Visäte (

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 ...

: ''Víseti'', ''Véseti'') was a

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 ...

who was active during the last half of the eleventh century in southern

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 ...

Work

Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in

runes Runes are the letter (alphabet), letters in a set of related alphabets known as runic alphabets native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were used to write various Germanic languages (with some exceptions) before they adopted the Latin alphabet, a ...

, and most people probably carved messages on pieces of bone and wood.
Vilka kunde rista runor?
' on the

Swedish National Heritage Board The Swedish National Heritage Board ( sv, Riksantikvarieämbetet; RAÄ) is a Swedish government agency responsible for World Heritage Sites and other national heritage monuments and historical environments. It is governed by the Ministry of Cult ...

website, retrieved 3 March 2015. However, it was difficult to make runestones, and in order to master it one also needed to be a

stonemason Stonemasonry or stonecraft is the creation of buildings, structures, and sculpture using stone as the primary material. It is one of the oldest activities and professions in human history. Many of the long-lasting, ancient shelters, temples, mo ...

. During the 11th century, when most runestones were raised, there were a few professional runemasters. The runemaster Visäte is known for his inscriptions which are classified as being carved in

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increa ...

s Pr3 and Pr4, which is also known as 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 ...

. Inscriptions in runestone style Pr3 and Pr4 are characterized by slim and stylized animals that are interwoven into tight patterns. The animal heads are typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks. Uppland's longest runic inscription, runestone U 337 in Granby, has Visäte's signature. Seven other surviving

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 that are signed by Visäte include U 74 in Husby, U 208 in Råcksta, U 236 in Lindö, U 454 in Kumla, U 669 in Kålsta, U 862 in Säva, and U Fv1946;258 in Fällbro.

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 ...

lists over twenty additional runestones that have been attributed to him based on stylistic analysis.

Gallery

Image:U 73, Hägerstalund.jpg, U 73, one of the Greece Runestones, is attributed to Visäte. Image:Lr20040001s.jpg, The

Granby Runestone The Granby Runestone (Swedish: ''Granbyhällen''), designated as U 337 under the Rundata catalog, is one of the longest Viking Age runic inscriptions located in Uppland, Sweden. Description The Granby Runestone has a runic inscription carved o ...

, U 337, the longest runic inscription in

, was made by Visäte. Drawing by Peringskiöld. Image:U 614, Torsätra.jpg, The Torsätra runestone, U 614, is attributed to Visäte. Image:Upplands runinskrifter Fv1946;258.jpg,

Uppland Runic Inscription Fv1946;258 Uppland Runic Inscription Fv1946;258 or U Fv1946;258 is the Rundata catalog designation for a Viking Age memorial runic inscription to two fathers that is located in Fällbro, which is about 5 kilometers northwest of Täby, Stockholm County, Sw ...

is signed by Visäte.

References

Other sources

*The article ''Visäte'' in ''

Nationalencyklopedin ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia, initiated by a favourable loan from the Government of Sweden of 17 million Swedish kronor in 19 ...

'' (1996). {{DEFAULTSORT:Visate Runemasters Swedish artists 11th-century Swedish people