and runic alphabets, close studies of individual inscriptions or carvers, linguistic and philological analyses, demonstrations of techniques and methods in runic studies, and interdisciplinary approaches.

No lectures were scheduled for the first day, giving delegates the opportunity to register at their leisure and meet informally.

The programme for Friday 12th August began with a few words of welcome from the conference organisers. David Parsons then set the scene with his plenary lecture: "Language and script in 'western Northumbria' c. 600-1200", in which he outlined the complex linguistic picture in north-west England in the early Middle Ages, with Anglo-Saxon, British, Irish and Norse elements. The plenum session continued with four further papers. First Terje Spurkland spoke on "The older futhark and Roman script literacy" followed by Karin Fjellhammer Seim on "Some evidence of runic and Roman script in contact in post-Viking Age Norway". After the coffee break, Rikke Steenholt Olesen discussed "Runic amulets from medieval Denmark" and John Hines "The signing author: the significance of Cynewulf's signature". Following lunch the conference divided into two parallel sessions. Section A heard Bernard Mees: "From fuð to futhark: languages and scripts in contact", Svante Fischer: "Runic literacy and imperialism", Christiane Zimmermann: "How to do things with runes: illocutionary forces and communicative purposes behind the runic inscriptions in the older futhark", and Ian Kirby: "Recent developments in the ongoing saga of North American runic inscriptions". The first three papers in section B had a Swedish emphasis, with Anne-Sofie Gräslund: "Similar but different: the rune-stones in and around Sigtuna as a reflection of urban-rural relations", Linn Lager: "From rune-stones to churches: a transformation of Christian practice", and Laila Kitzler Åhfeldt: "Cutting technique as a clue to quality and provenience: Sigtuna and the countryside". After the coffee break Nancy Wicker spoke on "Degrees of visibility: public and private functions of visible and concealed runic inscriptions" and Harald Krøvel on "Norwegian rune-stones from the tenth and eleventh centuries: a social and political analysis".

Following dinner, James Graham-Campbell gave a public lecture on "Cultures in contact: the Irish Sea region during the Viking Age". The lecture was introduced by Sir David Wilson, former Director of the British Museum, and dealt with the archaeological and historical contexts of the area. The evening concluded with a reception sponsored by the University of Nottingham, the School of History, University of Lancaster, and the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society.

Saturday 13th August saw a morning of lectures and afternoon excursion. The morning session began with a plenary paper by Henrik Williams entitled "Read what's there: interpreting rune-stone inscriptions". Thereafter the conference once more split into parallel sessions. In section A Michael Lerche Nielsen opened with "'He landed on the island of the Goths': haunted by phantom inscriptions". He was followed by Lisbeth Imer on "Latin stamps and runic inscriptions". After coffee Per Stille discoursed on "The rune-carvers of the late Viking Age commemorative stone monuments in Scandinavia", Magnus Källström on "Some blasphemous thoughts on the rune-carver Öpir", and Kristel Zilmer on "Deictic references in runic inscriptions on voyage rune-stones". Section B started with Richard Perkins discussing "Runic Swedish Særkland and Arabic šarq, '(the) Orient'" and continued with Michael Schulte's paper on "Stylistic variation in runic inscriptions? A case study and preliminary assessment". After the coffee break those attending this section heard Alan Griffiths on "Sigel: a very precious jewel", Immaculada Senra Silva on "The names of the u-rune", and Gaby Waxenberger on "Parallels and differences in the OE runic and OE early manuscript traditions".

In the afternoon the conference travelled to Furness, to see the Anglo-Saxon rune-stone at Great Urswick and the tympanum at Pennington, which is inscribed with Scandinavian runes in what appears to be demotic Old Norse.

Sunday 14th August was given over to lectures and the conference dinner. The morning began with further parallel sessions. In section A Jonas Nordby spoke on "Lønnruner: what are they?", followed by Alessia Bauer on "Die späten Runica Manuscripta aus Island: was versteht sich unter Málrúnir?", and finally by Jan Ragnar Hagland on "Two scripts in an evolving urban environment: the case of medieval Nidaros revisited". Section B offered but two papers: Hans Frede Nielsen posed the question "Gothic runic inscriptions in Scandinavia?" while Robert Nedoma discussed "Die Inschrift auf dem Bügelfibelpaar von Bezenye". There was then a plenum lecture by Elmer Antonsen: "What can archaeology teach us about the age of runic writing?" Following the coffee break, two further plenum papers were given. Jan Owe spoke on "Samnordisk runtextdatabas: tips and tricks", and Judith Jesch and Ian Richardson on "An English dictionary of runic inscriptions in the younger futhark".

Plenum lectures also occupied the afternoon. First came a collective paper by Jana Krüger, Edith Marold, Christiane Zimmermann and Ute Zimmermann entitled "Processing and editing runes: a presentation of the Kiel runic project", after which James Knirk described "The runic Unicode project". Following the coffee break, Michael Barnes rounded off the proceedings with a paper on "Runes and editors: the changing face of corpus editions". A short discussion was then held on future international runic symposia, and a committee was established to oversee the process of selecting venues and organising the meetings.

The evening was devoted to the conference dinner. There were plentiful supplies of food and drink, and musical entertainment was provided by the Riviera Hotshots Jazz Band. Various presentations were made, which added to the customary number of speeches. An invitation to hold the next symposium in the series in Holland in 2010 was accepted.

The conference came to a fitting climax with a whole-day excursion, guided by Angus Winchester, President of the Cumberland and Westmorland Antiquarian and Archaeological Society. Participants visited the Anglo-Saxon runic crosses at Bewcastle and Ruthwell on either side of the Anglo-Scottish border, and the Bridekirk font in the north-west of Cumbria, with its Middle English inscription in Scandinavian runes. The non-academic highlights of the day were the coffee, tea and homemade pastries provided by the Women's Institute in Stapleton village hall, near Bewcastle, and dinner at the Swan Hotel, Grasmere, in the shadow of the Lakeland mountains.

The conference is in the debt of the Viking Society for Northern Research, which funded several student bursaries, and of the University of Nottingham, University College London and the Embassies in Britain of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, all of whom provided generous financial support. A special thanks must go to the conference secretary, Rebecca Peck, whose apparently effortless efficiency enabled the organisers to relax in the sure and certain knowledge that all would be well.

The deadline for the receipt of papers for publication has long passed and the editorial process is underway. The aim is to have the volume in print within a couple of years.

Michael Barnes, Department of Scandinavian Studies, University College London, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT
Judith Jesch, School of English Studies, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD
David Parsons, School of English Studies, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham NG7 2RD

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