Stamp 1962 - Six centuries state of fundamental rights

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 fourth-largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm, Gothenburg, and Malmö. It had 177,074 inhabitants in 2019. Located north of the ca ...

. 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, whe ...

about 10 km south-east of

. The location, which is not associated with Mora 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 of the Swedis ...

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, where the Swedish kings were elected.

History

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 Things, and given Royal assent in 1296. The Law of Uppland became th ...

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, Västm ...

states: ''The three folklands, that is

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 r ...

, shall first elect king. Then the election will be sanctioned by the

lawspeaker A lawspeaker or lawman ( Swedish: ''lagman'', Old Swedish: ''laghmaþer'' or ''laghman'', Danish: ''lovsigemand'', Norwegian: ''lagmann'', Icelandic: , Faroese: '' løgmaður'', Finnish: ''laamanni'', kl, inatsitinuk) is a unique Scandina ...

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 t ...

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, 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, ni ...

, 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. Snorr ...

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, derive ...

''). 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''), 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 ('' Riksför ...

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 (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 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

In 2002, in anticipation of

(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 throu ...

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 over a heraldic trimount.

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)