File:Unidentified object with runic inscription (FindID 462344).jpg

English: Cast copper-alloy and iron mount dating from the early medieval period, that is c. AD1000-1300. The artefact was found by metal detector and analysed by Prof Elisabeth Okasha on 19th January 2012 at Lancaster City Museum; Prof John Hines has also seen an image and has advised that the inscription should not be considered runic.

Description (object): The mount is made of copper alloy and is attached to an iron object, probably the blade or handle of a small knife. Both knife and mount are broken at each end. The remaining portion of the mount measures c 50 mm in length and c 20 mm at its greatest width, which is in the centre of the remaining portion; the mount is less than 1 mm thick. There are signs of rivets where the mount was fastened on to the knife. There are further signs of rivets on the back, suggesting that originally the knife may have contained a mount on each side. Apart from its text, the existing mount is undecorated.

Description (text): The mount contains an incised text set in one horizontal line along its length. There are no traces of framing lines. It seems likely that the mount was inscribed after it had been fastened on to the knife. The evidence for this is that one letter, letter 3, appears to have been inscribed across one of the rivet holes. Moreover there are faint traces of incised lines on the actual knife, where the mount has disappeared: this can be most clearly seen at the top of letter 6. The text is now rather deteriorated but several letters can be read.

Text (reading): The text consists of eleven letters, including one dot. It can be read: ─ [E] R : E [. .] S I H X [.] ─ transliterated according to the following system:

─ indicates loss of text at beginning or end

[.] indicates one letter lost

A indicates a letter damaged but legible

[A] indicates a damaged letter probably to be read as

A : indicates a deliberate dot in the text

Text (comments on the reading):

Letter 1 might be of the form of E with the openings joined by a vertical line, or the line might be an error or a scratch

Letter 3 consists of a single dot, set above and to the left of Letter 4

Letter 5 might read D, although other letters are possible, such as B, P, or R

Letter 6 might read P or R or possibly Þ (= W, an early medieval letter)

Letter 7 is a reversed S

Letter 11 is too fragmentary to be read

Text (interpretation): Texts on small objects of this nature often contain one or more of the following elements: a personal name, a formula indicating possession or workmanship, a religious formula. With this in mind, the following interpretation is offered. Letters 6 to 11 inclusive might be a slightly garbled attempt at the common abbreviated form IHS XPS, standing for ihesus christus, the nomina sacra. The letters preceding, that is Letters 2, 4 and 5, might possible have contained the end of a personal name, perhaps ending in -red, a common second element of a male personal name. Letter 3, the dot, would then be decorative. An alternative suggestion is that Letters 1 to 2 form the end of a word, the end indicated by the dot, that is, Letter 3. Letters 4 to 6 could then read ED Þ, an abbreviated form of the recorded personal name Edwine (probably male) or Edwynn (probably female), with Þ = W standing for its letter-name. Text: script The script is Anglo-Saxon capitals, a form of script used on inscribed objects and which lasted in use over the Norman Conquest. There is clear evidence that the letters were seriffed, although not consistently. If Letter 1 is to be read as E closed by a line, this would be a late feature, probably post-Conquest. Another late-looking feature is the small size of Letter 4. However there is too little evidence for the script to be dated conclusively.

Parallels: There are a number of inscribed knives from Anglo-Saxon England. These include 109 Sittingbourne 1 (Okasha 1971, 113-14 and illustrations) and 174 Putney (Okasha 1983, 97-8 and illustrations). Both of these knives are made of iron and both have mounts attached to their blades. The Sittingbourne knife dates from the late ninth or early tenth century. It contains two decorative mounts of silver and bronze, one fastened on to each side, both inscribed. Each text contains an initial cross, followed by a personal name, one then followed by an owner formula, the other by a maker formula. The Putney knife dates from the tenth or early eleventh century. It also contains two decorative mounts, one on each side, both of silver and both inscribed. The text on one side consists of a personal name but the second text is too worn to be interpreted.

Date: There is insufficient evidence to offer a certain date for the Fleetwood knife, beyond saying that it is likely to be early Medieval, possibly dating from the eleventh to thirteenth centuries.

References cited: Okasha 1971: Okasha, E., Hand-list of Anglo-Saxon Non-runic Inscriptions. Cambridge: CUP Okasha 1983: Okasha, E., 'A supplement to Hand-List of Anglo-Saxon Non-Runic Inscriptions', Anglo-Saxon England 11, 83-118.