Interpretations
Leslie Webster regards the casket as probably originating in a monastic context, where the maker "clearly possessed great learning and ingenuity, to construct an object which is so visually and intellectually complex. ... it is generally accepted that the scenes, drawn from contrasting traditions, were carefully chosen to counterpoint one another in the creation of an overarching set of Christian messages. What used to be seen as an eccentric, almost random, assemblage of pagan Germanic and Christian stories is now understood as a sophisticated programme perfectly in accord with the Church's concept of university history". It may have been intended to hold a book, perhaps a psalter, and intended to be presented to a "secular, probably royal, recipient"
Alfred Becker interprets the casket as a whole, finding a programme documenting a warrior-king's life and after life, with each of the scenes emblematic of a certain period in life, and having a dominant runic letter with magical connotations. The front (f and g) panel stands for "birth" and assistance by the Fylgja, the picture and inscription on the left panel (r) meant to protect the hero on his way to war, the back panel (t) documenting the peak of a warrior-king's life is glory won by victory over his enemies, the right panel (s) alluding to a heroic death in battle. Woden's Wælknot (knot of death) and the presence of the Fylgja ensure his way to Wælheall.
According to Becker, the lid (æ) shows the Wayland brother Egil and his companion, a Valkyrie, defending Valhalla against the frost giants. Each scene corresponds with a certain rune in a definite position (f, g, r, t, s, æ, producing a value of 3 x 24). Becker also presents a numerological analysis of the inscriptions, counting a total of 288 or 12 x 24 signs (runes, Latin letters and punctuation). The number of runes refers to a ten-year solar calendar while their value produces a lunar calendar. The mainly Latin formula ‘HIC FUGIANT HIERUSALIM’ produces a perfect Metonic cycle with all its leap years indicated by rune-like symbols.
As the two alliterating runes 'f' (feoh) and 'g' (gift) on the front panel can be understood as Old English feogift (bounty, largesse) and as the pictures of the Magi (bringers of gift) and of the mythical goldsmith (maker of feoh i.e. trinkets etc.) express the same, the box may have served a king as his hoard box from which he handed out his gifts to his followers in the hall. As the magic intention points to pagan practice, this ruler may have been the Northumbrian King Edwin (586-633). Both the numerological analysis and the interpretation that pagan or royal practice is indicated are highly speculative and accepted by few scholars.
Marijane Osborn in an article titled "The Seventy-Two Gentile Nations and the Theme of the Franks Casket" says that "several scholars have observed that the number of runes plus dots in the inscriptions on the front and the two sides of the casket in each case adds up to seventy-two, the number of the futhoric or rune-list multiplied by three. Whereas Alfred Becker sees this as indicating pagan magic, I see it as another example of the Franks Casket artist turning his pagan materials to a Christian evangelical purpose. As he is manipulating his runes very carefully, on the left side and front supplementing their numbers with dots and on the right side reducing their number with a Roman letter and a bindrune, so that each of the three inscriptions contains precisely seventy-two items, there can be no question here of us introducing a symbolism that was not intended. But it may be misinterpreted."
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