Halvdan, normalized

Old Norse orthography

The orthography of the Old Norse language was diverse, being written in both Runic and Latin alphabets, with many spelling conventions, variant letterforms, and unique letters and signs. In modern times, scholars established a standardized spelling for the language. When Old Norse names are used in...

 from Old Norse

Old Norse

Old Norse is a North Germanic language that was spoken by inhabitants of Scandinavia and inhabitants of their overseas settlements during the Viking Age, until about 1300....

 Halfdan, was a runemaster

Runemaster

A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones.Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in runes, and most people probably carved messages on pieces of bone and wood. However, it was difficult to make runestones, and in order to master it one also needed to be a...

 in mid-11th century Södermanland

Södermanland

', 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, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.

Career

Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in runes, and most people probably carved messages on pieces of bone and wood. However, it was difficult to make runestones, and in order to master it one also needed to be a stonemason. During the 11th century, when most runestones were raised, there were a few professional runemasters. The runemaster Halvdan is known by name because he signed the inscription Sö 270

Södermanland Runic Inscription 270

Södermanland Runic Inscription 270 or Sö 270 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runic inscription that is located in Tyresta, which is about two kilometers east of Brandbergen, Stockholm County, Sweden, and is within the Tyresta National Park and the historic province of...

 in Tyresta. Halvdan often did work that has been classified as being carved in runestone style Pr3, which is also known as Urnes style

Urnes style

The Urnes style was the last phase of Scandinavian animal art during the second half of the 11th century and in the early 12th century. The preceding phases of Scandinavia's Viking Age animal ornamentation are usually categorized as Oseberg style, Borre style, Jelling style, Mammen style and...

. This runestone style is characterized by slim and stylized animals that are interwoven into tight patterns, with the animal heads typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks. Over fifteen other runestones have been attributed to him. The other inscriptions listed in Rundata

Rundata

The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base 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 for future research...

 that are attributed to Halvdan based upon stylistic analysis include Sö 235

Södermanland Runic Inscription 235

Södermanland Runic Inscription 235 or Sö 235 is the Rundata listing for a Viking Age memorial runestone fragment that is located in Västerby, which is six kilometers southwest of Väländan, Stockholm County, Sweden, and in the historic province of Södermanland.-Description:This inscription, which is...

 in Västerby, Sö 237 in Fors, Sö 239

Södermanland Runic Inscription 239

Södermanland Runic Inscription 239 or Sö 239 is the Rundata catalog listing for a Viking Age memorial runestone fragment that is located in Häringe, which is about one kilometer east of Landfjärden, Stockholm County, Sweden, which is in the historic province of Södermanland.-Description:The damaged...

 in Häringe, Sö 244 in Tuna, Sö 245

Södermanland Runic Inscription 245

Södermanland Runic Inscription 245 or Sö 245 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age runestone fragment that is located in Tungelsta, which is about two kilometers west of Västerhaninge, Stockholm County, Sweden, which was in the historic province of Södermanland.-Description:The inscription...

 in Tungelsta, the now-lost Sö 247 in Ålsta, Sö 252 in Säby, Sö 256 in Älby, Sö 262 in Blista, Sö 269 in Söderby Malm, Sö 272 in Upp-Norrby, Sö 274 in Södersluss, Sö 290 in Farsta, Sö 292

Södermanland Runic Inscription 292

Sö 292 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runestone located in Bröta, which is about six kilometers southwest of Väländan, Stockholm County, Sweden, in the historic province of Södermanland.-Description:...

 in Bröta, Sö 297 in Uppinge, Sö 298

Södermanland Runic Inscription 298

Sö 298 is the Rundata catalog number for a Viking Age memorial runestone located in Uringe Malm, which is about four kilometers west of Väländan, Stockholm County, Sweden, in the historic province of Södermanland.-Description:...

 in Uringe Malm, and Sö 301 in Ågesta Bro. In most of his inscriptions, Halvdan used a punctuation mark to separate each word in the runic text.