Hällestad Runestones
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The Hällestad Runestones are three
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 in the walls of Hällestad Church in Torna-Hällestad, about 20 kilometers east of
Lund Lund (, , ) is a city in the southern Swedish provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, across the Øresund, Öresund strait from Copenhagen. The town had 91,940 inhabitants out of a municipal total of 121,510 . It is the seat of Lund Municipali ...
in
Skåne Scania, also known by its native name of Skåne (, ), is the southernmost of the historical provinces (''landskap'') of Sweden. Located in the south tip of the geographical region of Götaland, the province is roughly conterminous with Skåne C ...
, southern
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 ...
. Their
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 ...
identifiers are DR 295, 296, and 297. DR 295 is notable because it is held to be raised in memory of a warrior who fell in the legendary
Battle of the Fýrisvellir A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force ...
, near
Uppsala Uppsala (, or all ending in , ; archaically spelled ''Upsala'') is the county seat of Uppsala County and the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inha ...
, Sweden between the
Jomsviking The Jomsvikings were purportedly a legendary order of Viking mercenaries or conquerors of the 10th and 11th centuries. Though reputed to be staunchly dedicated to the worship of the Old Norse gods, they would allegedly fight for any lord who ...
s led by
Styrbjörn the Strong Styrbjörn the Strong ( non, Styrbjǫrn Sterki ; died about 985) according to late Norse sagas was a son of the Swedish king Olof, and a nephew of Olof's co-ruler and successor Eric the Victorious, who defeated and killed Styrbjörn at the Battle ...
and Styrbjörn's uncle
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 ...
, the
king of Sweden The monarchy of Sweden is the monarchical head of state of Sweden,See the Instrument of Government, Chapter 1, Article 5. which is a constitutional and hereditary monarchy with a parliamentary system.Parliamentary system: see the Instrument o ...
, c. 985. Thunberg, Carl L. (2012). ''Slaget på Fyrisvallarna i ny tolkning'' 'The Battle of Fýrisvellir in a New Interpretation'' Göteborgs universitet. CLTS. . The other stones were raised by the same people, and they probably formed a monument together in memory of comrades lost in the battle. The
Karlevi Runestone The Karlevi Runestone, designated as Öl 1 by Rundata, is commonly dated to the late 10th century and located near the Kalmarsund straight in Karlevi on the island of Öland, Sweden. It is one of the most notable and prominent runestones and const ...
, the
Egtved Runestone The Egtved Runestone or DR 37 is a Viking Age runestone engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet. It was discovered in 1863, by a master mason named Anders Nielsen from Starup, in the southern part of the cemetery of Egtved ch ...
and the
Sjörup Runestone The Sjörup Runestone is a runestone in Scania, Sweden, from approximately 1000 AD that is classified as being in runestone style RAK. The Karlevi Runestone, the Egtved Runestone and the Hällestad Runestones may be connected to it. History T ...
may be connected to them.


DR 295

This
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
runestone, which is walled into the south-western corner of the church of Hällestad, has been known since the late 17th century.Enoksen 1998:111 The inscription begins in the left row on the front side and follows the
boustrophedon Boustrophedon is a style of writing in which alternate lines of writing are reversed, with letters also written in reverse, mirror-style. This is in contrast to modern European languages, where lines always begin on the same side, usually the le ...
order of reading.Enoksen 1998:111-112 The inscription is dated to the late 10th century, and shows an early dotted k-rune which represents the g-phoneme in aigiEnoksen 1998:113 It also contains an unusual dotted m-rune (), which is however only for decorative purposes since it does not change the pronunciation (compare the Transjö Runestone). An interesting detail is the fact that it calls Toki Gormsson "brother", which should be interpreted as "brother-in-arms" and not a biological brother. 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 ...
warbands consisted of brotherhoods, where each member had equal worth, including the warchief who in this case was Toki Gormsson. Toki was probably the son of the Danish king
Gorm the Old Gorm the Old ( da, Gorm den Gamle; non, Gormr gamli; la, Gormus Senex), also called Gorm the Languid ( da, Gorm Løge, Gorm den Dvaske), was ruler of Denmark, reigning from to his death or a few years later.Lund, N. (2020), p. 147
, who died c. 958 or 959. This Toki is not remembered by the Norse sagas but, unlike the sagas, the runestones constitute contemporary documentation. Also notable is that the stone reports that the men went closest to Toki, meaning that the best warriors formed a shield circle around the warchief during battle in order to show fealty to their leader (compare with the Kålsta Runestone). The hill which is referred to was probably a barrow in which the brothers-in-arms buried Toki according to the traditions of the time.


Transliteration

:A : askil : sati : stin : þansi : ift ʀ¶ : tuka : kurms : sun : saʀ : hulan : ¶ trutin : saʀ : flu : aigi : at : ub:¶:salum :B satu : trikaʀ : iftiʀ : sin : bruþr ¶ stin : o : biarki : stuþan : runum : þiʀ : :C (k)(u)(r)(m)(s) (:) (t)(u)(k)(a) : kiku : (n)(i)(s)(t) ʀ''


Transcription

:A ''Æskel satti sten þænsi æftiʀ Toka Gorms sun, seʀ hullan drottin. Saʀ flo ægi at Upsalum'' :B ''sattu drængiaʀ æftiʀ sin broþur sten a biargi støþan runum. Þeʀ'' :C ''Gorms Toka gingu næstiʀ.''


Translation

:A Áskell placed this stone in memory of Tóki Gormr's son, to him a faithful lord. He did not flee at Uppsala. :B Valiant men placed in memory of their brother the stone on the hill, steadied by runes. They :C went closest to Gormr's Tóki.


DR 296

This runestone is contemporary with the preceding runestone and it is made of
granite Granite () is a coarse-grained (phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies undergro ...
. The inscription refers to Erra as Tóki's ''hemþægi'' 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 besides DR 296 and DR 297 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 3, DR 154, and DR 155. The use of the term in the inscriptions suggest a strong similarity between ''heimþegar'' and the
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 ...
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 conq ...
. 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 Johannes Balthasar Brøndsted (5 October 1890 - 16 November 1965) was a Danish archaeologist and prehistorian. He was a professor at the University of Copenhagen and director of the Danish National Museum. Biography Brøndsted was born at Gr ...
, have interpreted ''heimþegi'' as being nothing more than a local Danish variant of ''húskarl''.


Transliteration

:: oskautr : ristþi : stin : þansi (:) ¶ (:) (i)ftiʀ : airu : brþur : sin : ian : ¶ : saʀ : uas : him:þiki : tuka : nu : ¶ : skal : stato : stin : o : biarki :


Transcription

:''Asgotr resþi sten þænsi æftiʀ Ærru, broþur sin. Æn saʀ was hemþægi Toka. Nu skal standa sten a biargi.''


Translation

:Ásgautr raised this stone in memory of Erra, his brother. And he was Tóki's retainer. Now the stone will stand on the hill.


DR 297

This runestone is contemporary with the preceding runestones and it is made of
sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...
. It is probably made by the same
runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...
as DR 295. Similar to DR 296, the inscription also refers to Ásbjôrn as being Toki's ''hemþægi''.


Transliteration

:: osbiurn : him:þaki : tuka : sati : stin ¶ : þasi : iftiʀ : tuka : bruþur : sin :


Transcription

:''Æsbiorn, hemþægi Toka, satti sten þæssi æftiʀ Toka, broþur sin.''


Translation

:Ásbjôrn, Tóki's retainer, placed this stone in memory of Tóki, his brother.


Notes


External links


Arild Hauge's page on Danish runestones.Picture of DR 295.Picture 1 of DR 296.Picture 2 of DR 296.Picture of DR 297.

Carl L. Thunberg (2012): ''Slaget på Fyrisvallarna i ny tolkning (The Battle of Fýrisvellir in a New Interpretation)''


References

*Enoksen, Lars Magnar. (1998). ''Runor : historia, tydning, tolkning''. Historiska Media, Falun. *
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 ...
10th-century inscriptions Runestones in memory of Viking warriors Jomsvikings Runestones in Scania {{Runestones