The Westeremden B Runic Inscription in its North Sea Context

The Frisian runic corpus is not particularly large: it consists of about twenty inscriptions – several of them fragmentary or very short – all engraved on mobile objects of various kinds (coins, bracteates, combs, sticks, weapons) and made from different materials, including metal, bone, antler, ivory and yew wood. The Frisian runic corpus is inextricably linked to the Anglo-Saxon one – a relationship that mirrors the historical position of Frisia in the Middle Ages: a crossroads in the North Sea region and a meeting point of peoples and cultures from both sides of the Channel. This study is devoted to a detailed analysis of the Westeremden B inscription, accompanied by a proposal for a new interpretation and recontextualization within the North Sea runic tradition.