The Franks Casket:
A Celebration of the Founding and Destiny of Anglo-Saxon England
June 16, 2026
My article, "The Franks Casket; A Celebration of the Founding and Destiny of Anglo-Saxon England," has now appeared in the June 2026 issue of Anglia: Journal of English Philology (144(2): 203-232). It has been published under Open Access, thanks to Ohio State University's agreement with the publisher, and so may be downloaded with no paywall from the following link:
https://doi.org/10.1515/ang-2026-0016
An early draft of the article, with the title, "The Franks Casket: A Tribute to the Founding and Destiny of England," was posted at this URL from 2012 to 2019. I have left the color versions of the figures here for your enjoyment. See especially my snapshot of the Bargello panel in Fig. 8 below.
Figure 1. The Franks Casket
Photo Michel Wal
Click on images for links to more detailed photos
Right Side
Figure 2. Right side
Photo courtesy Bargello Museum, Florence
Figure 3. Detail of Right Side
Photo courtesy Bargello Museum
Lid
Figure 4. Lid
© Trustees of the British Museum
Left Panel
Figure 5. Left Panel
© Trustees of the British Museum
Rear
Figure 6. Rear Panel
© Trustees of the British Museum
Front
Figure 7. Front Panel
© Trustees of the British Museum
The Bargello Panel
Figure 8. The Bargello Panel
Photo J. Huston McCulloch
Even though the bulk of the Franks Casket has a place of honor in the British Museum, its most important panel lies, neglected, at the back of a lower shelf in the Bargello Museum in Florence. The above photograph was taken looking down through the side of its case, but it is impossible to view the panel directly. Most visitors would take no notice of it. The panel is in the room above the sculpture gallery, but unfortunately, this room is only open to the public during the tourist season.
The cast in the British Museum is better than nothing, but it is decidedly inferior to the original. Compare Figures 2 and 3 above to the cast at www.archeurope.com/index.php?page=the-franks-casket-right-panel
Perhaps one day the British Museum will acquire this unique tribute to the founding of England, and will reunite it with the other four panels.
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