Italy Runestones
Encyclopedia
The Italy Runestones are three or four Varangian Runestones
from 11th century Sweden
that talk of warriors who died in Langbarðaland ("Land of the Lombards
"), the Old Norse
name for Italy
. On these rune stones it is southern Italy
that is referred to (Langobardia
), but the Rundata
project renders it rather anachronistically as Lombardy
(see the translations of the individual stones, below).
The rune stones are engraved in Old Norse
with the Younger Futhark
, and two of them are found in Uppland
and one or two in Södermanland
.
The memorials are probably raised in memory of members of the Varangian Guard
, the elite guard of the Byzantine Emperor, and they probably died while fighting in southern Italy against Normans
or Muslims. Many of their brothers-in-arms are remembered on the 28 Greece Runestones
most of which are found in the same part of Sweden.
The young men who applied for a position in the Varangian guard were not uncouth roughnecks, as in the traditional stereotype, but instead, it appears that they were usually fit and well-raised young warriors who were skilled in weapons. They were the kind of warriors who were welcome as the elite troops of the Byzantine Emperor, and who the rulers of Kievan Rus'
requested from Scandinavia
when they were under threat.
(d. 1720) considered the Fittja stone and the Djulefors stone to refer to the Lombard
migration from Sweden, whereas Celsius (1727) interpreted them in a strikingly different manner. He noted that the name Longobardia was not applied to Italy until after the destruction of the Kingdom of the Lombards
in 774. He claimed that the kingdom had been taken over by Varangians from Byzantium in the 11th and 12th centuries, and noted that in Barbarossa
's campaign in Italy there were many Scandinavian warriors. The stones would have commemorated Swedish warriors who died in Barbarossa's war. This view was also espoused by Brocman (1762) who considered Holmi to have died in the 12th century for either the Byzantine Emperor or ruler of the Holy Roman Empire
.
von Friesen (1913) noted that it is not Lombardy
in northern Italy that is intended, but Langobardia in southern Italy, which was ruled by the Byzantine Emperor during the 11th century. The Greeks had to fight several battles against the Normans
in southern Italy during the mid-11th century. It is likely that Holmi, who is mentioned on two stones, took part in these battles as a member of the Byzantine Emperor's elite unit, the Varangian Guard
, since they use a name based on the Greek name for the region.
from runic inscriptions into standardised Old Norse
are in Old East Norse (OEN), the Swedish and Danish dialect, to facilitate comparison with the inscriptions, while the English translation provided by Rundata give the names in the standard dialect, Old West Norse (OWN), the Icelandic and Norwegian dialect.
s of the runes into Latin characters with boldface and transcribe the text into a normalized form of the language with italic type
. This practice exists because the two forms of rendering a runic text have to be kept distinct. By not only showing the original inscription, but also transliterating, transcribing and translating, scholars present the analysis in a way that allows the reader to follow their interpretation of the runes. Every step presents challenges, but most Younger Futhark
inscriptions are considered easy to interpret.
In transliterations, *, :, ×,' and + represent common word dividers. Parentheses, , represent damaged runes that cannot be identified with certainty, and square brackets, [ ], represent sequences of runes that have been lost, but can be identified thanks to early descriptions by scholars. A short hyphen, -, indicates that there is a rune or other sign that cannot be identified. A series of three full stops ... shows that runes are assumed to have existed in the position, but have disappeared. The two dividing signs | | divide a rune into two Latin letters, because runemaster
s often carved a single rune instead of two consecutive ones.
Angle brackets, < >, indicate that there is a sequence of runes that cannot be interpreted with certainty. Other special signs are þ and ð, where the first one is the thorn
letter which represents a voiceless dental fricative
as th in English thing. The second letter is eth
which stands for a voiced dental fricative
as th in English them. The R sign represents the yr rune
.
, Sö for Södermanland
and DR for Denmark
. The second part represents the order in which the inscription is presented in the official national publications (e.g. Sveriges runinskrifter
). Thus U 133 means that the runestone was the 133rd runic inscription in Uppland that was documented in Sveriges runinskrifter. If the inscription was documented later than the official publication, it is listed according to the publication where it was first described, e.g. Sö Fv1954;22, where Sö represents Södermanland, Fv stands for the annual publication Fornvännen
, 1954 is the year of the issue of Fornvännen and 22 is the page in the publication.
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Runestone U 133 (location) is in style Pr3, part of the more general Urnes style
. The stone has been split into two parts that are walled into the southern exterior wall of Täby
church, near the ground. The larger fragment, which was originally the upper part of the runestone, is in the western wall of the old porch which is constructed at the church's southern side. The smaller fragment is upside-down in the southern wall of the porch. Both fragments are partly in the soil which means that it is necessary to remove some soil in order to read the entire inscriptions. The larger part was known as early as Johannes Bureus
(1568–1652) and it was also studied by Johan Peringskiöld
during the national search for historic monuments (1667–84) and by Olof Celsius
in 1727. However, the smaller part was not noticed by scholars until 1857, when it was documented by Richard Dybeck
, who initially believed that the parts did not belong together. He corrected this interpretation in his Sverikes runurkunder (1865) where he made a depiction of how they would have looked before they were split.
The fragments are in reddish granite
and larger part measures 1.02 m (3.3 ft) in height and 0.86 m (2.8 ft)–1 m (3.3 ft) in width, while the smaller one is 0.45 m (1.5 ft) tall and 1.23 m (4 ft) wide. It probably formed a twin monument together with U 141 on the estate of Fittja, before it was moved to the church to be used as building material in the mid-15th century.
Both this runestone and U 141 are identified by von Friesen and Erik Brate as the production of the runemaster
Fot
. They were commissioned by Guðlaug in memory of her son Holmi who had died in Langbarðaland. Peterson (2002) identifies Guðlaug with the one who commissioned Sö 206 and Sö 208, while Pritsak (1981) identifies her as Ónæmr's daughter who is mentioned on U 328
. He further considers Holmi's father to be Özurr who is mentioned on U 328 and U 330.
Latin transliteration:
Old Norse transcription:
English translation:
Runestone U 141 (former location) formed a monument together with U 133, and it was raised by the same grieving mother in memory of her son. It was first documented by Johannes Messenius
, in 1611. He appears to have learnt about the runestone from Johannes Bureus
as both of them mispelt the name Holmi by letting the m precede the l. Aschaneus (1575-1641) made a note that the runestone was to be seen at the estate of Fittja near Täby. It was also documented by Peringskiöld in his Monumenta, and visited by Celsius in 1727. However, it later disappeared and both Richard Dybeck
and later Erik Brate searched for it in vain. However, in 1933, a fragment with the final three runes were discovered during the installation of heating equipment in the cellar of the estate. The granite fragment, which measures 0.45 m (1.5 ft) in height and 0.38 m (1.2 ft) in width, has been raised in the garden of Fittja.
Latin transliteration:
Old Norse transcription:
English translation:
place name on the Eastern route that begins with these two runes.
Runestone Sö Fv1954;22 (original location) is in reddish grey and fine grained granite, and it was found in 11 pieces on a small hill about 300 m (984.3 ft) south-west of the village Lagnö, in 1949. At the location, the land slopes towards the former sailing route Eldsundet, where there once was a medieval assembly location
. A house had once been in the same spot and it is likely that the runestone had been used as material in its stone foundation, or in a stove. The stone was moved to a conservation institute in Stockholm where it was mended but it was impossible to make a complete runestone out of it. In 1953, Jansson visited the location and he managed to retrieve some more fragments, adding up to a total of fifteen pieces. However, only twelve could be put together. The largest fragment is 1.4 m (4.6 ft) high, 0.65 m (2.1 ft) wide and 0.33 m (1.1 ft) thick, whereas the second largest one is 1.3 m (4.3 ft) high, 0.25 m (0.820209973753281 ft) m wide and 0.33 m (1.1 ft) thick. The expression i austrvegi ("on the eastern route") also appears on the runestones Sö 34 and Sö 126 in the same province, where it figures in poems in fornyrðislag. The last word in the inscription, which tells where the commemorated man died, is partly lost, but Jansson (1954) notes that it was probably Langbarðaland as it begins with La-. The fragments are presently stored inside the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
in Stockholm
.
Latin transliteration:
Old Norse transcription:
English translation:
Runestone Sö 65 is in style Pr1 (Ringerike style
) and it was documented at the farm Djul(e)fors during the national search for historic monuments (1667–84). It is nowadays in the south-eastern end of the park of Eriksberg palace (location). It measures c. 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in height. Brate & Wessén commented (1924–1936) that a third of the stone had been lost to its left and that it was 0.71 m (2.3 ft) wide at its base and 0.63 m (2.1 ft) wide at the top. Rundata
2.5 reports that a missing part was discovered in 1934, and Riksantikvarieämbetet
includes the rediscovered part in the stone's dimensions reporting its width to be 1.06 m (3.5 ft).
Sophus Bugge
noted in his Runverser that the expression arði barði ("ploughed his stern") also appears in the Icelandic Third Grammatical Treatise by Óláfr Þórðarson
, and as well in a verse by the Okney jarl
Rögnvald Brusason
. He also commented that the epitath is in the meter that Snorri Sturluson
called hinn skammi háttr. Furthermore, he added that since seafaring played an important role in the lives of all Norse peoples
, it would only be natural if they had many poetic expressions like arði barði in common (cf. Sö 198).
Latin transliteration:
Old Norse transcription:
English translation:
Varangian Runestones
The Varangian Runestones are runestones that mention voyages to the East or the Eastern route , or to more specific eastern locations such as Garðaríki ....
from 11th century 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....
that talk of warriors who died in Langbarðaland ("Land of the Lombards
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
"), the 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....
name for Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. On these rune stones it is southern Italy
Catapanate of Italy
The Catepanate of Italy was a province of the Byzantine Empire, comprising mainland Italy south of a line drawn from Monte Gargano to the Gulf of Salerno. Amalfi and Naples, although north of that line, maintained allegiance to Constantinople through the catepan...
that is referred to (Langobardia
Langobardia
Longobardia , was a Byzantine term for the territories controlled by the Lombards in Italy. In the 9th-10th centuries, it was also the name of a Byzantine military-civilian province known as the Theme of Longobardia located in southeastern Italy.-History:The term was traditionally used for the...
), but the 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...
project renders it rather anachronistically as Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
(see the translations of the individual stones, below).
The rune stones are engraved in 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....
with the Younger Futhark
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...
, and two of them are found in Uppland
Uppland
Uppland is a historical province or landskap 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...
and one or two in 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...
.
The memorials are probably raised in memory of members of the Varangian Guard
Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army in 10th to the 14th centuries, whose members served as personal bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperors....
, the elite guard of the Byzantine Emperor, and they probably died while fighting in southern Italy against Normans
Normans
The Normans were the people who gave their name to Normandy, a region in northern France. They were descended from Norse Viking conquerors of the territory and the native population of Frankish and Gallo-Roman stock...
or Muslims. Many of their brothers-in-arms are remembered on the 28 Greece Runestones
Greece Runestones
The Greece runestones are about 30 runestones containing information related to voyages made by Norsemen to the Eastern Roman Empire. They were made during the Viking Age until about 1100 and were engraved in the Old Norse language with Scandinavian runes...
most of which are found in the same part of Sweden.
The young men who applied for a position in the Varangian guard were not uncouth roughnecks, as in the traditional stereotype, but instead, it appears that they were usually fit and well-raised young warriors who were skilled in weapons. They were the kind of warriors who were welcome as the elite troops of the Byzantine Emperor, and who the rulers of Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus'
Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....
requested from Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
when they were under threat.
Interpretations
Johan PeringskiöldJohan Peringskiöld
Johan Peringskiöld was born in Strängnäs and died in Stockholm .His father was Lars Fredrik Peringer, a senior master at the gymnasium and his mother Anna Maria Mulich. He began his studies at Uppsala University in 1677 and he was an ardent student of the national antiquities...
(d. 1720) considered the Fittja stone and the Djulefors stone to refer to the Lombard
Lombards
The Lombards , also referred to as Longobards, were a Germanic tribe of Scandinavian origin, who from 568 to 774 ruled a Kingdom in Italy...
migration from Sweden, whereas Celsius (1727) interpreted them in a strikingly different manner. He noted that the name Longobardia was not applied to Italy until after the destruction of the Kingdom of the Lombards
Kingdom of the Lombards
The Kingdom of the Lombards or Lombard Kingdom was an early medieval state, with its capital in Pavia, established by the Lombards on the Italian Peninsula between 568-569 and 774 .Effective control by the rulers of both the major areas that constituted the...
in 774. He claimed that the kingdom had been taken over by Varangians from Byzantium in the 11th and 12th centuries, and noted that in Barbarossa
Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick I Barbarossa was a German Holy Roman Emperor. He was elected King of Germany at Frankfurt on 4 March 1152 and crowned in Aachen on 9 March, crowned King of Italy in Pavia in 1155, and finally crowned Roman Emperor by Pope Adrian IV, on 18 June 1155, and two years later in 1157 the term...
's campaign in Italy there were many Scandinavian warriors. The stones would have commemorated Swedish warriors who died in Barbarossa's war. This view was also espoused by Brocman (1762) who considered Holmi to have died in the 12th century for either the Byzantine Emperor or ruler of the Holy Roman Empire
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a realm that existed from 962 to 1806 in Central Europe.It was ruled by the Holy Roman Emperor. Its character changed during the Middle Ages and the Early Modern period, when the power of the emperor gradually weakened in favour of the princes...
.
von Friesen (1913) noted that it is not Lombardy
Lombardy
Lombardy is one of the 20 regions of Italy. The capital is Milan. One-sixth of Italy's population lives in Lombardy and about one fifth of Italy's GDP is produced in this region, making it the most populous and richest region in the country and one of the richest in the whole of Europe...
in northern Italy that is intended, but Langobardia in southern Italy, which was ruled by the Byzantine Emperor during the 11th century. The Greeks had to fight several battles against the Normans
Norman conquest of southern Italy
The Norman conquest of southern Italy spanned the late eleventh and much of the twelfth centuries, involving many battles and many independent players conquering territories of their own...
in southern Italy during the mid-11th century. It is likely that Holmi, who is mentioned on two stones, took part in these battles as a member of the Byzantine Emperor's elite unit, the Varangian Guard
Varangian Guard
The Varangian Guard was an elite unit of the Byzantine Army in 10th to the 14th centuries, whose members served as personal bodyguards of the Byzantine Emperors....
, since they use a name based on the Greek name for the region.
The runestones
Below follows a presentation of the Italy Runestones, organised according to location. The transcriptionsRunic transliteration and transcription
Runic transliteration and transcription are part of analysing a runic inscription which involves transliteration of the runes into Latin letters, transcription into a normalized spelling in the language of the inscription, and translation of the inscription into a modern language...
from runic inscriptions into standardised 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....
are in Old East Norse (OEN), the Swedish and Danish dialect, to facilitate comparison with the inscriptions, while the English translation provided by Rundata give the names in the standard dialect, Old West Norse (OWN), the Icelandic and Norwegian dialect.
Transliteration and transcription
There is a long-standing practice to write transliterationTransliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...
s of the runes into Latin characters with boldface and transcribe the text into a normalized form of the language with italic type
Italic type
In typography, italic type is a cursive typeface based on a stylized form of calligraphic handwriting. Owing to the influence from calligraphy, such typefaces often slant slightly to the right. Different glyph shapes from roman type are also usually used—another influence from calligraphy...
. This practice exists because the two forms of rendering a runic text have to be kept distinct. By not only showing the original inscription, but also transliterating, transcribing and translating, scholars present the analysis in a way that allows the reader to follow their interpretation of the runes. Every step presents challenges, but most Younger Futhark
Younger Futhark
The Younger Futhark, also called Scandinavian runes, is a runic alphabet, a reduced form of the Elder Futhark, consisting of only 16 characters, in use from ca. 800 CE...
inscriptions are considered easy to interpret.
In transliterations, *, :, ×,
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...
s often carved a single rune instead of two consecutive ones.
Angle brackets, < >, indicate that there is a sequence of runes that cannot be interpreted with certainty. Other special signs are þ and ð, where the first one is the thorn
Thorn (letter)
Thorn or þorn , is a letter in the Old English, Old Norse, and Icelandic alphabets, as well as some dialects of Middle English. It was also used in medieval Scandinavia, but was later replaced with the digraph th. The letter originated from the rune in the Elder Fuþark, called thorn in the...
letter which represents a voiceless dental fricative
Voiceless dental fricative
The voiceless dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. It is familiar to English speakers as the 'th' in thing. Though rather rare as a phoneme in the world's inventory of languages, it is encountered in some of the most widespread and influential...
as th in English thing. The second letter is eth
Eth
Eth is a letter used in Old English, Icelandic, Faroese , and Elfdalian. It was also used in Scandinavia during the Middle Ages, but was subsequently replaced with dh and later d. The capital eth resembles a D with a line through the vertical stroke...
which stands for a voiced dental fricative
Voiced dental fricative
The voiced dental non-sibilant fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound, eth, is . The symbol was taken from the Old English letter eth, which could stand for either a voiced or unvoiced...
as th in English them. The R sign represents the yr rune
Yr rune
The Yr rune is a rune of the Younger Futhark. The name yr means "yew" in Old Norse.It developed out of the Algiz rune as the Younger Futhark gradually began to replace the Elder Futhark from around the 7th century....
.
Nomenclature
Every runic inscription is shown with its ID code that is used in scholarly literature to refer to the inscription, and it is only obligatory to give the first two parts of it. The first part is one or two letters that represent the area where the runic inscription appears, e.g. U for the UpplandUppland
Uppland is a historical province or landskap 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...
, Sö for 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...
and DR for Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. The second part represents the order in which the inscription is presented in the official national publications (e.g. Sveriges runinskrifter
Sveriges runinskrifter
Sveriges runinskrifter is a multi-volume catalog of rune inscriptions found in various Swedish provinces. The earliest volume of this ongoing series dates to 1900, and as of 1981, 15 volumes had been published.Sveriges runinskrifter established the standard cataloging system for Swedish rune...
). Thus U 133 means that the runestone was the 133rd runic inscription in Uppland that was documented in Sveriges runinskrifter. If the inscription was documented later than the official publication, it is listed according to the publication where it was first described, e.g. Sö Fv1954;22, where Sö represents Södermanland, Fv stands for the annual publication Fornvännen
Fornvännen
Fornvännen is a Swedish academic journal in the fields of archaeology and Medieval art. It is published quarterly by the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters in Stockholm, Sweden. The journal's contributions are written in the Scandinavian languages, English, or German with summaries in English...
, 1954 is the year of the issue of Fornvännen and 22 is the page in the publication.
Uppland
There are two rune stones in Uppland that mention Italy. They were raised by the same lady in memory of her son.U 133
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...
. The stone has been split into two parts that are walled into the southern exterior wall of Täby
Täby
Täby is a trimunicipal locality and the seat of Täby Municipality in Stockholm County, Sweden, with 58,593 inhabitants in 2005. It is also partly located in Danderyd Municipality and Sollentuna Municipality...
church, near the ground. The larger fragment, which was originally the upper part of the runestone, is in the western wall of the old porch which is constructed at the church's southern side. The smaller fragment is upside-down in the southern wall of the porch. Both fragments are partly in the soil which means that it is necessary to remove some soil in order to read the entire inscriptions. The larger part was known as early as Johannes Bureus
Johannes Bureus
Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis was a Swedish antiquarian, polymath and mystic. He was royal librarian, tutor, and adviser of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden....
(1568–1652) and it was also studied by Johan Peringskiöld
Johan Peringskiöld
Johan Peringskiöld was born in Strängnäs and died in Stockholm .His father was Lars Fredrik Peringer, a senior master at the gymnasium and his mother Anna Maria Mulich. He began his studies at Uppsala University in 1677 and he was an ardent student of the national antiquities...
during the national search for historic monuments (1667–84) and by Olof Celsius
Olof Celsius
Olof Celsius was a Swedish botanist, philologist and clergyman, He was a professor at Uppsala University, Sweden. Celsius was a mentor of the botanist and scientist Carolus Linnaeus...
in 1727. However, the smaller part was not noticed by scholars until 1857, when it was documented by Richard Dybeck
Richard Dybeck
Richard Dybeck was a Swedish jurist, antiquarian and lyricist, mainly remembered as the author of the lyrics to what is now the Swedish national anthem: Du gamla, Du fria....
, who initially believed that the parts did not belong together. He corrected this interpretation in his Sverikes runurkunder (1865) where he made a depiction of how they would have looked before they were split.
The fragments are in reddish granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
and larger part measures 1.02 m (3.3 ft) in height and 0.86 m (2.8 ft)–1 m (3.3 ft) in width, while the smaller one is 0.45 m (1.5 ft) tall and 1.23 m (4 ft) wide. It probably formed a twin monument together with U 141 on the estate of Fittja, before it was moved to the church to be used as building material in the mid-15th century.
Both this runestone and U 141 are identified by von Friesen and Erik Brate as the production of the 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...
Fot
Fot
Fot was a runemaster who flourished in mid-11th century Sweden.-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...
. They were commissioned by Guðlaug in memory of her son Holmi who had died in Langbarðaland. Peterson (2002) identifies Guðlaug with the one who commissioned Sö 206 and Sö 208, while Pritsak (1981) identifies her as Ónæmr's daughter who is mentioned on U 328
Uppland Runic Inscription 328
The Uppland Runic Inscription 328 stands on a hill in a paddock at the farm Stora Lundby, which is about four kilometers west of Lindholmen, Stockholm County, Sweden, in the historic province of Uppland...
. He further considers Holmi's father to be Özurr who is mentioned on U 328 and U 330.
Latin transliteration:
- + kuþluk * lit ... ... ... ...a × sun * sin * auk * at * sik * sialfa * han * to * a lank*barþa*l--ti *
Old Norse transcription:
- Guðlaug let [ræisa stæina at Holm]a, sun sinn, ok at sik sialfa. Hann do a Langbarðal[an]di.
English translation:
- "Guðlaug had the stones raised in memory of Holmi, her son, and in memory of herself. He died in Lombardy."
U 141
Johannes Messenius
Johannes Messenius was a Swedish historian, dramatist and university professor. He was born in the village of Freberga, in Stenby parish in Östergötland, and died in Oulu, in modern-day Finland.-Childhood:...
, in 1611. He appears to have learnt about the runestone from Johannes Bureus
Johannes Bureus
Johannes Thomae Bureus Agrivillensis was a Swedish antiquarian, polymath and mystic. He was royal librarian, tutor, and adviser of King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden....
as both of them mispelt the name Holmi by letting the m precede the l. Aschaneus (1575-1641) made a note that the runestone was to be seen at the estate of Fittja near Täby. It was also documented by Peringskiöld in his Monumenta, and visited by Celsius in 1727. However, it later disappeared and both Richard Dybeck
Richard Dybeck
Richard Dybeck was a Swedish jurist, antiquarian and lyricist, mainly remembered as the author of the lyrics to what is now the Swedish national anthem: Du gamla, Du fria....
and later Erik Brate searched for it in vain. However, in 1933, a fragment with the final three runes were discovered during the installation of heating equipment in the cellar of the estate. The granite fragment, which measures 0.45 m (1.5 ft) in height and 0.38 m (1.2 ft) in width, has been raised in the garden of Fittja.
Latin transliteration:
- [kuþluk × lit * raisa * staina * at * hulma * sun * sin * han * to * a * lank*barþa*la(n)ti ×]
Old Norse transcription:
- Guðlaug let ræisa stæina at Holma, sun sinn. Hann do a Langbarðalandi.
English translation:
- "Guðlaug had the stones raised in memory of Holmi, her son. He died in Lombardy."
Södermanland
There are two rune stones that mention Italy in Södermanland. However, one of them only says La-, having lost the series of runes that followed. However, the rune stone informs that the location was on the Eastern route, and Langbarðaland is the only known Old NorseOld 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....
place name on the Eastern route that begins with these two runes.
Sö Fv1954;22
Thing (assembly)
A thing was the governing assembly in Germanic and introduced into some Celtic societies, made up of the free people of the community and presided by lawspeakers, meeting in a place called a thingstead...
. A house had once been in the same spot and it is likely that the runestone had been used as material in its stone foundation, or in a stove. The stone was moved to a conservation institute in Stockholm where it was mended but it was impossible to make a complete runestone out of it. In 1953, Jansson visited the location and he managed to retrieve some more fragments, adding up to a total of fifteen pieces. However, only twelve could be put together. The largest fragment is 1.4 m (4.6 ft) high, 0.65 m (2.1 ft) wide and 0.33 m (1.1 ft) thick, whereas the second largest one is 1.3 m (4.3 ft) high, 0.25 m (0.820209973753281 ft) m wide and 0.33 m (1.1 ft) thick. The expression i austrvegi ("on the eastern route") also appears on the runestones Sö 34 and Sö 126 in the same province, where it figures in poems in fornyrðislag. The last word in the inscription, which tells where the commemorated man died, is partly lost, but Jansson (1954) notes that it was probably Langbarðaland as it begins with La-. The fragments are presently stored inside the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities
Swedish Museum of National Antiquities is a museum located in Stockholm, Sweden that covers Swedish cultural history and art from the Stone Age to the 16th century...
in Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
.
Latin transliteration:
- ...i : risti : ---... ... ...in... ... sin : han : iR : entaþr : i : austruiki : ut : o : la-...
Old Norse transcription:
- ... ræisti ... ... ... ... sinn. Hann eR ændaðr i austrvegi ut a La[ngbarðalandi](?).
English translation:
- "... raised ... ... ... ... his. He met his end on the eastern route abroad in Lombardy(?)."
Sö 65
Ringerike style
The Ringerike style is a Scandinavian animal style from the late 10th century and the 11th century, which evolved out of the earlier Mammen style. It has received its name from a group of runestones with animal and plant motifs in the Ringerike district north of Oslo. The most common motifs are...
) and it was documented at the farm Djul(e)fors during the national search for historic monuments (1667–84). It is nowadays in the south-eastern end of the park of Eriksberg palace (location). It measures c. 1.5 m (4.9 ft) in height. Brate & Wessén commented (1924–1936) that a third of the stone had been lost to its left and that it was 0.71 m (2.3 ft) wide at its base and 0.63 m (2.1 ft) wide at the top. 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...
2.5 reports that a missing part was discovered in 1934, and Riksantikvarieämbetet
Riksantikvarieämbetet
-External links:*...
includes the rediscovered part in the stone's dimensions reporting its width to be 1.06 m (3.5 ft).
Sophus Bugge
Sophus Bugge
Sophus Bugge was a noted Norwegian philologist and linguist. His scientific work was directed to the study of runic inscriptions and Norse philology. Bugge is best known for his theories and his work on the runic alphabet and the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. -Background:Elseus Sophus Bugge was...
noted in his Runverser that the expression arði barði ("ploughed his stern") also appears in the Icelandic Third Grammatical Treatise by Óláfr Þórðarson
Óláfr Þórðarson
Óláfr Þórðarson was an Icelandic skald and scholar who was born about 1210 and died in 1259. He is usually called Óláfr hvítaskáld in contrast to a contemporary skald called Óláfr svartaskáld...
, and as well in a verse by the Okney jarl
Earl of Orkney
The Earl of Orkney was originally a Norse jarl ruling Orkney, Shetland and parts of Caithness and Sutherland. The Earls were periodically subject to the kings of Norway for the Northern Isles, and later also to the kings of Alba for those parts of their territory in mainland Scotland . The Earl's...
Rögnvald Brusason
Rognvald Brusason
Rognvald Brusason , son of Brusi Sigurdsson, was Earl of Orkney jointly with Thorfinn Sigurdsson from about 1037 onwards. His life is recorded in the Orkneyinga Saga....
. He also commented that the epitath is in the meter that Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson
Snorri Sturluson was an Icelandic historian, poet, and politician. He was twice elected lawspeaker at the Icelandic parliament, the Althing...
called hinn skammi háttr. Furthermore, he added that since seafaring played an important role in the lives of all Norse peoples
Norsemen
Norsemen is used to refer to the group of people as a whole who spoke what is now called the Old Norse language belonging to the North Germanic branch of Indo-European languages, especially Norwegian, Icelandic, Faroese, Swedish and Danish in their earlier forms.The meaning of Norseman was "people...
, it would only be natural if they had many poetic expressions like arði barði in common (cf. Sö 198).
Latin transliteration:
- [inka : raisti : stain : þansi : at : ulai](f) : sin : [a...k] : han : austarla : arþi : barþi : auk : o : lakbarþilanti : [anlaþis +]
Old Norse transcription:
- Inga ræisti stæin þannsi at Olæif sinn ... Hann austarla arði barði ok a Langbarðalandi andaðis.
English translation:
- "Inga raised this stone in memory of Óleifr, her ... He ploughed his stern to the east, and met his end in the land of the Lombards."
Sources
Larsson, Mats G (2002). Götarnas Riken : Upptäcktsfärder Till Sveriges Enande. Bokförlaget Atlantis AB ISBN 9789174866414 Nordisk runnamslexikon by Lena Peterson at the Swedish Institute for Linguistics and Heritage (Institutet för språk och folkminnen).- Pritsak, OmeljanOmeljan PritsakOmeljan Pritsak was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.-Career:Pritsak began his academic career at the University of Lvov in interwar Poland where he...
. (1981). The Origin of Rus' . Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. ISBN 0-674-64465-4 - Rundata 2.5/Samnordisk Runtextdatabas. Elmevik, L. & Peterson, L. (2008). Institutionen för Nordiska Språk, Uppsala Universitet 2. Runriket - Täby Kyrka, an online article at Stockholm County Museum, retrieved July 1, 2007.