![Mora stenar huset från vägen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f1/Mora_stenar_huset_fr%C3%A5n_v%C3%A4gen.jpg)
The Stones of Mora () is a historic location in
Knivsta
Knivsta is a locality and the seat of Knivsta Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 19,765 inhabitants.
Geography
The town sits on the Stockholm-Uppsala railway 48 km north from Stockholm and 18 km south from Uppsala, and has a s ...
, Sweden. Several Medieval kings of Sweden were proclaimed at
the assembly of Mora near modern
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 ...
. It was moved in the 15th century and was considered to have been lost. However, there are a number of stones of record in a small building in the vicinity of the former assembly site.
Origin of name
The Stones of Mora were originally named in singular as ''Mora sten'' referring to a stone on which the newly elected king stood after his election. With later monuments in stone commemorating different elections, the name changed to the plural form.
Location
Mora Meadow (''Mora äng'') is located in Lagga parish in
Knivsta Municipality
Knivsta Municipality (''Knivsta kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Knivsta, with some 7,100 inhabitants.
History
Until 1971 Knivsta was a municipality in Stockholm County, when ...
about 10 km south-east of
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 ...
. The location, which is not associated with
Mora
Mora may refer to:
People
* Mora (surname)
Places Sweden
* Mora, Säter, Sweden
* Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality
* Mora Municipality, Sweden
United States
* Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community
* Mora, Minnesota, a city
* M ...
town, is at equal distance from the
Things of the old
folklands
Attundaland
Attundaland (or the land of the eight hundreds) was the name given to the southeastern part of the present day province of Uppland, north of Stockholm. Its name refers to its role of providing 800 men and 32 ships for the leidang The institution ...
and
Tiundaland
Tiundaland is a historic region, '' Folkland'', and since 1296 part of the modern province of Uppland. It originally meant the ''land of the ten hundreds'' and referred to its duty of providing 1000 men and 40 ships for the Swedish king's leidang. ...
. This was the location of Mora
Thing
Thing or The Thing may refer to:
Philosophy
* An object
* Broadly, an entity
* Thing-in-itself (or ''noumenon''), the reality that underlies perceptions, a term coined by Immanuel Kant
* Thing theory, a branch of critical theory that focuses ...
, where the Swedish kings were elected.
History
![Om konungaval](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/Om_konungaval._Olaus_Magnus.JPG)
The
law of Uppland The Law of Uppland (; ) was the law that applied in Uppland, Sweden, from 1296 to the beginning of the 1350s.
It was drafted by a Royal commission, enacted at the three Folkland (Swedish provinces), Folkland Thing (assembly), Things, and given Roy ...
and
Södermanland
Södermanland ( or ), locally Sörmland, sometimes referred to under its Latin form ''Sudermannia'' or ''Sudermania'', is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanla ...
states: ''The three
folklands, that is
Tiundaland
Tiundaland is a historic region, '' Folkland'', and since 1296 part of the modern province of Uppland. It originally meant the ''land of the ten hundreds'' and referred to its duty of providing 1000 men and 40 ships for the Swedish king's leidang. ...
,
Attundaland
Attundaland (or the land of the eight hundreds) was the name given to the southeastern part of the present day province of Uppland, north of Stockholm. Its name refers to its role of providing 800 men and 32 ships for the leidang The institution ...
and
Fjärdhundraland
Fjärdhundraland or the ''land of the four hundreds'' is, since 1296, a part of the province of Uppland in Sweden. Its name refers to its role of providing 400 men and 16 ships for the leidang of the Swedish king at Uppsala.
Snorri Sturluson rela ...
, shall first elect king. Then the election will be sanctioned by the
lawspeaker
A lawspeaker or lawman (Swedish language, Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish language, Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian language, Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic language, Icelandic: , Faroese language, ...
of Uppland and then by all his subordinate lawspeakers in the rest of the kingdom, one by one.''
The
Westrogothic law reminded the
Geats
The Geats ( ; ang, gēatas ; non, gautar ; sv, götar ), sometimes called ''Goths'', were a large North Germanic tribe who inhabited ("land of the Geats") in modern southern Sweden from antiquity until the late Middle Ages. They are one of th ...
that they had to accept this election: ''Sveær egho konung at taka ok sva vrækæ'' meaning ''
Swedes
Swedes ( sv, svenskar) are a North Germanic ethnic group native to the Nordic region, primarily their nation state of Sweden, who share a common ancestry, culture, history and language. They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countr ...
have the right of choosing and deposing the king''.
The detail that the Swedes were not only entitled to elect their king, but that they also had the right to depose him was institutionalized a long time before, as attested by Snorri Sturlason's (died 1241) accounts of Swedish history (the speech of
Torgny the Lawspeaker
Torgny the Lawspeaker ( Old Icelandic: ''Þorgnýr lögmaðr'' , Swedish: ''Torgny Lagman'') is the name of one of at least three generations of lawspeakers by the name ''Þorgnýr'', who appear in the ''Heimskringla'' by the Icelandic scholar and ...
, and the deaths of
Domalde
Domalde, ''Dómaldi'' or ''Dómaldr'' (Old Norse possibly "Power to Judge"McKinnell (2005:70).) was a legendary Swedish king of the House of Ynglings, cursed by his stepmother, according to Snorri Sturluson, with ''ósgæssa'', "ill-luck". He w ...
,
Egil,
Aun
Aun the Old (Old Norse ''Aunn inn gamli'', Latinized ''Auchun'', Proto-Norse ''*Audawiniʀ'': English: "Edwin the Old") is a mythical Swedish king of the House of Yngling in the ''Heimskringla''.
Aun was the son of Jorund, and had ten sons, nin ...
, and
Jorund
Jorund or Jörundr (5th century) was a Swedish king of the House of Yngling. He was the son of Yngvi, and he had reclaimed the throne of Sweden for his dynasty from Haki (the brother of Hagbard, the hero of the legend of Hagbard and Signy. Snorri c ...
in the ''
Heimskringla
''Heimskringla'' () is the best known of the Old Norse kings' sagas. It was written in Old Norse in Iceland by the poet and historian Snorre Sturlason (1178/79–1241) 1230. The name ''Heimskringla'' was first used in the 17th century, derived ...
''). The location was on the border of a wetland and according to Snorri, five kings had been drowned in this wetland, when the people had been displeased.
The newly elected king also had to go on a traditional journey around Sweden (''
Eriksgata
Eriksgata (i.e. "Erik's Road") is the tour traditionally taken in the Middle Ages by a newly-elected Swedish king through the important provinces of the realm to have his election confirmed by the local thing (assembly), assemblies. The actual ele ...
''), including the Geatish provinces. It was thus a sort of federation where the king started with his election at Mora Thing and then travelled throughout the kingdom to have the election confirmed by the local assemblies. Beginning in 1362 also representatives from Finland took part in the election.
The Stone of Mora and many stones which flanked it with inscriptions commemorating the elections of earlier kings, were probably destroyed in 1515 during the civil war against the
Danes
Danes ( da, danskere, ) are a North Germanic ethnic group and nationality native to Denmark and a modern nation identified with the country of Denmark. This connection may be ancestral, legal, historical, or cultural.
Danes generally regard t ...
. Kings
Gustav Vasa
Gustav I, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known as Gustav Vasa (12 May 1496 – 29 September 1560), was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death in 1560, previously self-recognised Protector of the Realm ('' Riksföre ...
and
John III are said to have tried to reconstruct the Stones of Mora without success.
The building where the fragments are now contained was constructed by local military officer
Carl Wijnbladh Carl may refer to:
*Carl, Georgia, city in USA
*Carl, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
* Carl (name), includes info about the name, variations of the name, and a list of people with the name
*Carl², a TV series
* "Carl", an episode of te ...
(1705- 1768).
Documented elections
#
Magnus III of Sweden
Magnus III ( 1240 – 18 December 1290), also called Magnus Ladulås, was King of Sweden from 1275 until his death in 1290.
Name
He was the ''first Magnus'' to rule Sweden for any length of time, not generally regarded as a usurper or ...
was elected at the Stones of Mora in 1275.
#
Magnus IV of Sweden
Magnus IV (April or May 1316 – 1 December 1374; Swedish ''Magnus Eriksson'') was King of Sweden from 1319 to 1364, King of Norway as Magnus VII (including Iceland and Greenland) from 1319 to 1355, and ruler of Scania from 1332 to 1360. By ...
was elected at the stones on July 8, 1319
#
Albert
Albert may refer to:
Companies
* Albert (supermarket), a supermarket chain in the Czech Republic
* Albert Heijn, a supermarket chain in the Netherlands
* Albert Market, a street market in The Gambia
* Albert Productions, a record label
* Alber ...
was crowned here on February 18, 1364
#
Christian I of Denmark, Norway and Sweden was the last to be elected at Mora in 1457
Knivsta coat of arms
![Knivsta_vapen](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/44/Knivsta_vapen.svg)
In 2002, in anticipation of
Knivsta Municipality
Knivsta Municipality (''Knivsta kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Its seat is located in the town of Knivsta, with some 7,100 inhabitants.
History
Until 1971 Knivsta was a municipality in Stockholm County, when ...
(previously part of
Uppsala Municipality
Uppsala Municipality (''Uppsala kommun'') is a municipality in Uppsala County in east central Sweden. Uppsala has a population of 211,411 (2016-06-30). Its seat is located in the university city of Uppsala.
Uppsala Municipality was created throug ...
since 1971) regaining its status of a
municipality of its own in 2003, the Swedish state herald designed and registered a coat of arms for Knivsta based on the stone of Mora motif: an
open crown
A circlet is a piece of headwear that is similar to a diadem or a Corolla (headgear), corolla. The word 'circlet' is also used to refer to the base of a Crown (headgear), crown or a coronet, with or without a Cap (crown), cap. Diadem and circlet ar ...
over a
heraldic trimount In heraldry, a mount (also mountain, hill, hillock) is a representation of a hill or mountain as a curved terrace in base. When the mount is included in the lower part of the shield, it may be considered an ordinary (heraldry), ordinary rather than ...
.
See also
*
Stone of Scone
The Stone of Scone (; gd, An Lia Fàil; sco, Stane o Scuin)—also known as the Stone of Destiny, and often referred to in England as The Coronation Stone—is an oblong block of red sandstone that has been used for centuries in the coronati ...
*
Germanic king
Germanic kingship is a thesis regarding the role of kings among the pre-Christianized Germanic tribes of the Migration period (c. 300–700 AD) and Early Middle Ages (c. 700–1,000 AD). The thesis holds that the institution of feudal mon ...
*
Lia Fáil
The (; meaning "Stone of Destiny" or "Speaking Stone" to account for its oracular legend) is a stone at the Inauguration Mound ( ga, an Forrad) on the Hill of Tara in County Meath, Ireland, which served as the coronation stone for the High Kin ...
*
Prince's Stone
The Prince's Stone (german: Fürstenstein, sl, knežji kamen) is the reversed base of an ancient Ionic column that played an important role in the ceremony surrounding the installation of the princes of Carantania in the Early Middle Ages. After ...
References
Other sources
* Larsson, Mats G. (2013
sten och Mora ting''(Fornvännen. Stockholm)
''Mora sten och Mora stenar: en vägledning till ett märkligt nationalmonument''Stockholm: Riksantikvarieämbetet. 1993)
Related reading
*Stefan Brin
''The creation of a Scandinavian provincial law: how was it done''(Historical Research, Volume 86, Issue 233, August 2013, Pages 432–442)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Stones Of Mora
Uppland
Swedish monarchy
Germanic paganism
Mora
Mora may refer to:
People
* Mora (surname)
Places Sweden
* Mora, Säter, Sweden
* Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality
* Mora Municipality, Sweden
United States
* Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community
* Mora, Minnesota, a city
* M ...
13th century in Sweden
Legal history of Sweden