The Vikings were not prolific writers. They have left behind no written historical treatises, religious texts, or even administrative documents. The Norse sagas and mythologies were written down in the post-Viking age, when the spread of Christianity saw Latin script adapted to produce Old Norse prose. But the Vikings do seem to have been widely literate, using a runic text known as Futhark to create highly visible monumental inscriptions and to inscribe personal objects. What do these surviving inscriptions tell us about life in the Viking Age? Read on to discover nine revelations from the Viking runes.
1. The Runes Were an Ancient Scandinavian Tradition
In 2021, archaeologists working with the University of Oslo trekked to a field in eastern Norway, where they found graves and a runestone. Known as the Svingerund Runestone, the reddish-brown sandstone carried the inscription: “Idibera.” The meaning is unclear; it may be the name of one of the people buried nearby, but scholars are uncertain if it is a first or last name.
Radiocarbon dating of associated grave materials suggests the stone was inscribed around 1-250 CE, making it the oldest dated runestone. The inscription is written in Elder Futhark, the Germanic runic text that predated the Young Futhark runes used in the Viking Age.
2. The Runes Had Magical Applications
According to Norse myth, the god Odin learned the power of the runes by hanging himself from the world tree Yggdrasil for nine days and nights, pierced by his spear, until their secrets were revealed. He shared those secrets with mankind, giving them the runes both as an alphabet, but also as a magical toolkit. Many of the sagas describe heroes performing rune magic. Getting it right was important, and one Viking poet admonished: “Let no man carve runes to cast a spell, save first he learns to read them well.”
The Stentoften Runestone was found at Blekinge, Sweden. Dating to 500-700 CE, it also used Elder Futhark and appears to contain a curse. It says that the master of the runes concealed here nine bucks, nine stallions, and runes of power to result in insidious death to whoever breaks, presumably, the entrance to a nearby burial mound. It was also found on the ground with the inscription facing downwards and surrounded by five sharp, larger stones forming a pentagram.
3. Runemasters Created Monumental Inscriptions
Runestones have been found in many shapes and sizes. Inscriptions vary in length and content. A variety of geometric and animal designs adorn these stones. Time has taken its toll on many. The most dramatic impact of the centuries has been the loss of color. Remnants of paint sometimes survive, indicating that they were once brightly colored.
Vikings gave credit where it was due. Most runestones start by telling the reader who commissioned the runestone, and also credit the rune carver. For example, a stone from Skälby reads: “Björn and Igulfast and Jon had this bridge built in memory of Torsten, their brother. Öpir cut the runes.” A study of runestones from the Mälar Valley reveals that a person (likely persons) by the name of Øpir received credit for some fifty surviving runic inscriptions. Rune carving could have been a family profession and was probably carried out in workshops with multiple craftsmen.
Advances in technology provide archaeologists with high-tech means of assessing similarities and differences in carving techniques on different runestones. Using 3D-scanning and multivariate statistical methods, scholars assessed runestones from Denmark. They found that specific rune carvers were associated with specific families.
4. Harald Bluetooth Was a Rune Trendsetter
Around 950 CE, Gorm the Old raised a small stone memorial to his wife, Queen Thyra. The stone was carved with several lines of runes and two snake heads. The runes read: “King Gorm made these runes in honor of his wife Thyra, the pride of Denmark.”
Around 970 CE, Gorm’s son Harald Bluetooth decided to continue the memorial tradition. At Jelling, he had an elaborate runestone erected in memory of his father and mother. The inscription on the larger stone also contains a bit of bragging from the king: “King Harald ordered these monuments made in memory of Gorm, his father, and in memory of Thyra, his mother; that Harald who won for himself all of Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian.” Most Danish runestones date to between 975-1025 CE, so Gorm and Harald are often credited with getting runestones trending in Viking Age Denmark.
5. Cultural Transitions Are Reflected in the Rines
While most Viking runestones were erected during the pagan period, they continued to be erected as the Vikings started to convert to Christianity. A runestone from Sweden known as Unna’s stone reads: “Unna had this stone erected for her son Östen, who died in christening clothes. God help his soul.” Another runestone from Denmark reads: “Svæinn…raised this stone in memory of Bø̄si, his son…who was killed in battle at Ūtlengia. May Lord God and Saint Michael help his spirit.” Saint Michael was an archangel frequently depicted as a warrior, which may have explained his appeal in the Viking world
6. Inscription Celebrated the Raiding Lifestyle
While we refer to Vikings today, Medieval Scandinavians would have called themselves Danes, Swedes, or Norsemen. Viking means “pirate” and refers to the Viking practice of raiding other communities for wealth and slaves. A runestone erected in Upland, Sweden, provides an example of the treasure and bragging rights associated with the Viking lifestyle: “Ulv took three gelds in England. The first was that which Tostig paid. Then Thorkell paid. Then Cnut paid.”
But sailing and traveling abroad were dangerous endeavors in the medieval world. Runestones show that many died abroad. In Gripsholm, a mother named Tola had a stone made for her son, Harald. The stone read: “They went gallantly far for gold and in the east fed the eagle. They died in the south in Saracenland.”
Two sisters in Fagerlöt lost their father in a similar manner. They commissioned a stone for their father, Eskil, that read: “He offered battle on the eastern route before the war-fierce one had to fall.” A runestone raised by Sassurr for his father, Hallvarđr, reports that the man “drowned abroad with all the seamen…May this stone stand in memory.” Those left behind in Scandinavia ensured that the Vikings who fell in battle abroad would be remembered as fierce, brave warriors for generations to come.
7. Runes Could Also Record Official Business
Vikings often traveled to raid, trade, and conquer. Inscriptions on runestones provide anecdotes of other official voyages. In Sweden, brothers Skúli and Folki had a runestone erected for their brother Húsbjǫrn. The runestone reveals that Húsbjǫrn traveled to Gotland to collect taxes from the island. He fell ill while away, but was not forgotten by his family.
Runestones also recorded property transfers. A particularly long runestone from Hillersjö, Sweden, records the traumatic relationships and losses of a woman named Geirlaug and how they impacted her inheritance. The runestone notes that her first husband drowned, then her first son died. She lost several other children during her second marriage, except for a daughter, named Inga. Inga’s husband and child died, so when Inga died, Geirlaug inherited her property.
8. Personal Objects Were Also Inscribed with Runes
Vikings erected hundreds of stone memorials, but also left runic inscriptions on other objects and in other places. In 1964, a dramatic discovery was made in the Hagia Sophia. Across the marble floor of the famous mosque in Turkey, a runic inscription was found reading: “Halfdan carved these runes.” Millions of feet had passed through that mosque for centuries before the inscription was recognized as Norse and translated as a “Halfdan was here” type message.
Similar inscriptions have been found at places throughout the Viking world documenting the travels of Scandinavians far from home. Names were commonly carved into objects such as necklaces and other accessories. Runes also documented gift exchanges. On a bronze mount, one Viking had the following message inscribed: “Gautvid gave this scales-box to Gudfrid.”
9. Runic Inscriptions Sometimes Contained Riddles
“Let the one solve who can” is a common dare to readers inscribed on runestones, and many scholars are still striving to solve the recorded riddles.
In Sweden, the Rök runestone was erected toward the end of the 9th century CE. Carving runes was hard work. Many inscriptions run on the shorter side, with just a couple of sentences or even fragments of information about the deceased, their family, and the rune carver. The Rök runestone, however, is not a quick read. With 760 runes, it is the longest runic inscription.
A leader named Varinn raised the Rök in memory of his son Vamoth. The long inscription also contains several riddles that scholars continue to ponder. One of the riddles reads: “Let us say this as a memory for Odin, which spoils of war there were two, which twelve times were taken as spoils of war, both from one to another?” Another reads: “Let us say this as a memory for Odin, who because of a wolf has suffered through a woman’s sacrifice?”
Over the years, scholars have put forward different solutions to the riddles, suggesting that they relate to a Viking leader or perhaps to the sun. Viking Age runestones continue to intrigue and shed new light on the people, politics, religion, language, and the arts in the Norse world.
