The Ålum Runestones are four

Viking Age The Viking Age () was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonizing, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. It followed the Migration Period and the Germ ...

memorial

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition began in the 4th century and lasted into the 12th century, but most of the runestones d ...

s which are located at the church in Ålum, which is west of

Randers Randers () is a city in Randers Municipality, Central Denmark Region on the Jutland peninsula. It is Denmark's sixth-largest city, with a population of 62,802 (as of 1 January 2022).Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

. One of the stones refers to a man with the title drengr and two of the other stones were raised by the same family.

Ålum 1

The inscription on Ålum 1, listed as DR 94 in the Rundata catalog, consists of several lines of runic text in the

younger futhark The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet and a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, with only 16 characters, in use from about the 9th century, after a "transitional period" during the 7th and 8th centuries. The ...

on the face of a granite stone in height. The inscription is classified as being carved in

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increa ...

RAK, which is considered to be the oldest classification. This is the classification for inscriptions where the runic text bands have straight ends without any attached serpent or beast heads. The runestone was discovered in 1843 broken into three sections and used in the southeast corner of the church porch. Prior to the understanding of the historic significance of runestones, there were often re-used in the construction of roads, bridges, and buildings such as churches. The sections were removed from the porch in 1879 and reassembled, and is today in the church porch. Part of the original stone is missing, and some of the missing or damaged runic text has been reconstructed based upon similar text from other inscriptions. The runic text states that a man named Tóli raised the stone in memory of his son Ingialdr, who in the reconstructed text is described in

Old Norse Old Norse, Old Nordic, or Old Scandinavian, is a stage of development of North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlemen ...

as being ''miok goþan dræng'' or a "very good valiant man", using the term ''drengr''. A ''drengr'' in Denmark was a term mainly associated with members of a warrior group. It has been suggested that drengr along with

thegn In Anglo-Saxon England, thegns were aristocratic landowners of the second rank, below the ealdormen who governed large areas of England. The term was also used in early medieval Scandinavia for a class of retainers. In medieval Scotland, there ...

was first used as a title associated with men from Denmark and Sweden in service to Danish kings, but, from its context in inscriptions, over time became more generalized and was used by groups such as merchants or the crew of a ship. The same Old Norse phrase ''miok goþan dræng'' is used on inscription Vg 123 in Västergården to describe the deceased, and several other inscriptions use a variation of the phrase ''goþan dræng''.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:tuli : (r)(i)s-(i) : stin : þasi : aft ¶ ikal:t : sun : sin : miuk (:) (k)¶(u)... ...k : þau : mun(u) ¶ mini : m-(r)gt : ¶ iuf (:) þirta :Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for DR 94.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Toli res � sten þæssi æft Ingiald, sun sin, miok go �an dræn. Þø munu minni ... ... ...'' Ålum 2 runesten

Translation in English

:Tóli raised this stone in memory of Ingialdr, his son, a very good valiant man. This memorial will ...

Ålum 2

Ålum 2, listed as DR 95 in the Rundata catalog, is a granite fragment of a runestone that is in height. It is also classified as being carved in runestone style RAK. The stone was discovered in the northeast foundation of the church nave in 1843, and removed in 1879. Due to the damage and fragmentary condition of the text, although there have been some suggested reconstructions, a proper

transcription Transcription refers to the process of converting sounds (voice, music etc.) into letters or musical notes, or producing a copy of something in another medium, including: Genetics * Transcription (biology), the copying of DNA into RNA, the fir ...

of the runes into Old Norse has never been accomplished. The stone is today kept in the church porch.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:...-a * (r)(u)----... ¶ f-(i)(o)... ¶ ...-ta × si ¶ þui × h-...Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for DR 95.

Ålum 3

The inscription on Ålum 3, listed as DR 96 in the Rundata catalog, consists of runic text in the younger futhark that follows the outline of the stone. p. 199. The inscription on the gneiss stone, which is in height, is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK. On the reverse side of the inscription is carved a rider on a horse carrying a shield and a pole and possibly wearing a helmet, although the top of the rider's head has worn away. Several other

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

n runestones include depictions of horses, including N 61 in Alstad, Sö 101 in Ramsundsberget, Sö 226 in Norra Stutby, Sö 239 in Häringe, Sö 327 in Göksten, U 375 in Vidbo, U 488 in Harg, U 599 in Hanunda, U 691 in Söderby, U 855 in Böksta, U 901 in Håmö, U 935 at the

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral ( sv, Uppsala domkyrka) is a cathedral located between the University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in the Lutheran t ...

, and U 1003 in Frötuna. The Ålum 3 stone was discovered in 1890 at the foot of the church hill, which is considered to be the original location of the stone, and has been erected in the church cemetery. The runic text states that Ålum 3 was raised by a man named Végautr in memory of his son Ásgeirr. The text ends with a Christian prayer for the soul of his son. The Norse word ''salu'' for soul in the prayer was imported from English and is first recorded during the tenth century. Because of the Christian reference and stylistic analysis, the inscription is dated as having been carved after the

Jelling stones The Jelling stones ( da, Jellingstenene) are massive carved runestones from the 10th century, found at the town of Jelling in Denmark. The older of the two Jelling stones was raised by King Gorm the Old in memory of his wife Thyra. The large ...

. The text is related to that of the Ålum 4 stone, which was raised by the wife of Végautr. Both stones are considered to have been carved by the same runemaster.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:: uikutr : risþi : stin : þonsi : iftiʀ : oski : sun : sin : kuþ : hialbi : hons : silu : uilProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for DR 96.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Wigotr resþi sten þænsi æftiʀ Æsgi, sun sin. Guþ hialpi hans sælu wæl.''

Translation in English

:Végautr raised this stone in memory of Ásgeirr, his son. May God well help his soul.

Ålum 4

The inscription on Ålum 4 or DR 97 consists of a text band in the younger futhark that follows the outline of the stone and spirals inward. The inscription is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK. The

gneiss Gneiss ( ) is a common and widely distributed type of metamorphic rock. It is formed by high-temperature and high-pressure metamorphic processes acting on formations composed of igneous or sedimentary rocks. Gneiss forms at higher temperatures a ...

stone, which is in height, was discovered in 1902 in the Ålum church cemetery dike. It was removed from the dike and raised near the Ålum 3 stone in the cemetery. Both DR 96 and DR 97 are considered to have been carved by the same runemaster. The runic text states that the stone was raised by a woman named Þyrvé, which is often normalized as Thyrve, who was the wife of the Végautr on DR 96. Thyrve was a common name of the period, and a different woman of that name is recorded on the Danish runestone DR 26 in Laeborg and on DR 41 and DR 42 in Jelling, where the woman is commonly known today as

Thyra Thyra, also known as Thorvi or Thyre, was a Danish queen, spouse of King Gorm the Old of Denmark, the first historically recognized King of Denmark, who reigned from to his death .

. DR 97 was raised in memory of a man named Þorbjôrn who was the son of Sibbi. The relation between Thyrve and the deceased is described as being ', which is translated as "cousin," but refers to the child of a close female relative. The text ends with an

alliterative Alliteration is the conspicuous repetition of initial consonant sounds of nearby words in a phrase, often used as a literary device. A familiar example is "Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers". Alliteration is used poetically in various ...

text indicating how much she cared for him. Another runestone raised by a woman with a similar alliterative ending to the normal memorial formula is on U 69 in Eggeby.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:þurui : uikuts : kuno : lit : risa : stin : þonsi : eftiʀ : þurbiurn : sun : sibu : sustlik : sin : is : hun : hukþi : b(e)tr : þon : suasum : suni :Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for DR 97.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''.''

Translation in English

:Þyrvé, Végautr's wife, had this stone raised in memory of Þorbjǫrn, son of Sibbi, her cousin, whom she cared for more than had he been her own son / than a dear son.

References

External links

Photograph of rider on horse on DR 96

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alum Runestones Runestones in Denmark