Letter by Leif Sohlman Photograph by Leif Sohlman

Letter by Leif Sohlman

by Leif Sohlman

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Title

Letter by Leif Sohlman

Artist

Leif Sohlman

Medium

Photograph - Photo Photography

Description

Letter, message from old days outside the entrance to Svinnegarns kyrka (church in Svinnegarrn) out the entrance.
Canon 5D mk III
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 it 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 deceased men. Runestones were usually brightly coloured when erected, though this is no longer evident as the colour has worn off.
The tradition of raising stones that had runic inscriptions first appeared in the 4th and 5th century in Norway and Sweden, and these early runestones were usually placed next to graves.[2][3] The earliest Danish runestones appeared in the 6th and 7th centuries,[3] and there are about 50 runestones from the Migration Period in Scandinavia.[4] Most runestones were erected during the period 950-1100 CE, and then they were mostly raised in Sweden and Denmark, and to a lesser degree in Norway.[2]

The tradition is mentioned in both Ynglinga saga and H�vam�l:

For men of consequence a mound should be raised to their memory, and for all other warriors who had been distinguished for manhood a standing stone, a custom that remained long after Odin's time.
�The Ynglinga saga[5]
A son is better,though late he be born,And his father to death have fared;Memory-stonesseldom stand by the roadSave when kinsman honors his kin. �H�vam�l[6]

What resulted in the production of most runestones was a trend that began in Denmark in the 960s. King Harald Bluetooth had just been baptised and in order to mark the arrival of a new order and a new age, he commanded the construction of a runestone.[7] The inscription reads
King Haraldr ordered this monument made in memory of Gormr, his father, and in memory of �yrv�, his mother; that Haraldr who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian.[7][8]
The runestone has three sides of which two are decorated with images. On one side, there is an animal that is the prototype of the runic animals that would be commonly engraved on runestones, and on another side there is Denmark's oldest depiction of Jesus. Shortly after this stone had been made, something happened in Scandinavia's runic tradition. Scores of chieftains and powerful Norse clans consciously tried to imitate King Harald, and from Denmark a runestone wave spread northwards through Sweden. In most districts, the fad died out after a generation, but, in the central Swedish provinces of Uppland and S�dermanland, the fashion lasted into the 12th century.[7]
In many districts, 50% of the stone inscriptions have traces of Christianity, but, in Uppland, which has the highest concentration of runic inscriptions in the world, about 70% of the 1,196 stone inscriptions are explicitly Christian, which is shown by engraved crosses or added Christian prayers, and only a few runestones are not Christian.[7]

Scholars have suggested that the reason why so many Christian runestones were raised in Uppland is that the district was the focal point in the conflict between Norse paganism and the newly Christianized King of Sweden. It is possible that the chieftains tried to demonstrate their allegiance to the king and to display their Christian faith to the world and to God by adding Christian crosses and prayers on their runestones. What speaks against this theory is the fact that Norway, Denmark, and G�taland did not have any corresponding development in the runestone tradition. Moreover, not a single runestone declares that there was any relationship towards the king.[14] Additionally, the runestones appear to show that the conversion was a rather peaceful process.[15]

According to another theory, it was a social fashion that was popular among certain clans, but not among all of them.[14] Once some clans in southern Uppland had begun to raise runestones, neighbouring clans emulated them. However, in parts where these clans were less influential, the runestone raising did not reach the same popularity.[16] Several scholars have pointed out the long Viking expeditions and the considerable amassment of wealth in the district. At this time, Swedish chieftains near Stockholm had created considerable fortunes through trade and pillaging both in the East and in the West. They had seen the Danish Jelling stones or they had been inspired by English high crosses and other monuments.[7]

The runestones show the different ways in which Christianity changed Norse society, and one of the greatest changes involved no longer burying the deceased on the clan's grave field among his ancestors. Instead, he was buried in the cemetery of the church,[17] while the runestone would serve as a memorial at the homestead,[18] but for certain families, there was less change as they had churches built adjoining the family grave field.[
It appears from the imagery of the Swedish runestones that the most popular Norse legend in the area was that of Sigurd the dragon slayer.[52] He is depicted on several runestones, but the most famous of them is the Ramsund inscription. The inscription itself is of a common kind that tells of the building of a bridge, but the ornamentation shows Sigurd sitting in a pit thrusting his sword, forged by Regin, through the body of the dragon, which also forms the runic band in which the runes are engraved. In the left part of the inscription lies Regin, who is beheaded with all his smithying tools around him. To the right of Regin, Sigurd is sitting and he has just burnt his thumb on the dragon's heart that he is roasting. He is putting the thumb in his mouth and begins to understand the language of the marsh-tits that are sitting in the tree. They warn him of Regin's schemes. Sigurd's horse Grani is also shown tethered to the tree.[53]

Another important personage from the legend of the Nibelungs is Gunnarr. On the V�sterljung Runestone, there are three sides and one of them shows a man whose arms and legs are encircled by snakes. He is holding his arms stretched out gripping an object that may be a harp, but that part is damaged due to flaking.[53] The image appears to be depicting an older version of the Gunnarr legend in which he played the harp with his fingers, which appears in the archaic eddic poem Atlakvi�a.

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