Franks Casket and BeowulfRuneic inscriptions have been found not only in Anglo-Saxon poetry but also in archaeological discoveries such as the coffin of Clermont or Franks. Runic inscriptions have been discovered on coins and various other objects, the most important being the beautiful coffin of Clermont or the Franks. The top and three of the sides are now in the British Museum, the fourth side is in the Museo Nazionale in Florence. The coffin is made of whale bone and the scenes engraved on it represent an episode from the Welandsaga, the adoration of the Magi, Romulus and Remus fed by the she-wolf and finally a fight between Titus and the Jews. The engraving on the Florence fragment is still unexplained. The legends engraved around these episodes aim to represent the capture of the whale and to elucidate the sculpture. For linguistic reasons it was considered likely that the coffin was made in Northumbria in the early 8th century. In several Old English manuscripts, runes are found in isolated instances, for example in Beowulf and in the Durham Ritual. In the riddles of the Book of Exeter, the occasional introduction of runes sometimes helps to solve the mystery of the riddle, and sometimes increases the obscurity of the passage. Sometimes a poet or scribe will record his name by means of a runic acrostic introduced into the text. Thus, the poems Crist, Juliana, Elene and the Vercelli fragment bear the runic signature of their author, Cynewulf. In the poem Beowulf we see runes used with connotations of magic or charms. The early English were perfectly familiar with the Germanic runic alphabet. In Beowulf, the hero fights mortal combat with Grendel's mother in the desert. He is about to be killed......middle of paper......her to cross the sea in search of the distant country where he had found gold and land etc. We therefore see runes being usable, as illustrated by the husband's message, in common communication without magical connotation. In Beowulf we see mention of runes being used with connotations of magic or charms. Examining the historical evidence, we find that the early English used runes sometimes with magical connotations and sometimes without such implied meanings.BIBLIOGRAPHYChickering, Howell D.. Beowulf A bilingual edition. New York: Anchor Books, 1977. The Husband's Message. In The Early English Poems, translated by Michael Alexander. New York: Penguin Books, 1991. Collins, Roger and McClure, Judith, editors. Bede: The Ecclesiastical History of the English People; The Great Chronicle; Letter from Bede to Egbert. New York: Oxford University Press, 1969.