The Färentuna runestones are 11th century

runestone A runestone is typically a raised stone with a runic alphabet, runic inscription, but the term can also be applied to inscriptions on boulders and on bedrock. The tradition of erecting runestones as a memorial to dead men began in the 4th centur ...

s labelled U 20, U 21, and U 22 in the

Rundata The Scandinavian Runic-text Database () is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of transliterated runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future resea ...

catalog that are located in Färentuna,

Uppland Uppland is a historical province or ' 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. The name literally ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

. Runestones U 20 and U 21 were registered separately although they come from the same original runestone and consequently are called U 20/21. The runestone U 20/U 21 is probably most interesting as it, together with the Hillersjö stone and the Snottsta and Vreta stones, tells the story of the family of Gerlög and Inga. All of the Färentuna runestones are inscribed in the younger futhark.

U 20/U 21

The two fragments named U 20 and U 21 were originally part of the same runestone and were discovered under the plaster of a wall during the renovation of the church at Färentuna.Svärdström 1970:301-305. It is likely that other fragments of this runestone may also be part of the church but have their inscriptions facing inwards. They are held to tell of the same family as the Hillersjö stone and the Snottsta and Vreta stones. This runestone is believed to have been raised by Inga in memory of her husband Eric (Eiríkr) and her father Godric (Guðríkr). The runestone has been attributed to the

runemaster A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones. Description More than 100 names of runemasters are known from Viking Age Sweden with most of them from 11th-century eastern Svealand.The article ''Runristare'' in ''Nationalencyklo ...

known as Torbjörn or Þorbjôrn Skald, who signed the Hillersjö stone.

U 22

The runic text of U 22 is within a serpent that circles the edge of the stone. This runestone is classified as being carved in either

runestone style :''The term "runestone style" in the singular may refer to the Urnes style.'' The style or design of runestones varied during the Viking Age. The early runestones were simple in design, but towards the end of the runestone era they became increas ...

Pr2 or Pr3.Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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References

Sources

*
Inga och Estrid - en såpa för tusen år sedan: Människor, händelser och platser i Ingas och Estrids liv. A page at the Museum of Stockholm County.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Farentuna Runestones Runestones, Gerlög and Inga Runestones in Uppland 11th-century inscriptions Ekerö Municipality

U 20/U 21

U 22

See also

References

Sources