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Origin of the Anglo-Saxon Race.

to the period of the settlement of Kent, and the earliest invasions of the Goths and Angles. A gold ring, which was found near Cöslin, in Pomerania, in 1839, and which bore a runic letter of a specially Anglian or English type, is, according to Stephens, of the same period—viz., A.D. 400-500. He ascribes this rune (  ) to English work, the letter being a variation of the Gothic rune (  ), and its equivalence being the sound yo. With this single exception, this rune has only been found in England.[1] This discovery, in conjunction with the inscription on the sword found in the Thames, tends to show that there was a connection between the early Gothic and Anglian settlers in England and the inhabitants of the Baltic coasts in the fifth century. The evidence afforded by the finding of runic letters of this early date at Cöslin does not stand alone; it is supported by that of the objects which were discovered with it. The ring was found with a bracteate bearing runic characters, five other bracteates without runes, and two Roman golden coins, one of Theodosius the Great (A.D. 379-395), the other of Leo I. (A.D. 457-474). This latter coin, therefore, assists in confirming the date of the objects as about the end of the fifth century. Stephens says:[2] ‘This is one of the few golden bracteates we can date with some certainty from a comparison of the other gold pieces with which it lay.’ As is well known, the golden bracteates belong to a unique class of northern remains, and chiefly date from the early Iron Age in Scandinavia. They were generally shaped like coins, but were not used as coins, being intended for suspensory ornaments. They are of no common pattern, but differ much in size. weight. and other features.[3] As they differed much in their design, so they differed in regard to having runes or not. The most important hoard of them found in England was discovered at Sarr, in Thanet,

  1. Stephens, G., ‘Old Northern Runic Monuments,’ vol. ii., p. 602.
  2. Ibid., 542.
  3. Ibid., ii. 509.