Uppland Runic Inscription 541 or U 541 is 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 listing for a

Viking Age The Viking Age (about ) was the period during the Middle Ages when Norsemen known as Vikings undertook large-scale raiding, colonising, conquest, and trading throughout Europe and reached North America. The Viking Age applies not only to their ...

memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...

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 ...

which is located at the Husby-Sjuhundra church, which is five kilometers west of

Norrtälje Norrtälje is a locality and the seat of Norrtälje Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 17,275 inhabitants in 2010. It is one of the largest towns in Roslagen. History Norrtälje’s early history dates back to the Iron Age. Around 2 ...

, Stockholm County,

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 ...

, and in the historic province of

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 ...

. The inscription is signed by 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 ...

Öpir Öpir or ''Öper'' (Old Norse: ''Øpiʀ''/''Œpir'', meaning "shouter") was a runemaster who flourished during the late 11th century and early 12th century in Uppland, Sweden.The article ''Öpir'' in ''Nationalencyklopedin'' (1996). He was the m ...

Description

The inscription on U 541 consists of runic text in the younger futhark that is carved on a serpent that follows the edge of the stone, which is made of sandstone and is 1.45 meters in height, and then becomes entangled in the center. A

cross A cross is a religious symbol consisting of two Intersection (set theory), intersecting Line (geometry), lines, usually perpendicular to each other. The lines usually run vertically and horizontally. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of t ...

is near the top of the inscription. It is classified as being carved in

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 ...

Pr5, which is also known as

Urnes style Viking art, also known commonly as Norse art, is a term widely accepted for the art of Scandinavian Norsemen and Vikings, Viking settlements further afield—particularly in the British Isles and Iceland—during the Viking Age of the 8th-11th ...

. This runestone style is characterized by slim and stylized animals that are interwoven into tight patterns. The animal heads are typically seen in profile with slender almond-shaped eyes and upwardly curled appendages on the noses and the necks. This stone is considered to be an excellent representative of an inscription in style Pr5. The text indicates that the inscription was carved by the runemaster with the

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

name of Öpir, who was active in Uppland in the late 11th and early 12th centuries. The stone is not in its original position, but was noted as being part of the church during a survey of runestones in the 1800s. Before the historic significance of runestones was understood, they were often reused as materials in the construction of churches, walls, and roads. In 1887, the parishioners decided to extract U 541 and a second stone, U 540, from the church and, with financial help provided by the

Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities The Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities also called simply the Royal Academy of Letters or Vitterhetsakademien abbreviated KVHAA ( or or ) is the Sweden, Swedish Swedish Royal Academies, royal academy for the Humanities. Its ...

, both stones were removed and attached outside the church's northern wall. The runic text does not follow the memorial formula typically used in runestones carved in the late Viking Age, but states "here lies" followed by the name Sigreifr or Særeifr, who was the brother of the unnamed sponsor of the stone. The use of "here lies" indicates that the stone originally stood over the grave of the deceased, perhaps in a consecrated graveyard since there is a cross on the inscription. It has been noted that the phrase "here lies" is a direct translation of the Latin phrase "HIC IACET" that was often used on medieval graves and followed by the name of the deceased. p. 445. Another Viking Age runestone with an inscription that begins with this phrase is U 559 in Malsta. The inscription was signed by the runemaster Öpir using the

Old Norse Old Norse, also referred to as Old Nordic or Old Scandinavian, was a stage of development of North Germanic languages, North Germanic dialects before their final divergence into separate Nordic languages. Old Norse was spoken by inhabitants ...

phrase ''en Øpiʀ risti runaʀ'', which means "and Öpir carved the runes." This exact phrase was also used by Öpir when signing inscriptions on U 118 in Älvsunda, U 181 in Össeby-Garns, the now-lost U 262 in Fresta, U 287 in Vik, U 462 in Prästgården, and U 566 in Vällingsö.

Inscription

Runic text

Transliteration of the runes into Latin characters

:iar likr ' serifr ' broþir ' þ-... ... in ' ybir risti ru-iʀProject Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk
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entry for U 541.

Transcription into Old Norse

:''Hiar liggʀ Sigræifʀ/Særæifʀ, broðiʀ ... ... En Øpiʀ risti ru ʀ.''

Translation in English

:Here lies Sigreifr/Særeifr, brother ... ... And Öpir carved the runes.

References

External links

Photograph of U 541 in 2004
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Swedish National Heritage Board The Swedish National Heritage Board (; RAÄ) is a Swedish government agency responsible for World Heritage Sites and other national heritage monuments and historical environments. It is governed by the Ministry of Culture. The goals of the agen ...

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