:''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the

Urnes style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centurie ...

.'' The style or design of

runestones 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 ...

varied 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 ...

. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increasingly complex and made by travelling runemasters such as

Öpir Öpir or ''Öper'' (Old Norse: ''Øpiʀ''/''Œpir'', meaning "shouter") was a runemaster who flourished during the late 11th century and early 12th century in Uppland, Sweden.The article ''Öpir'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1996). He was the ...

and

Visäte Visäte (Old Norse: ''Víseti'', ''Véseti'') was a runemaster who was active during the last half of the eleventh century in southern Uppland, Sweden. Work Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in runes, and most people proba ...

. A categorization of the styles was developed by Anne-Sophie Gräslund in the 1990s. Her systematization is considered to have been a break-through and is today a standard. The styles are RAK, Fp, Pr1, Pr2, Pr3, Pr4 and Pr5, and they cover the period 980-1130, which was the period during which most

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 were made. The styles Pr1 and Pr2 correspond to the

Ringerike style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th centuries ...

, whereas Pr3, Pr4 and Pr5 belong to what is more widely known as the

.Sawyer 2000:32 Below follows a brief presentation of the various styles by showing sample runestones according to

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 ...

's annotation.

RAK

RAK is the oldest style and covers the period 980-1015 AD, but the Rundata project also includes the older runestones in this group, as well as younger ones. This style has no dragon heads and the ends of the runic bands are straight. Image:Rökstenen2.JPG,

Rök runestone The Rök runestone ( sv, Rökstenen; Ög 136) is one of the most famous runestones, featuring the longest known runic inscription in stone. It can now be seen beside the church in Rök, Ödeshög Municipality, Östergötland, Sweden. It is co ...

Image:U 336, Orkesta.JPG, U 336 Image:Öl1, karlevi.JPG, Karlevi Runestone Image:Ög165 Runsten vid Vårfrukyrkan, Skänninge.jpg, Ög 165

Fp

This style is from the period c. 1010/1015 to c. 1040/1050, when Pr3 appeared. It is characterized by runic bands that end with animal heads seen from above. Image:U 778, Svinnegarn.jpg, U 778 Image:SÖ179 Gripsholm Runestone.jpg, Gripsholm Runestone Image:Rune stone exhibited in the Terminal 2 of the Arlanda Airport (Stockhoml, Sweden).jpg, U FV 1992;157 Image:So194 Brosicke 06.gif, Sö 194

Pr (profile styles)

In the styles called Pr1, Pr2, Pr3, Pr4 and Pr5, the runic bands end with animal heads seen in profile.

Pr1 (Ringerike style)

This style is contemporary with FP dated to c. 1010- c. 1050 when it was succeeded by Pr3. Image:U 324, Tjusta.JPG, U 324 Image:U 335, Orkesta.jpg, U 335 Image:U 201, Angarn.JPG, U 201 Image:U 161, Risbyle.JPG, U 161

Pr2 (Ringerike style)

This style is only somewhat younger than the previous style and it is dated to c. 1020- c. 1050, and it was also succeeded by Pr3. Image:Sö279 strängnäs dom.jpg, Sö 279 Image:U 212 (side A), Vallentuna.JPG, U 212 Image:U 137, Broby bro.jpg, U 137 Image:U 165, Vallentuna.jpg, U 165

Pr3 (Urnes style)

This style succeeded FP, Pr1 and Pr2 and is dated to c. 1050- c. 1080. Image:U 194, Väsby.JPG, U 194 Image:U 240, Lingsberg.JPG, U 240 Image:U 256, Fresta.jpg, U 256 Image:U 148, Hagby.JPG, U 148

Pr4 (Urnes style)

This style appeared somewhat later c. 1060/1070 and lasted until c. 1100. Image:Runestone Uppland 1975 II.jpg, U Fv1976;107 Image:U 647, Övergran.JPG, U 647 Image:U 152, Hagby.JPG, U 152 Image:Upplands Runinskrift 871.jpg, U 871

Pr5 (Urnes style)

This style was the last one before runestones stopped being raised. It appeared c. 1080/1100 and lasted until c. 1130. Image:U 104, Ed.jpg, U 104 Image:U 1014, Ärentuna.JPG, U 1014 Image:U 216, Vallentuna.jpg, U 216 Image:U541 Husby-Sjuhundra kyrka runestone.jpg, U 541

KB

This style is used by the

project, although it does not attribute it to Gräslund's model. The style is common in western Södermanland and it is characterized by bordered crosses. Image:Sö 84, Tumbo.JPG, Sö 84 Image:Sö 362, Tumbo.JPG, Sö 362 Image:Sö 363, Tumbo.JPG, Sö 363 Image:Sö 85, Västerby.JPG, Sö 85

Footnotes

Sources and external links

*Edberg, Rune.
Runriket Täby-Vallentuna – en Handledning
' *Fuglesang, Signe Horn (1998).
Swedish Runestones of the Eleventh Century: Ornament and Dating
', Runeninschriften als Quellen Interdisziplinärer Forschung (K. Düwel ed.). Göttingen. pp. 197–218 * Sawyer, Peter. (1997). ''The Oxford Illustrated History of the Vikings''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{ISBN, 978-0-19-285434-6 Runestones Scandinavian history Danish art Norwegian art Swedish art Viking art

RAK

Fp