Runestones of Uppland

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What is a runestone?

A runestone is a raised stone with a carved runic inscription and additional ornaments. Thousands of runestones were erected in Scandinavia in the Viking Age. Today, the majority of runestones is presented at or near the place of its discovery, making the Swedish countryside dotted with these majestic stones.

Where are the runestones today?

Some are in museums, some are lost, but thousands of them are scattered throughout the Swedish countryside. The rundata database lists thousands of runestones. The area most densely populated with runestones is Uppland. Here is the map of 103 runestones I have visited mostly around Uppsala, the capital of Uppland. When living in Sweden discovering runestones was a frequent goal of my bike trips.

If you are in the countryside close to Uppsala and you see a church, there is a good chance there will be one or two runestones standing nearby. The older the parish, the greater chance to find a runestone. And if you look around while driving, there is a good chance you will spot some. Runestones were often erected next to tracts so that the passer-bys could see them. If you drive along a road, which follows some old tract, there is a good chance you will find some runestones. The best roads are those leading to castles or old parishes.

Without much searching the most runestone-rich locations are Uppsala and Sigtuna. When visiting the great cathedral in Uppsala, you should take the path just behind the cathedral. There you can marvel at 7 runestones. You can find 9 more runestones scattered in the university square in Uppsala, just behind Gustavianum, the university museum on the opposite site of the main entrance to the cathedral.

You can also go on a runestone hunting mission when visiting the picturesque town of Sigtuna. There is 12 runestones scattered throughout Sigtuna, but some of them are very difficult to find without the map. You can use my map or drop by the local museum, where you can also find (slightly imprecise) map.

What is on the runestone?

The most important part of a runestone is its runic inscription. Some older or smaller stones contain the inscription only. Usually the text fits into a ribbon-like snake stretching around the edge of the stone. The inscription always reads from the snake's head towards its tail. The remainder of the stone is filled with decorative snakes, dragons or twisted branches. Most stones contain at list one cross. It is worth noting that all runestones I saw and almost all in entire Sweden were erected in Christian times. In many people's minds the runes are associated with Norse gods, Thor and Odin and such. The reality is completely different. Despite the form and ornaments inspired by the pre-Christian tradition, almost all runestones were erected in Christian times.

What does it say?

The most important part of any runestone is its inscription. Most of the stones have very similar, almost uniform inscriptions. They say who raised the stone, in memory of whom, and who carved the runes. Here's an example of a very typical inscription, coming from the stone U Fv1976 located just behind the cathedral in Uppsala:

Bjôrn and Brandr had the stone raised in memory of Karlungr, their father; and Ketilbjôrn in memory of (his) brother. Œpir carved the runes.

This is the general pattern that can be found on virtually every runestone. Often, some additional information regarding life or achievements of the person in question is added. This may be a mention of voyages and raids carried out, foundations or buildings raised, or simply a note on the place, where the person lived. Sometimes a "God, bless their soul" clause is added. Here's the inscription from the very interesting stone U956 just east of Uppsala:

Steinhildr had this stone erected in memory of Viðbjôrn, her husband, a traveller to Greece. May God and God's mother help his soul. Ásmundr Kári' son marked.

This inscription is interesting for several reasons. It shows how immense the web of connections spanning the Medieval world was. Note that not only does the inscription mention Greece, the land almost 4 hours away by plane, but it also proves that Steinhildr knew her geography. And this is not an exception by any means: for example the stone U133 reads

Guðlaug had the stones raised in memory of Holmi, her son, and in memory of herself. He died in Lombardy

It is the important conclusion that in the very masculine world of Vikings, women enjoyed high level of material and personal independence. This is attested by the fact that numerous runestones were either raised by or dedicated to women.

Finally, it seems that when a runestone commemorating somebody was raised, it was also in good taste to fund public works in the name of the deceased. While funding a church might have been too expensive to most, it was a well-known European Medieval custom to fund a bridge instead. This must have been also a custom in Sweden as many runestones mention funding bridges or fords. As the interesting runestone U1033 located north of Uppsala attests,

Nasi/Nesi and his brothers raised this stone in memory of Jarl, their good father, and made the bridge as thanks to God.

What is the script?

What makes reading runestones fun is its runic alphabet, or futhark. The name is made up by the concatenation of first 6 letters of the runic alphabet: ᚠ, ᚢ, ᚦ, ᚬ, ᚱ, ᚴ, which translates to f, u, th, a, r, k in the Latin alphabet. What makes deciphering inscriptions easy is the fact that the runes are almost in a one-to-one correspondence with the letters of the Latin alphabet. Both Wikipedia and Rundata present the transcription table. The runic script and the form of some runes varied in form and shape through the ages. This is nothing unexpected: for somebody used to Latin script in Times New Roman reading the Gothic script, which was in use only 100 years ago, could be a challenge. However, while the runic script was in use for some 500 years, most of the runestones were raised in a relatively short period of time. Thus the set of runes used is quite uniform and a single transliteration table suffices. To make things even simpler, many runestones found in Sweden are accompanied by small plaques, which also list the runes and their Latin counterparts.

Here is the list of runes and their transcription into the Latin alphabet. Below, a few common words are spelled in runic as well. Interestingly, all symbols but one were superseded by the Latin letters. The only runic letter in use today is þ. It is used in Islandic and translates to th, same as in the times of the Vikings.

ᚠ ᚢ ᚦ ᚬ ᚱ ᚴ ᚼ ᚾ ᛁ ᛅ ᛋ ᛏ ᛒ ᛘ ᛚ ᛦ
f u th ą r k h n i a s t b m l r

ᛋᛏᛅᛁᚾ (stain) = stone, runestone
ᚠᛅᚦᚢᚱ (faþur) = father
ᛋᚢᚾ (sun) = son
ᚱᛅᛁᛋᛅ (raisa) = raised
ᛅᚢᚴ (auk) = and

What is the language?

The language used on the runestones raised during the Viking Period is Old Norse. Eventually, all Nordic languages such as Norwegian, Icelandic, Danish and Swedish evolved from it. Some universal Germanic words can be easily identified on multiple stones. Almost every inscription starts with the information who raised the runestone. Therefore, if the inscription is legible, you should be able to spot on every stone something like ᚱᛅᛁᛋᛅ ' ᛋᛏᛅᛁᚾ (raisa stain), meaning (somebody) raised the stone. Since there was no language standardization back then, different spellings can be found as well.

Why were they raised?

At the first glance the answer to this question seems obvious: people would erect runestones to commemorate their passed family members. This is indeed the main objective, but not the only one. In fact there exist many stones which were erected by people just to show off. The double-sided runestone U1011, which can be found in the Uppsala University Square, reads

Vígmundr had the stone cut in memory of himself, the most skillful of men. May God help Vígmundr the captain's soul

on one side and

Vígmundr and Áfríðr cut the landmark in memory of themselves while alive

on the other.

When were they raised?

It is difficult to date runestones exactly. Most of the stones date from around year 1000, the late Viking Age. For those who did not pay attention in history classes: traditionally the Viking Age starts when Ragnar Lothbrok sailed to England and plundered the monastery at Lindisfarne in 793 and ends in 1066 when Vikings "decided to settle down" in England after the Battle of Hastings. When it comes to runestones, some chronology can be established by the study of the carving style. The Rundata database has only 3 categories when it comes to the historical period: pre-Viking, Viking, and Medieval, and 102 out of 103 runestones I have visited are catalogued as originating in the Viking period. The last one was a modern tombstone inspired by the old runestones.

Are they original?

Yes, they are! However, to make the runes legible and the ornaments visible, red paint is usually applied. The paint is modern, but the carvings it covers are approximately 1000 years old! Some of the stones were found broken into pieces and then stitched together. It is worth adding that most runestones I've seen are kept in quite a good condition. The stones must be cleaned regularly: otherwise lichen would cover them completely in a matter of decades.

What are these numbers?

Each runestone is catalogued and has a unique identifier assigned. The typical form of the identifier is something like U393. The letter U stands for Uppland, the province where the stone was erected and the number is simply the catalogue number. All runestones can be found in a database such as this .

What is the most famous runestone?

I would say there are two contenders. The Swedes would probably point the Rök runestone (Ög 136). Carved by runemaster Varinn around year 800 it is regarded as the oldest Swedish poetry. It describes the legendary deeds of Theodoric the Great, the very much historical Ostrogothic king who conquered Italy in 493. The part of the inscription, known at the Theodoric strophe, reads

Theodoric the bold,

chief of sea-warriors,

ruled over the shores of the Hreiðsea.

Now he sits armed

on his Goth(ic horse),

his shield strapped,

the prince of the Mærings.

However, from more international point of view the honor may go to the Piraeus Lion (By NT1984;32). This is a classical Greek sculpture, dated to approximately 360 BC. Since early common era the lion "guarded" the Greek port of Piraeus and became such a landmark that in Italian the port became known as the Lion's Port. But apparently, when the Vikings arrived, they did not care for the over 1000 years old sculpture. Sometime in 11th century they carved the "I was here" kind of runes on the lion, despite the fact that "the Greeks forbade it", as the inscription says. Eventually, the lion was stolen by the Venetians in the 17th century and today it guards the gates of the Venetian Arsenal.

What I find fascinating about runestones?

You know what the Rosetta stone is, right? The stela found by the French expedition to Egypt in the late XVIII century that played the pivotal role in the deciphering of the Egyptian hieroglyphs. Imagine you go to the British museum, where the Rosetta stone currently is, and decide to check if the history scholars got the job done properly. This is a daunting task, because: i) you have to know ancient Greek, ii) the hieroglyphs encode syllables, not letters, so figuring out which sign means which sound is very difficult, and iii) the hieroglyphs encode a language you don't know.

Runestones, on the other hand, offer a fantastic insight at the work of a linguist, which is accessible to anyone! Since runes encode letters, it is easy to check or even figure out the transliteration to the Latin alphabet. And since the Old Norse is similar to modern Germanic languages, it is possible to decipher the text simply by comparison to modern Swedish, German, or English. Not only can a layman like me understand how more involved writing systems got deciphered by linguists and historians, but one can actually read and understand the inscription that was carved a thousand years ago! This is as old as it gets for pretty much any Germanic or Slavic language. Isn't it exciting to be able to figure out that 1000 years ago

Ófeigr had this stone raised in memory of his two sisters Tóra(?) and Hróðvé

despite the fact that you do not speak Ófeigr's tongue, nor use his futhark any more?

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Photos

U957
Beautiful runestone standing in the middle of a field east of Uppsala.

U1014
One out of two runestones next to the church in Ärentuna. On its left hand side one can spot the words ᚱᛅᛁᛋᛅ ' ᛋᛏᛅᛁᚾ (raisa stain), meaning "raised the stone". When looking carefully, one can even figure out who has raised the stone. The first word reads ᛁᚬᛚᛘᚴᛁᛦ, i.e., Iąlmkar. Today such a name would probably spell Hjalmgeir.

U961
The grandest runestone I saw is situated near Vaksala just next to the road east out of Uppsala.

U1033
Very esthetic, double-sided runestone. It is from this stone that we learn about Nasi/Nesi and his brothers who built a bridge. The first part of the inscription is on the left face, while the second part on the right. The runestone is located in somebody's garden in a small village Årby north east of Uppsala.

U336
Some smaller or older runestones contain only the inscription, without additional ornaments.

U950
A very nice stone next to a dirt road south east of Uppsala.

U950
Such plaques can be found next to majority of runestones. Apart from the translation and history of the stone they also contain the transliteration of the futhark at the bottom.

U917
Many runestones cracked and split into pieces and had to be restored.

U999
When left alone, the runestones fade away. Not only is the paint less visible, but also lichen covers the stone.

U1034
When visiting a random church in Uppland, there is a good chance to find some runestones. Most of them were moved from the nearby area and they are treated like tombstones.

U962, U963
For example, there are 4 runestones standing next to each other just outside of the church in Vaksala. Many stones are damaged with some pieces missing. This makes reading them difficult, since the sentence usually runs along their edges.

U133
Some runestones were used as building material. Today one can spot some in walls of various churches.

U219
Other runes were carved directly onto buildings or statues. Here we can see the runes carved on the tower of the church in Vallentuna.

U854
Many stones are located next to reads. Along a few kilometers long small road from highway 55 to the castle in Vik 5 runestones can be found.

So Sb1965;19
Sometimes the inscriptions were carved directly onto a big rock, just as in the picture.

So Sb1965;19
A close up on the runes.

U Fv1976;107
One of the runestones at the back of the Uppsala cathedral. It is here that we learn about Bjôrn and Brandr who raised the stone to commemorate their father.

U956
From this stone we learn about Steinhildr, whose husband travelled to Greece. It is one of about 30 so called Greek runestones, which mention Vikings travelling to Byzantium.

U393
Very nice, double-sided runestone standing next to a small street in Sigtuna. From this stone we learn about Ófeigr and his two sisters.

U990
Esthetically pleasing runestone with the beautiful motif of a dragon.

Sö111
A close up of the particularly interesting runestone next to the church in Stenkvista. Despite the fact that the runestone was raised in Christian times, it shows the Thor's hammer (at the tope), with a lightning-like runes below. The entire inscription reads "Helgi and Freygeirr and Þorgautr raised the rune-decorated landmark in memory of Þjóðmundr, their father." The words shooting out of the Thor's hammer are the last two: "their father".