Uppland Rune Inscription 11
Encyclopedia
U 11 is the Rundata
designation for a runestone that is located near the ruins of the old king's dwelling at Alsnö hus
near Hovgården
on the island of Adelsö
in Sweden
.
. This runestone style is 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.
Tolir is described as being a "bryte," which is an old Swedish word for a thrall
who worked as the thralls' foreman. The word "bryte" comes from "to break," in the meaning of breaking bread, so "bryte" can be interpreted as the person who serves out food
.
Gylla was Tolir's wife. Håkon is believed to be the reigning king Håkan the Red, who is generally accepted as ruling during the 1070s. This would be consistent with the runic text, which using the word kunungi or kunungr, Old Norse
for "king."
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...
designation for a runestone that is located near the ruins of the old king's dwelling at Alsnö hus
Alsnö hus
Alsnö hus are the ruins of an old castle and a palace at the Hovgården settlement. It is located on Adelsö island, in Lake Mälaren in central-eastern Sweden...
near Hovgården
Hovgården
Hovgården is an archaeological site on the Lake Mälaren island of Adelsö in Ekerö Municipality in central-eastern Sweden. During the Viking Age, the centre of the prospering Mälaren Valley was the settlement Birka, founded in the mid-8th century and abandoned in the late 10th century and located...
on the island of Adelsö
Adelsö
Adelsö is an island in the middle of Lake Mälaren in Sweden, near southern and northern Björkfjärden. The administrative center of the important Viking settlement Birka was situated at Hovgården on Adelsö.-Geography:...
in 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....
.
Description
This runestone has an intricate design with the runic text within serpents. The inscription is unsigned and is classified as being carved in runestone style Pr4, which is also known as Urnes styleUrnes 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. The animal heads are typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks.
Tolir is described as being a "bryte," which is an old Swedish word for a thrall
Thrall
Thrall was the term for a serf or unfree servant in Scandinavian culture during the Viking Age.Thralls were the lowest in the social order and usually provided unskilled labor during the Viking era.-Etymology:...
who worked as the thralls' foreman. The word "bryte" comes from "to break," in the meaning of breaking bread, so "bryte" can be interpreted as the person who serves out food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...
.
Gylla was Tolir's wife. Håkon is believed to be the reigning king Håkan the Red, who is generally accepted as ruling during the 1070s. This would be consistent with the runic text, which using the word kunungi or kunungr, 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....
for "king."
Tranlisteration of runic text into Latin letters
- raþ| |þu : runaR : ret : lit : rista : toliR : bry[t]i : i roþ : kunuki : toliR : a(u)k : gyla : litu : ris... ...- : þaun : hion : eftiR ...k : merki srni... haku(n) * (b)aþ : rista