Claim Now An Introduction To English Runes Penned By R.I. Page Made Available In Readable Copy

this is an excellent introduction to English runes, The author clearly describes what runes are, what they meant, who carved them, how scholars interpret them, etc, He lists the runes of various groups across different time periods and regions, and he matches each one to the letter used in transliterating, He tone is easy, and his writing is clear even for people who have not previously studied runes or Old English, His work is clearly divided into chapters by topic, so there is a chapter on cryptic runes, and a chapter on ecclesiastical runestones, and so on.
His maps showing the locations of different findings, as well as the section of photographs, lend even more background to a wellorganized volume, As the title suggests, he focuses specifically on English runes, but he also isn't afraid to describe other runic traditions when doing so will help paint a more complete picture.
He gives plenty of context for his conclusions, So all of that is good,

In general, information is only as good as its source, and since so much runic interpretation depends on the biases of the scholar, it is necessary to examine that scholar in depth.
R. I. Page evidently agrees with this, since he is selfaware enough at the beginning to state that he tends toward the skeptical side of runic interpretation.
He does not claim to be always right, or even always completely objective, and he is very open about the difficulties of some interpretations, right from the beginning.
This type of honesty comes as sort of a breath of fresh air, and it helps me at least to know where he's coming from in all this.
Moreover, throughout the book, he'll make sure to mention differing opinions, He'll describe an inscription, mention that soandso scholar thinks XYZ, while suchandsuch believes it means ABC, and that he thinks the first one is right.
So that is also good,

Howevercould you tell a "however" was comingI am seriously wondering if he started to get tired while writing this, About halfway through, the tone changes a little bit, and his remarks get a little more snide, At one point, he references another professional's opinion of a word's meaning, adding that people who would believe her would tend to believe anything, At first, I thought it might be a form of sexism, that he was disparaging the scholarly efforts of his female peers, but he seems equally dismissive of some of the men in the field.
He'll quote some opinions, say that they're completely wrong, and then never speak of them again, On the one hand, I understand that this is meant to be a general overview, and that he can't take the time to outline his reasoning on every point.
On the other hand, it felt a little abrupt, He made one very troubling comment about religion that didn't belong in a history book, His opinions about all things runic come so strongly to the center that it's hard to get a sense of the whole picture, It's hard to understand what alternatives exist beyond simply agreeing with him in all things,

And just when I thought I'd had enough, he landed his final insulton himself, For being so oldfashioned and outofdate that it was up to his readers the next generation of scholars to do even greater things than he.
So yes, he was a bit harsh and cold, but he was just as likely to turn that on himself as on others,

Does anyone escape from these judgments and insults Yes, The readers. Page is insanely protective of those who read his books, Remember how I said that it was okay not to have a background in this That if you were picking the book up cold, he'd still explain things okay I stand by that.
Furthermore, to people like myself who have dabbled in Old English, the runes seen here are very intimidating, Even transliterated, they don't make sense, Page is absolutely reassuring. He'll say things like "If this section seems confusing to students of Old English, it's because these runes are much older than the manuscripts, and they're in the Northumbrian dialect.
" That's a paraphrase, since I don't have the book in front of me at the moment, but you get the idea, He anticipated confusion, anxiety, and feelings of being overwhelmed, and he put those all to rest, At times, reading this book felt like someone next to me, holding my hand and saying "Of course it looks tough, but it's not so difficult.
Start here, and read this section, and you'll understand, " And then he made a completely inappropriate comment about Christianity, and I was unsure, all over again, what to think about this enigmatic author, On a visit to the Jorvic Centre I spotted this in the shop there how could I not buy it Such an obscure subject I thought.
. .

And I was surprised to discover how obscure, There is not much in the way of English e, g. AngloSaxon writing out there that has survived unlike Scandinavian runes and it vanished completely from use after the Norman conquests,

To be fair, I didn't realise that there was any form of literacy outside of the Latin church in England during AngloSaxon times, and indeed the evidence of the level of literacy in England is scant there are many variations of the standard runic futhark and many occasions where runic and Latin are mixed up Pages suggests this is because Latin lacked the letters representing old English sounds such as 'th' and 'w'.


And it is in the field of linguistics that the small and limited corpus of English runes becomes important highlighting the way that 'Old English' is used in everyday life and maybe providing clues to a language which has not been used for ayears.


This is a fairly dry, but fascinating book, though made entertaining at times by Page's 'irony', Apparently this is necessity of being an English Runologist, This may be called an introduction, but Wow! what an introduction, By the time you finish this book you will feel that you obtained a degree in the subject, Beware however, for those only marginally interested in this subject you will be bored, Runologists not only have to know the runes, but have to know Old English, English usage and phonetics, So you will come across a lot of terms such as spirants, participles, veral stops and many other terms I had to stop and Google! The author assumes the reader knows this stuff, so he does not explain much.

Also he painstakingly goes through much of the English runic scripts, often resulting in uninteresting sayings such as "so and so carved this stone", to not being sure what the heck is inscribed on an object.

But this is not the fault of the book, it is the nature of the subject, written by one of the leading scholars in the field.

So if you are interested in runic inscriptions from England and not the many books out there on
runic magic written by occultists, this is worth checking out.
As a linguistics student focusing on runes, this text is essential for anyone interested in the topic, While it is an academic text, it is meant as an introduction and written for those who are new to the topic and attempts to avoid linguistic vernacular whenever possible.
While a revision of an older version, it is still highly relevant to contemporary study, Page focuses on the AngloSaxon futhorc and has little patience for theories about runic magic or charms if that's what you're looking for I suggest ElliotRunes: An Introduction, though provides a solid understanding of runic studies.
My only negative comment is the lack of

information on cryptographic runes, but those are very limited in AngloSaxon runes, Runes are quite frequently mentioned in modern writings, usually imprecisely as a source of mystic knowledge, power or insight, This book sets the record straight, It shows runes working as a practical script for a variety of purposes in early English times, among both indigenous AngloSaxons and incoming Vikings, In a scholarly yet readable way it examines the introduction of the runic alphabet the futhorc to England in the fifth and sixth centuries, the forms and values of its letters, and the ways in which it developed, up until its decline at the end of the AngloSaxon period.
It discusses how runes were used for informal and daytoday purposes, on formal monuments, as decorative letters in prestigious manuscripts, for owners' or makers' names on everyday objects, perhaps even in private letters.


For the first time, the book presents, together with earlier finds, the many runic objects discovered over the last twenty years, with a range of inscriptions on bone, metal and stone, even including tourists' scratched signatures found on the pilgrimage routes through Italy.
It gives an idea of the immense range of informationon language and social history contained in these unique documents,


The late R, I. PAGE was former Professor of AngloSaxon in the University of Cambridge,

From the backcover of the book Raymond Ian Pagewas a British historian of Anglo Saxon England and the Viking Age, As a renowned runologist, he specialised in the study of Anglo Saxon runes, From Wikipedia.