The Hedeby stones are four

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 from the 10th century found at the town of

Hedeby Hedeby (, Old Norse ''Heiðabýr'', German ''Haithabu'') was an important Danish Viking Age (8th to the 11th centuries) trading settlement near the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula, now in the Schleswig-Flensburg district of Schleswig-Holst ...

Northern Germany Northern Germany (german: link=no, Norddeutschland) is a linguistic, geographic, socio-cultural and historic region in the northern part of Germany which includes the coastal states of Schleswig-Holstein, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and Lower Saxony an ...

. This area was part of

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 = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

during the

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 ...

Stone of Eric

The Stone of Eric (cataloged as Hedeby 1 or DR 1 under the Rundata system) was found in 1796 at

Danevirke The Danevirke or Danework (modern Danish spelling: ''Dannevirke''; in Old Norse; ''Danavirki'', in German; ''Danewerk'', literally meaning '' earthwork of the Danes'') is a system of Danish fortifications in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. This his ...

and moved to a park in

Schleswig The Duchy of Schleswig ( da, Hertugdømmet Slesvig; german: Herzogtum Schleswig; nds, Hartogdom Sleswig; frr, Härtochduum Slaswik) was a duchy in Southern Jutland () covering the area between about 60 km (35 miles) north and 70 km ...

. Like the Skarthi Stone, it is believed to have been raised around 995, the year when Hedeby was attacked by the Swedish king

Eric the Victorious Eric the Victorious (Old Norse: ''Eiríkr inn sigrsæli'', Modern Swedish: ''Erik Segersäll''; c. 945 – c. 995) was a Swedish monarch as of around 970. Although there were earlier Swedish kings, he is the first Swedish king in a consecutive reg ...

who took advantage of the fact that

Sweyn Forkbeard Sweyn Forkbeard ( non, Sveinn Haraldsson tjúguskegg ; da, Svend Tveskæg; 17 April 963 – 3 February 1014) was King of Denmark from 986 to 1014, also at times King of the English and King of Norway. He was the father of King Harald II of D ...

was campaigning in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Sigtrygg Runestones

The big Sigtrygg Stone (Hedeby 2 or DR 2) was found in 1797 in Hedeby, and the small Sigtrygg Stone (Hedeby 4 or DR 4) was found in 1887. The Sigtrygg Stones was raised around the year 938.

Skarthi Stone

250px, Side view of the Skarthi Stone. The Skarthi Stone ( da, Skardesten), also known as Hedeby 3 or DR 3 for its Rundata catalog number, was found in 1857 at

. It was raised in about 982. This granite runestone is currently displayed at the

Hedeby Viking Museum The Hedeby Viking Museum ( da, Vikingemuseum Hedeby) (german: Wikinger Museum Haithabu) is a museum near the site of Hedeby, a former medieval city in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany focusing on the Viking Age history of the region. While the region ...

. The reference in the inscription to King Sveinn is believed to refer to

(

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 ...

''Sveinn Tjúguskegg''), and "the west" to a campaign in England. The king commissioned the stone in honor of Skarði, who had the title ''heimþega'' or ''heimþegi'' (pl. ''heimþegar''), meaning "home-receiver" (i.e., one who is given a house by another). A total of six runestones in Denmark refer to a person with this title, the others being

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 ...

, DR 154, DR 155, DR 296, and DR 297. The use of the term in the inscriptions suggest a strong similarity between ''heimþegar'' and the

term ''húskarl'' (literally, "house man"), or

housecarl A housecarl ( on, húskarl; oe, huscarl) was a non- servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe. The institution originated amongst the Norsemen of Scandinavia, and was brought to Anglo-Saxon England by the Danish con ...

. Like housecarls, ''heimþegar'' are in the service of a king or lord, of whom they receive gifts (here, homes) for their service. Some, like Johannes Brøndsted, have interpreted ''heimþegi'' as being nothing more than a local Danish variant of ''húskarl''.

Runic inscription

Transliteration into Latin characters

:A : suin : kunukʀ : sati : ¶ stin : uftiʀ : skarþa ¶ sin : himþiga : ias : uas : ¶ : farin : uestr : ion : nu : :B : uarþ : tauþr : at : hiþa:buProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
- Rundata entry for DR 3.

Transcription into Old Norse

:A '' Sveinn konungr setti stein eptir Skarða, sinn heimþega, er var farinn vestr, en nú'' :B '' varð dauðr at Heiðabý.''

Translation in English

:A King Sveinn placed the stone in memory of Skarði, his retainer, who travelled to the west, but who then :B died at Hedeby.

References

{{reflist Runestones in Germany 10th-century inscriptions