Åsmund Kåresson was a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

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 flourished during the first half of the 11th century 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. The name literally ...

and

Gästrikland Gästrikland () is a historical province or ''landskap'' on the eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Uppland, Västmanland, Dalarna, Hälsingland and the Gulf of Bothnia. Gästrikland is the southernmost and the most densely populated of the No ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. The early

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

is represented in his art. pp. 197, 208–09.

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 rows, runic alphabets or futharks (also, see ''#Futharks, futhark'' vs ''#Runic alphabets, runic alphabet''), native to the Germanic peoples. Runes were ...

, 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 (; 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 Culture. The goals of the agen ...

website, retrieved January 13, 2007. 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. Stonemasonry is the craft of shaping and arranging stones, often together with mortar and even the ancient lime mortar ...

. During the 11th century, when most runestones were raised, there were a few professional runemasters. Åsmund was active mainly in Uppland, and about twenty

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

s are signed by him and an additional thirty stones have been attributed to him. The ornamentation is characterized by variation with firmness and security in the composition. Åsmund is the inventor of the classic Uppland

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 increas ...

with one or two animals (''rundjur'') showing their heads in profile. One inscription that was found at Bo gård on the island of

Lidingö Lidingö (), also known in its definite form Lidingön and as Lidingölandet, is an island in the inner Stockholm archipelago, northeast of Stockholm, Sweden. In 2023, the population of the Lidingö urban area on the island was 48,162. It is the ...

, listed in

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

as U Fv1986;84, is signed by Åsmund and dedicated to his grandfather named Steinn. The stone's runic text also states that Steinn's sons were named Sibbi, Geirbjôrn, and Ulfr, but it is not known if one of these was the father of Åsmund. In addition, in two inscriptions, U 956 in Vedyxa and Gs 11 in Järvsta, Åsmund listed his

patronym A patronymic, or patronym, is a component of a personal name based on the given name of one's father, grandfather (more specifically an avonymic), or an earlier male ancestor. It is the male equivalent of a matronymic. Patronymics are used, ...

with the text osmuntr kara sun or "Ásmundr Kári's son." It has been suggested that Åsmund was identical with the English clergyman Osmundus who became bishop at the court of king

Emund the Old Emund the Old (Old Norse: ''Eymundr gamli''; Old Swedish: ''Æmunðær gamlæ'', ''Æmunðær gammal'', ''Æmunðær slemæ''; Swedish: ''Emund den gamle''; died c. 1060) was King of Sweden from c. 1050 to c. 1060. His short reign was characteri ...

, but the reasons for this identification are not deemed sufficient.

Inscriptions

Over twenty inscriptions are listed in the

catalog as being signed by Åsmund including U 301 in Skånela, the now-lost U 346 in Frösunda, U 356 in Ängby, the now-lost U 368 in Helgåby, U 824 in Holm, U 847 in Västeråker, U 859 in Måsta, U 871 in Ölsta, U 884 in Ingla, U 932 at

Uppsala Cathedral Uppsala Cathedral () is a cathedral located between the University Hall (Uppsala University), University Hall of Uppsala University and the Fyris river in the centre of Uppsala, Sweden. A church of the Church of Sweden, the national church, in t ...

, U 956 in Vedyxa, U 969 in Bolsta, the now-lost U 986 in Kungsgården, U 998 in Skällerö, U 1142 in Åbyggeby, U 1144 in Tierp, U 1149 in Fleräng, U Fv1986;84 in Bo gård, U Fv1988;241 in Rosersberg, Gs 11 in Järvsta, Gs 12 in Lund, and

Gs 13 Gästrikland Runic Inscription 13 or Gs 13 is a runestone carved on red sandstone located in a church in Gävle, Gästrikland. It was carved in the 11th century by the runemaster Åsmund Kåresson. The place name ''Tafeistaland'' (modern Swedish ...

in Söderby. On inscriptions U 859, U 986, U 969, U 998, U 1149, and Gs 13, Åsmund shifted the r-rune over one space to spell his name as osmunrt.

Gallery

Image:U 1043, Tensta.JPG, U 1043, a stone with a love scene attributed to Åsmund. Image:Uppland_Rune_Inscription_956.jpg, U 956, a stone at Vedyxa is signed by Åsmund. Image:Upplands Runinskrift 871.jpg, U 871, presently in

Skansen Skansen (; "the Sconce") is the oldest open-air museum and zoo in Sweden located on the island Djurgården in Stockholm, Sweden. It was opened on 11 October 1891 by Artur Hazelius (1833–1901) to show the way of life in the different parts ...

, is signed by Åsmund. Image:Gs 13, Gävle.jpg,

, presently in

Gävle Gävle ( ; ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in Sweden, the seat of Gävle Municipality and the capital of Gävleborg County. It had 79,004 inhabitants in 2020, which makes it the List of cities in Sweden, 13th-most-populated city in Sweden. I ...

, is signed by Åsmund.

References

Sources

*The article ''Åsmund'' in ''

Nationalencyklopedin (; "The National Encyclopedia" in English), abbreviated NE, is a comprehensive contemporary Swedish-language encyclopedia with several hundred thousand articles. It is available both online and via a printed version. History The project was ...

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