The Risbyle Runestones are two

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 found near the western shore of Lake Vallentunasjön in

Uppland Uppland () is a historical province or ' on the eastern coast of Sweden, just north of Stockholm, the capital. It borders Södermanland, Västmanland and Gästrikland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. On the small uninhab ...

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 ...

, dating from 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 ...

Description

The Risbyle Runestones, listed in 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 ...

catalog as U 160 and U 161, were engraved in

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 ...

with 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 r ...

in the early 11th century by the

Viking Vikings ; non, víkingr is the modern name given to seafaring people originally from Scandinavia (present-day Denmark, Norway and Sweden), who from the late 8th to the late 11th centuries raided, pirated, traded and se ...

Ulf of Borresta Ulf of Borresta (Old Norse: ''Ulfr í Báristöðum'', modern Swedish: ''Ulf i Borresta'') was a runemaster in the eleventh century Uppland, Sweden, and a successful Viking who returned from England three times with a share of the Danegeld. He is ...

(''Báristaðir'') who had partaken three times in the

danegeld Danegeld (; "Danish tax", literally "Dane yield" or tribute) was a tax raised to pay tribute or protection money to the Viking raiders to save a land from being ravaged. It was called the ''geld'' or ''gafol'' in eleventh-century sources. It ...

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 ...

and raised the runestone U 336 in the same region. They were raised in memory of Ulf of Borresta's kinsman-by-marriage Ulf in Skolhamarr (Skålhammar). One of the runestones, U 161, has the Eastern cross which shows the influence of Byzantine culture on Sweden at this time through the

Varangian The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';Varangian
" Online Etymo ...

s who returned after having served the Emperor in

Constantinople la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه , alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya (Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis (" ...

(see also the Greece Runestones and the Italy Runestones). The cross is today the

coat-of-arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in its w ...

Täby Municipality Täby Municipality (''Täby kommun'') is a municipality north of Stockholm in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Täby. Täby Municipality can be characterized as a suburb of Stockholm. The municipality i ...

. Both runestones are in the style Pr1,Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
-

. and they have a pronounced Ringerike character. p. 202-203. The Skålhamra clan who asked Ulf of Borresta to make the runestones also had another couple of runestones made at

Arkils tingstad Arkils tingstad ("Assembly location of Arkil") is the remains of the Viking Age thing or assembly location of a hundred in Uppland, Sweden. It is situated on the outskirts of Stockholm. The remains consist of a rectangular stone formation and tw ...

across the lake, in addition to the runestone U 100 at a path in the forest.

U 160

This runestone was raised after Ulfr of Skolhamarr by his children Ulfke(ti)ll, Gýi and Un(n)i. The

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 ...

is considered to be Ulfr of Báristaðir himself. The Norse word ''salu'' for soul in the prayer was imported from English and is first recorded during the tenth century.{{Cite book , last=Spurkland , first=Terje , translator-last=van der Hoek, translator-first=Betsy , title=Norwegian Runes and Runic Inscriptions , publisher=Boydell Press , year=2005 , location=Woodbridge , pages=133–135 , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1QDKqY-NWvUC , isbn=1-84383-186-4

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:ulfkitil * uk * kui uk + uni + þiʀ × litu * rhisa × stin þina * iftiʀ * ulf * faþur * sin * kuþan on * buki * i skul(o)bri * kuþ * ilbi * ons * at * uk * salu * uk * kusþ muþiʀ * li anum lus * uk baratis

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Ulfkætill ok Gyi ok Uni/Unni þæiʀ letu ræisa stæin þenna æftiʀ Ulf, faður sinn goðan. Hann byggi i Skulhambri. Guð hialpi hans and ok salu ok Guðs moðiʀ, le hanum lius ok paradis.''

Translation in English

:Ulfketill and Gýi and Uni/Unni, they had this stone raised in memory of Ulfr, their good father. He lived in Skolhamarr. May God and God's mother help his spirit and soul; grant him light and paradise.

U 161

This runestone was made by Ulfr of Báristaðir in memory of Ulfr in Skolhamarr, his kinsman-by-marriage, on the request of the latter Ulf's son Ulfke(ti)ll. The design of the inscription is very similar to that of U 226 at Arkils tingstad except that two crosses have been added in the area enclosed by the two serpents.

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:ulfʀ * iuk i barstam * iftiʀ * ulf * i skulobri * mak * sin * kuþan * ulfkil lit akua

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Ulfʀ hiogg i Baristam æftiʀ Ulf i Skulhambri, mag sinn goðan. Ulfkell let haggva.''

Translation in English

:Ulfr of Báristaðir cut (the stone) in memory of Ulfr in Skolhamarr, his good kinsman-by-marriage. Ulfkell had (it) cut.

Notes

Sources

*The article
5. Runriket - Risbyle
' on the website of the

Stockholm County Museum Stockholm County Museum ( sv, Stockholms läns museum) is the regional museum of Stockholm County, Sweden. The museum's head office is currently located at Flemingsberg in Huddinge Municipality. Previously, the museum was located at Sickla. ...

, retrieved July 7, 2007.

External links

An English Dictionary of Runic Inscriptions of the Younger Futhark, at the university of Nottingham
Runestones in Uppland

Description

U 160

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

Transcription into Old Norse

Translation in English

U 161

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

Transcription into Old Norse

Translation in English

See also

Notes

Sources

External links