The Bjärby Runestones are two

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 Ger ...

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of a ...

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 da ...

s located near

Grästorp Grästorp is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Grästorp Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 2,969 inhabitants in 2010. It is the only locality in Grästorp Municipality. Sports The following sports clubs are l ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, in Bjärby synod, which was in the historic province of

Västergötland Västergötland (), also known as West Gothland or the Latinized version Westrogothia in older literature, is one of the 25 traditional non-administrative provinces of Sweden (''landskap'' in Swedish), situated in the southwest of Sweden. Väs ...

. The two stones are memorials to men who held the titles

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 w ...

and drengr, and one has a depiction of the hammer of the

Norse pagan Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism, is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic people ...

deity

Thor Thor (; from non, Þórr ) is a prominent god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred groves ...

Vg 113

Västergötland Runic Inscription 113 or Vg 113 is the

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base ( sv, Samnordisk runtextdatabas) is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way f ...

listing for a runestone located in Lärkegapet, which is about one-half kilometer east of Grästorp The inscription, which is on a

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 an ...

stone that is 2.5 meters in height, consists of two vertical bands of runic text with the sides of the runic bands forming the handle of a hammer, which is considered to be a depiction of Thor's hammer Mjöllnir. Because of the length of the text bands, the hammer has a long shaft with the head located at the top of the stone. Thor's hammer was used on several memorial runestones in Sweden and Denmark, perhaps as a parallel to or a

pagan Paganism (from classical Latin ''pāgānus'' "rural", "rustic", later "civilian") is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Judaism. ...

reaction to the use of the

cross A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two intersecting lines or bars, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the Latin letter X, is termed a sa ...

by Christians. Other surviving runestones or inscriptions depicting Thor's hammer include runestones U 1161 in Altuna, Sö 86 in Åby, Sö 111 in Stenkvista, Öl 1 in Karlevi, DR 26 in Laeborg, DR 48 in Hanning, DR 120 in Spentrup, and DR 331 in Gårdstånga. 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 increas ...

RAK, which is the classification for inscriptions where the ends of the runic band do not have any attached serpent or beast heads. The runic text states that the stone was raised as a memorial to his kinsman Bjôrn and describes the deceased man as being "a very good

." The term thegn was used in the late Viking Age in Sweden and Denmark to describe a class of retainer. About fifty memorial runestones described the deceased as being a thegn. Of these, the runic text on sixteen other runestones use the same

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

phrase ''harða goðan þegn'', Vg 59 in Norra Härene, Vg 62 in Ballstorp, Vg 102 in Håle gamla, Vg 115 in Stora Västölet, Vg 151 in Eggvena, Vg NOR1997;27 in Hols, DR 86 in Langå, DR 106 in Ørum, DR 115 in

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).DR 121 in Asferg, DR 123 in Glenstrup, DR 130 in Giver, DR 213 in Skovlænge, DR 278 in Västra Nöbbelöv, DR 294 in Baldringe, and DR 343 in Östra Herrestads. In addition, four inscriptions use a different word order, ''þegn harða goðan'', include Vg 74 in Skolgården, Vg 152 in Håkansgården, Vg 157 in Storegården, and Vg 158 in Fänneslunda. The name of the sponsor,

Dagr Dagr (Old Norse: , "day")Lindow (2001:91). is the divine personification of the day in Norse mythology. He appears in the ''Poetic Edda'', compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the ''Prose Edda'', written in the 13th ...

, which is an Old Norse word which means "day," also appears on Vg 101 in Bragnum and Ög 43 in Ingelstad, which uses an

ideogram An ideogram or ideograph (from Greek "idea" and "to write") is a graphic symbol that represents an idea or concept, independent of any particular language, and specific words or phrases. Some ideograms are comprehensible only by famili ...

for the name, and is the personification of day in

Norse mythology Norse, Nordic, or Scandinavian mythology is the body of myths belonging to the North Germanic peoples, stemming from Old Norse religion and continuing after the Christianization of Scandinavia, and into the Nordic folklore of the modern period ...

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:takh : risþi : stn : þaisi : ʀfti : burn : frita : harþa : kuþih : þikn :Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for Vg 113.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Dagʀ ræisti stæin þannsi æftiʀ Biorn frænda, harða goðan þegn.''

Translation in English

:Dagr raised this stone in memory of Bjôrn, (his) kinsman, a very good Þegn.

Vg 114

Västergötland Runic Inscription 114 or Vg 114 is the Rundata listing for a runestone located in Börjesgården, which is about one-half kilometer northeast of Grästorp The inscription, which is on a stone that is 2.5 meters in height and made of gneiss, consists of runic text within a single text band in the shape of a hook. The inscription, similar to Vg 113, is classified as being carved in runestone style RAK. The runic text states that the stone is a memorial raised by Þórir in memory of his brother Tóki. The deceased man is described as being ''harða goðan 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

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. Other runestones describing the deceased using the words ''harþa goþan dræng'' in some order include

DR 1 DR1 (DR Et) is the flagship television channel of the Danish Broadcasting Corporation (DR). It became Denmark's first television station when it began broadcasting in 1951 – at first only for an hour a day three times a week. Besides its ...

in Haddeby, DR 68 in Århus, DR 77 in Hjermind, DR 127 in Hobro, DR 268 in Östra Vemmenhög, DR 276 in Örsjö, DR 288 and DR 289 in Bjäresjö, Sm 48 in Torp, Vg 61 in Härlingstorp, Vg 90 in Torestorp, Vg 112 in Ås, the now-lost Vg 126 in Larvs, Vg 130 in Skånum, Vg 153 and Vg 154 in Fölene, Vg 157 in Storegården, Vg 162 in Bengtsgården, Vg 179 in Lillegården, Vg 181 in Frugården, Vg 184 in Smula (using a plural form), the now-lost Ög 60 in Järmstastenen, Ög 104 in Gillberga, and possibly on U 610 in Granhammar.

Inscription

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:* þuri : risþi : stin : þonsi : ift- : tuka : bruþur : sin : harþa : kuþan : trik :Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk - Rundata entry for Vg 114.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Þoriʀ ræisti stæin þannsi æft ʀToka, broður sinn, harða goðan dræng.''

Translation in English

:Þórir raised this stone in memory of Tóki, his brother, a very good valiant man.

References

External links

Photograph of Vg 113 in 1995
-

Swedish National Heritage Board The Swedish National Heritage Board ( sv, Riksantikvarieämbetet; RAÄ) is a Swedish government agency responsible for World Heritage Sites and other national heritage monuments and historical environments. It is governed by the Ministry of Cult ...

Photograph of Vg 114 in 1995
- Swedish National Heritage Board {{DEFAULTSORT:Bjarby Runestones Runestones in Västergötland