Kingmoor Ring

Seven known rings from the Anglo-Saxon period (9th or 10th century) bear futhorc inscriptions. Futhorc are Anglo-Saxon runes used to write Old English.

The most notable of the rings are the Bramham Moor Ring, found in the 18th century, and the Kingmoor Ring, found 1817, inscribed with a nearly identical magical runic formula read as

A third ring, found before 1824 (perhaps identical to a ring found in 1773 at Linstock castle in Carlisle), has a magical inscription of a similar type,

This magical formula appears partially derived from the Irish language.

The remaining five rings have much shorter inscriptions.
* Wheatley Hill, County Durham, found in 1993, now in the British Museum. Late 8th century. Inscription: "" (I am called ring).
* Coquet Island, Northumberland, found before 1866, now lost. Inscription: "" (this is...).
* Cramond, Edinburgh, found 1869–70, now in the National Museum of Scotland. 9th-10th century. Inscription: ""
* Thames Exchange, London, found 1989, now in the Museum of London. Inscription: ""

Bramham Moor Ring

The Bramham Moor Ring, dated to the ninth century, was found in Bramham cum Oglethorpe, West Yorkshire in or before 1732 (now in the Danish National Museum, no. 8545). It is made from electrum (gold with niello), with a diameter of c. 29 mm. and weighs 40.22 g.

The inscription reads:

Where ''k'' is the late futhorc ' rune of the same shape as Younger Futhark and the is written as a bindrune.

Kingmoor Ring

The Kingmoor Ring (also Greymoor Hill Ring) dates to the 9th or 10th century. It is gold, with a diameter of ca. 27 mm.

It was discovered in June 1817 at Greymoor Hill, Kingmoor, near Carlisle ().
By 1859, the ring was possessed by the British Museum (ring catalogue no. 184), who had received it from the Earl of Aberdeen. A replica is exhibited in the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery in Carlisle.

The inscription reads:

The final is written on the inside of the ring. The inscription amounts to a total of 30 signs.

Where ''k'' is the late Futhorc rune of the same shape as Younger Futhark , and the ''s'' is the so-called "bookhand s" looking similar to a Younger Futhark ''k'', .

Linstock Castle Ring

A ring made of agate, perhaps dating to the 9th century, was found before 1824. It is now British Museum ring catalogue no. 186.

The inscription reads:

Page (1999) considers this a corrupt version of the inscription on the Kingmoor and Bramham Moor rings.

Although the location of this ring is unrecorded, Page (1999) suggests that it is identical to a ring found at Linstock Castle in 1773.
A note found among Thorkelin's archive documenting his travels to England between 1785 and 1791. The paper records an obscure inscription, "", identified as "found in 1773 at Lynstock Castle near Carlisle, & not far from the Picts Wall in Cumberland".
Page adduces a note from a sale catalogue of 1778 which lists "An ancient Runic ring, found near the Picts Well, 1773".

The ring bears a unique variant of , which more closely resembles that rune's appearance in manuscripts than the rune's other epigraphical attestations.

Wheatley Hill Finger-Ring

A gilded silver ring, dating to the 8th century, found in 1993 in Wheatley Hill, County Durham and now in the British Museum.

The inscription reads:

Two of the three gem bosses were later applied to the ring cover for the first and last runes.

Whilst runic inscriptions often refer to the object on which they are written, usually, this is "me" or another suitable pronoun. The Wheatley Hill Finger-Ring is unique amongst runic inscribed objects as identifying what type of object it is - a "ring".

Interpretation of the charm

The sequence found on both the Kingmoor and Bramham Moor Rings is interpreted as a spell for staunching blood, based on comparison with a charm containing the sequence found in Bald's Leechbook (i.vii, fol. 20v). For this reason, the entire inscription is likely a protective or healing charm or spell with the ring serving as an amulet.Page (1999), 112-114.

The charm in Leechbook is also found in Bodley MS:

The Leech book instructs, " To stop blood, poke into the ear with a whole ear of barley, in such a way that he he patientbe unaware of it." Some write this, followed by "either for horse or men, a blood-stauncher."

While the charm is "magical gibberish", there are some elements that can be identified as Irish: corresponds to Old Irish "stream of blood". , , etc. may be for ' "for irritation". Other parts sound clearly Anglo-Saxon such as ', ' for ' "unhealthy". The ''.lll.'' has been taken as a misreading of the Ogham letter (''fern'', ), the ' following it as the gloss ' "it is a tree, i.e. 'alder'"
In the interpretation of Meroney (1945), the original text gave a list of ingredients for staunching blood, alder (), curds (), etc., with a gloss explaining one of them having slipped into the text. is taken as deriving from , Irish for "prohibition against bleeding", as "against afflictions" (Old Irish ).Howard Meroney, ''Irish in the Old English Charms'' Speculum, Vol. 20, No. 2 (1945), 172-182

Fake rings

Some fake rings, dating from the 18th century, exist. They are generally bronze, do not have ''niello'' letters but rather some kind of lacquer, and show signs of machining.

See also

*List of runestones
*Magic ring
*Runic magic

Notes

References

*
*Page, Raymond I. 'The Inscriptions,' Appendix A in Wilson, D. M. ''Anglo-Saxon Ornamental Metalwork 700-1100 in the British Museum''. London:Trustees of the British Museum. pp. 67–90.
*Page, Raymond I. (1999), "Two Runic Notes," ''Anglo-Saxon England'', Volume 27, .
*Okasha, Elisabeth (2003).
Anglo-Saxon Inscribed Rings

Studies in English'', n.s. 34
pp. 29–45.
* p. 32.

External links

Anglo-Saxon Runic Rings
(ansax.com February 2010)

{{Authority control

Occult texts
Runic inscriptions
Anglo-Saxon runes
Rings (jewellery)