RUNES 



5107 



RUPEE 



the Long Parliament which, in conjunction with 

 Cromwell's army, brought about the condemna- 

 tion of Charles I. On December 6, 1648, two 

 regiments under the command of Colonel Pride 

 entered the House of Commons, for the pur- 

 pose of forcing its members to condemn the 

 king. The majority of the members were im- 

 prisoned or driven out, and only sixty of the 

 more violent Independents were permitted to 

 retain their seats. The clearance was called 

 Pride's Purge, and the sixty members, forming 

 rump, or fag-end, of the Parliament, were 

 known by the name of the Rump Parliament 

 ever afterward. When the Rump attempted to 

 make a stand against certain demands of the 

 army in 1653, Cromwell filled the House with 

 soldiers, pulled the Speaker out of the chair, 

 cleared the room, and declared the Parliament 

 to be dissolved. It was revived twice after this, 

 and in March, 1660, it decreed its own dissolu- 

 tion. 



Krlnted Subjects. The reader is referred to 

 the following articles in these volumes : 

 Commonwealth of Long Parliament 



England Restoration 



Cromwell, Oliver 



RUNES, room, the earliest written charac- 



ters used by the Teutonic races of Europe. 



The name came from a word which meant se- 



and was closely akin to the word for ma- 



gician, thus showing that these characters were 



Pit 



j ch 



p eo s t b mlnfloedaaeyea 

 ANGLO-SAXON RUNES 



originally known only to a few, probably the 

 heathen priests. Indeed, they were at first used 

 exclusively in charms and incantations, though 

 later inscriptions of all sorts, on monuments, 

 slabs, coins and willow wands, were scratched in 

 runic characters. 



The origin of the runes, as well as the date 

 of tin u invention, is unknown, but it seems 

 probable that they were derived from the Latin 

 alphabet and that they were in use as early as 

 T!U- third century A. D. Traces of their use are 

 to be found in Germany, France, Spain, Eng- 

 I in.l, Denmark, Norway and Sweden, but tin 

 last-named countries have the great ma- 

 jority of runir monuments. The runes were 

 made entirely of straight lines, probably be- 

 cause it would have been difficult to scratch 

 curves on wood. The Norsemen themselves 



ascribed the invention of the sacred charcu 

 to Odin, chief of the gods, who was supposed 

 to have scratched the first specimens on his 

 spear. Thus they were always identified with 

 heathen worship, and the earliest Christian 

 missionaries to the countries where they were 

 in use did their best to replace them with the 

 Latin alphabet. The runes were retained in 

 Scandinavia far longer than in any other region. 



RUN JIT SINGH, runjeet' sing (1780-1839), 

 a ruler of the Punjab, India, and founder of the 

 Sikh kingdom, was the son of a Sikh chieftain. 

 His father died when Runjit was six years old, 

 and the government fell to his mother. When 

 he was seventeen Runjit rebelled against his 

 mother, gained control of the government and 

 directed all his energies to founding a kingdom 

 which should unite all the Sikh provinces. He 

 was granted Lahore by the shah of Afghanistan, 

 and within a few years subdued all the north- 

 ern provinces. The chiefs of the provinces to 

 the south asked for British protection, and in 

 1809 an agreement was reached whereby the 

 Sutlej River became the southern boundary of 

 Runjit's dominions. With the aid of British 

 and French officers Runjit then organized his 

 army after European models and made a com- 

 plete conquest of the Punjab, over which he as- 

 sumed rule under the title of maharajah, or 

 king of kings. In 1836 he suffered a severe de- 

 feat by the Afghans, but continued to rule over 

 the territory until his death. 



RUNNIMEDE, run' i meed, a meadow of in- 

 teresting historical associations, because it was 

 there or near there that the barons of Eng- 

 land compelled King John to sign the Magna 

 Charta, on June 15, 1215. Runnimede is twenty 

 miles southwest of London, in Surrey. It lies 

 on the right bank of the Thames River and is 

 used as a race course. Whether the signing of 

 the charter took place in the meadow or on 

 an island near by is a matter of dispute. See 

 MAGNA CHARTA. 



RUPEE, roo pi' , in the monetary system of 

 British India, the unit of v.ilu* and the stand- 

 ard coin. Such coins have been current since 

 long before British occupancy since the mid- 

 dle of the sixteenth century, in fact; but ih< v 

 have varied largely in value. In 1832 tin- 

 weight of the rupee, which is of silver, was fixed 

 by the British at 180 grains, troy weight, of 

 \\inch 165 grains were to be pure silver, and 

 this has remained the fixed standard to tin- 

 present day. Of necessity the value of the coin 

 has fluctuated as silver has risen and depreci- 

 ated in value, and this has proved to be a 



