U 11
Royal Runestone

Runic inscription in several parts:


1)
Master the runes correctly. (Rathu runar ret).
A greeting and best wishes to the reader to decipher the runic inscription correctly.

2) Correctly had Tolir, bryte in Rod, carve them for the king.
Tolir, the king's right hand man (bryte) tells us that he is the one who makes sure that the runic inscription is carved correctly. (but also that the runecarver had to do the work).

3) Tolir and Gyla had these runes carved, husband and wife, after themselves as a memorial.
This part is the spouses Tolir and Gyla's inheritance document for their children and grandchildren. When kings change, the old spoil remains. He is a key person to the practical functioning of the royal estate. His office is inherited.

K U N U K I = Konungen = the king

4) Hakun asked for the carving
King Håkon asked, ordered and paid for the runic carving. This part is a clarification about which king it is that is mentioned in the 2nd part of the runic inscription. Since it was probably carved afterwards, it is in an extra loop on the inside.

5) Srni-?
Also on the right side there is an extra loop, perhaps to balance the ornamentation, double rows on both sides?

The runic inscription is incomplete and the 5th rune is only begun. Probably the runecarver noticed that if he cut further the runestone would break after the whole side and and then chose to just paint the rest instead.

Today, that particular piece is gone anyway and the interpretation of the runic inscription is unclear. It is probably neither a Christian prayer nor the rune carver's signature that was meant to be here. The initial runic inscription remains a mystery.

Image from 2014
(Cleaned and painted in 2011)


Ornamentation:

The ornamentation is advanced but traditional.

The rune carver had problems around the dragon's head where the carved grooves were too close together so he made an unusual choice: instead he carved in relief around the lower lip and above the nose towards the snake's head. He used the same technique on the dragon's back claw

The unusual method for runestones meant that these details were not noticed until 2016. It is not yet painted on the original in Hovgården (2024).

 

Links

Upplands Runinskrifter > page 11-20
(Only in Swedish)

Kalle Runristare > More on the new details
(Only in Swedish)

Runor > - Riksantikvarieämbetet

Google map > Find the runestone.
Map and runic inscription.

kalle@runristare.se
If you want to be of help or have a question.
 


ALL RUNESTONES

Ekerö municipality


ADELSÖ >
has 5 known runestones


BIRKA >
has fragments from 9 known runestones


MUNSÖ >
has 3 or 4 known runestones


EKERÖ >
has 11 known runestones


FÄRINGSÖ >
has 27 known runestones


LOVÖ >
has 8 known runestones


U 11
Royal Runestone
 

Uppdaterad 27 maj, 2024 av Kalle Runristare