Hovgårdssten

Hovgårdssten ( Rundata U 11), also known as Håkansten , weighs around 7 tons and is a rune stone that was created from an otherwise unprocessed boulder and set up at the entrance to the port of Hovgården on Adelsö in the municipality of Ekerö in Uppland in Sweden .

The rune stone , dated between 1065 and 1080, stands on a slope directly on the Mälaren not far from Birka . Hovgården was a so-called Kungsgården (German royal court).

The text refers to a Tolir who was the bailiff of a king Håkan and his wife Gyla or Gylla. Possible Håkan as Håkan is Håkan the Red , who is believed to have ruled before Inge the Elder . Around 1070 Håkan the Red was verifiably recognized as king in Västergötland, where he also died. The period between Stenkil's death in 1066 and the reign of Inge I around 1080 is one of the most uncertain in Swedish history. The names of five men who claim to have been kings are known. The sources also mention a king named Hakan. The stone is particularly interesting because it is the first time that it mentions the word “king”.

The incision in the serpentine ribbon was made in a gray granite rock . The block is 2.75 m wide, 1.4 m thick and 1.4 m high in the middle. As early as the 17th century, some of the runes and the decoration on the right edge were missing. Around the year 1065 the boulder was placed on the waterline of the busy harbor, which was about 2.0 m higher at that time, so that everyone who came by sea could see the inscription.

literature

Mårten Stenberger: Nordic prehistory. Volume 4: Prehistory of Sweden. Wachholtz, Neumünster 1977, ISBN 3-529-01805-8 , p. 366.

Individual evidence

↑ Tolir was a Nordic male name during the Viking Age.
↑ The incision may have been made by the rune master Torgöt, who signed stones U 257, U 308, U 746 and U 958 and can also be used for stones U 58, U 77, U 306 and U 694.

Web links

Commons : Hovgårdsstenen - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Hovgårdssten - entry in the database "Fornsök" des Riksantikvarieämbetet (Swedish)
http://www.runristare.se/runstenar_gamla/u11/3-huvud.html

59.360138888889 17.534005555556Coordinates: 59 ° 21 '36.5 " N , 17 ° 32' 2.4" E

[1] Tolir was a Nordic male name during the Viking Age.

[2] The incision may have been made by the rune master Torgöt, who signed stones U 257, U 308, U 746 and U 958 and can also be used for stones U 58, U 77, U 306 and U 694.