At Broby bro in

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 ...

there are six runestones. U 139,

U 140 ''U-140'' may refer to one of the following German submarines: * , a Type U 139 submarine launched in 1917 and that served in the First World War until surrendered on 23 February 1919; used for testing by the United States; sunk by destroyer at ...

and U 151 still stand by the road, but U 135,

U 136 ''U-136'' may refer to one of the following German submarines: * , a Type U 127 submarine launched in 1917 and that served in the First World War until surrendered on 23 February 1919; broken up at Cherbourg in 1921 ** During the First World War ...

and U 137 have been moved a distance away from the road. The last three stones are in the

style Pr2 :''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 ...

and thus dated to the period 1020–1050, but the internal relationship between them shows that U 137 is the oldest one. They belong to a group of c. 20

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 called the

Jarlabanke Runestones The Jarlabanke Runestones () is the name of about 20 runestones written in Old Norse with the Younger Futhark rune script in the 11th century, in Uppland, Sweden. They were ordered by what appears to have been a Germanic chieftain, chieftain ...

that are connected to the local strongman Jarlabanke and his

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

. Together with the

Hargs bro runic inscriptions The Hargs bro runic inscriptions, or U 309, U 310 and U 311, are 11th century Younger Futhark inscriptions in Old Norse on bedrock in Skånela Parish, Uppland, Sweden. U 309 and U 310 constitute a twin monument in the style Pr4 and they are ...

and the

Uppland Rune Inscriptions 101, 143 and 147 The runestones known as U 101 is located in Sollentuna, and U 143 and U 147 are located in Täby; all three are in Uppland, Sweden. They are all in the style Pr4 and thus dated to the period 1060-1100 during which they were carved in connection ...

these particular runestones, however, centre on the matriarch of the clan called

Estrid Estrid (Old Norse: ''Æstriðr'', ''Ástríðr'') was a rich and powerful 11th-century Swedish woman whose long family saga has been recorded on five or six runestones in Uppland, Sweden. This Estrid was the maternal grandmother of the chieftain ...

. U 137 tells that Estrid and Östen have a son named Gag who dies, and when it was raised Östen was still alive. The other stones ( U 135 and

) constitute a twin monument telling that Östen has gone to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

and died in the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

. Estrid and Östen had three sons: Ingefast, Östen and Sven, who built a bridge and a barrow after their father. These twin stones show that Gag died as relatively young as he is not mentioned on them. Estrid is the same person as the Estrid who is mentioned on a number of runestones in

Täby Täby () was previously a trimunicipal locality, with 76,700 inhabitants in 2024. However, as from 2016, Statistics Sweden has amalgamated this locality with the Stockholm urban area. It is the seat of Täby Municipality in Stockholm County, Sw ...

and other locations (

and

). This Estrid was the maternal ancestor of a great clan called the Jarlabanke clan, and she was the maternal grandmother of the powerful Jarlabanke who claimed to own all of Täby. The carver of the Snottsta runestone called U 329, where an Estrid and her brother Ragnfast are mentioned, was Fot who also made the runestones for the Jarlabanke clan. This strongly suggests that Estrid was born in Snottsta (also spelled Snåttsta), married Östen of Täby and married for the second time in Harg near Snottsta.

U 135