The Hedeby stones are four runestones from the 10th century found at the town of Hedeby in northern Germany. This area was part of Denmark during the Viking Age.
The Hedeby stones are four runestones from the 10th century found at the town of Hedeby in northern Germany. This area was part of Denmark during the Viking Age.
The Stone of Eric (cataloged as Hedeby 1 or DR 1 under the Rundata system) was found in 1796 at Danevirke and moved to a park in Schleswig. Like the Skarthi Stone, it is believed to have been raised around 995, the year when Hedeby was attacked by the Swedish king Eric the Victorious who took advantage of the fact that Sweyn Forkbeard was campaigning in England.
The big Sigtrygg Stone (Hedeby 2 or DR 2) was found in 1797 in Hedeby, and the small Sigtrygg Stone (Hedeby 4 or DR 4) was found in 1887. The Sigtrygg Stones was raised around the year 938.
The Skarthi Stone (Danish : Skardesten), also known as Hedeby 3 or DR 3 for its Rundata catalog number, was found in 1857 at Danevirke. It was raised in about 982. This granite runestone is currently displayed at the Hedeby Viking Museum.
The reference in the inscription to King Sveinn is believed to refer to Sweyn Forkbeard (Old Norse Sveinn Tjúguskegg), and "the west" to a campaign in England. [1] The king commissioned the stone in honor of Skarði, who had the title heimþega or heimþegi (pl. heimþegar), meaning "home-receiver" (i.e., one who is given a house by another). [2] A total of six runestones in Denmark refer to a person with this title, the others being DR 1, DR 154, DR 155, DR 296, and DR 297. The use of the term in the inscriptions suggest a strong similarity between heimþegar and the Old Norse term húskarl (literally, "house man"), or housecarl. Like housecarls, heimþegar are in the service of a king or lord, of whom they receive gifts (here, homes) for their service. [2] Some, like Johannes Brøndsted, have interpreted heimþegi as being nothing more than a local Danish variant of húskarl. [3]
Hedeby was an important Danish Viking Age trading settlement near the southern end of the Jutland Peninsula, now in the Schleswig-Flensburg district of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the most important archaeological site in Schleswig-Holstein. Around 965, chronicler Abraham ben Jacob visited Hedeby and described it as, "a very large city at the very end of the world's ocean."
A housecarl was a non-servile manservant or household bodyguard in medieval Northern Europe.
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 date from the late Viking Age. Most runestones are located in Scandinavia, but there are also scattered runestones in locations that were visited by Norsemen during the Viking Age. Runestones are often memorials to dead men. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off. Most runestones are found in present-day Sweden.
Olof was a king who, according to a late source, ruled in Denmark in about 900 after usurping power. Evidence for his historicity is only circumstantial, since he belongs to a period of Danish history when very little is known from textual sources.
The Stone of Eric, listed as DR 1 in the Rundata catalog, is a memorial runestone that was found in northern Germany. This area was part of Denmark during the Viking Age.
The two Sigtrygg Runestones, designated as DR 2 and DR 4 in the Rundata catalog, are two of the Hedeby stones that were found in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, which during the Viking Age was part of Denmark. The runestones were raised after the Danish king Sigtrygg Gnupasson by his mother Ásfriðr. Together with the account of Adam of Bremen, the two inscriptions constitute evidence for the House of Olaf on the Danish throne.
The Norsta runestone is an 11th-century runestone inscribed in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark that stands near Wik Castle outside Uppsala, Sweden. It is notable because of the mention of two people named "maiden" and Sweyn. The form møy which appears on this runestone is the accusative form of Old East Norse māʀ which meant "maiden" and this is the only attestation of this word as the name of a girl, in Old Norse, besides a mention in the Hervarar saga, where a Mær married the Swedish king Inge I. Her brother was Blot-Sweyn, who succeeded Inge. As the runestone is from about the same time as Blot-Sweyn, it is likely that the Sweyn mentioned in the runestone is the same as the Swedish king Blot-Sweyn.
The Glavendrup stone, designated as DR 209 by Rundata, is a runestone on the island of Funen in Denmark and dates from the early 10th century. It contains Denmark's longest runic inscription and ends in a curse.
The Hällestad Runestones are three runestones located in the walls of Hällestad Church in Torna-Hällestad, about 20 kilometers east of Lund in Skåne, southern Sweden. Their Rundata identifiers are DR 295, 296, and 297. DR 295 is notable because it is held to be raised in memory of a warrior who fell in the legendary Battle of the Fýrisvellir, near Uppsala, Sweden between the Jomsvikings led by Styrbjörn the Strong and Styrbjörn's uncle Eric the Victorious, the king of Sweden, c. 985. The other stones were raised by the same people, and they probably formed a monument together in memory of comrades lost in the battle. The Karlevi Runestone, the Egtved Runestone and the Sjörup Runestone may be connected to them.
The Lingsberg Runestones are two 11th-century runestones, listed as U 240 and U 241 in the Rundata catalog, and one fragment, U 242, that are engraved in Old Norse using the younger futhark. They are at the Lingsberg farm about 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) east of Vallentuna, which is about 24 kilometres (15 mi) north of the center of Stockholm, Stockholm County, Sweden, which was part of the former province of Uppland.
The England runestones is a group of about 30 runestones in Northern Europe which refer to Viking Age voyages to England. They constitute one of the largest groups of runestones that mention voyages to other countries, and they are comparable in number only to the approximately 30 Greece Runestones and the 26 Ingvar Runestones, of which the latter refer to a Viking expedition to the Middle East. They were engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark.
The Varangian Runestones are runestones in Scandinavia that mention voyages to the East (Austr) or the Eastern route (Austrvegr), or to more specific eastern locations such as Garðaríki.
The Viking runestones are runestones that mention Scandinavians who participated in Viking expeditions. This article treats the runestone that refer to people who took part in voyages abroad, in western Europe, and stones that mention men who were Viking warriors and/or died while travelling in the West. However, it is likely that all of them do not mention men who took part in pillaging. The inscriptions were all engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark. The runestones are unevenly distributed in Scandinavia: Denmark has 250 runestones, Norway has 50 while Iceland has none. Sweden have as many as between 1,700 and 2,500 depending on definition. The Swedish district of Uppland has the highest concentration with as many as 1,196 inscriptions in stone, whereas Södermanland is second with 391.
The Skårby Runestones are two Viking Age memorial runestones originally located in Skårby, which is about ten kilometers northwest of Ystad, Scania, Sweden.
The Holmby Runestone, listed as DR 328 in the Rundata catalog, is a Viking Age memorial runestone with an image of a ship that is located in Holmby, which is about 2 kilometers southeast of Flyinge, Scania, Sweden.
The Skern Runestone, designated as Danish Runic Inscription 81 or DR 81 in the Rundata catalog, is a Viking Age memorial runestone located in the small village of Skjern, Denmark between Viborg and Randers. The stone features a facial mask and a runic inscription which ends in a curse. A fragment of a second runestone designated as DR 80 was also found in Skjern.
The Sövestad Runestones consist of a Viking Age image stone and memorial runestone found near Krageholm Castle, which is about two kilometers west of Sövestad, Skåne County, Sweden.
The Læborg or Laeborg Runestone, listed as DR 26 in the Rundata catalog, is a Viking Age memorial runestone located outside of the village hall or Forsamlinghus in Læborg, which is about 3 kilometers north of Vejen, Denmark. The stone includes two depictions of the hammer of the Norse pagan god Thor.
The Ålum Runestones are four Viking Age memorial runestones which are located at the church in Ålum, which is 9 km west of Randers, Denmark. One of the stones refers to a man with the title drengr and two of the other stones were raised by the same family.
The Nylarsker stone 2, Ny Larsker stone I or DR 380 is a Viking Age runestone engraved in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark runic alphabet on Bornholm. The runestone was discovered in 1643 and first mentioned in Ole Worm's Monumenta Danica. It was to be found outside the entrance of Nylars Church until 1855. It is securely dated to the period 1075–1125, and belongs to a group of Bornholm runestones that were made during the transition from the Viking Age to the Nordic Middle Ages. It made in sandstone and it is 186 cm tall, 146,5 cm wide and 17 cm thick, and the style of the runestone is the runestone style RAK.
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