Baltic area runestones

The Baltic area runestones are Viking runestones in memory of men who took part in peaceful or warlike expeditions across the Baltic Sea, where Finland and the Baltic states are presently located.

Beside the runestones treated in this article and in the main article Varangian runestones, there are many other runestones that talk of eastward voyages such as the Greece runestones, Italy runestones, and inscriptions left by the Varangian Guard. Other runestones that deal with Varangian expeditions include the Ingvar runestones (erected in honor or memory of those who travelled to the Caspian Sea with Ingvar the Far-Travelled). In addition, there were also voyages to Western Europe mentioned on runestones that are treated in the articles Viking runestones, England runestones and Hakon Jarl runestones.

Below follows a presentation of the runestones based on the Rundata project. The transcriptions into Old Norse are mostly in the Swedish and Danish dialect to facilitate comparison with the inscriptions, while the English translation provided by Rundata gives the names in the de facto standard dialect (the Icelandic and Norwegian dialect):

U 180
This runestone is possibly in style Pr4 and it is located at the church of Össeby-Garn. It was made by the runemaster Visäte. The stone commemorates a man who either died in Viborg, Jutland, or in Vyborg, Karelia. Part of the inscription's text "he died in Véborg" is written on the design's cross, which may have indicated to those at home that Sigsteinn, while dying abroad, had received proper Christian burial treatment.

U 214
This runestone from c. 1100 is in the style RAK. It is in the wall of the porch of the church of Vallentuna. The U 215 contains the first part of the message. The stones were carved in memory of a man who drowned in Holmr's sea, but runologists are divided on the meaning of the expression. One interpretation proposed by Jansson is that it means the "Novgorodian sea" and refers to the Gulf of Finland. The runestone provides the earliest Swedish attestation of an end rhyme, whereas the earliest Old Norse attestation is Höfuðlausn composed by Egill Skallagrímsson.

Swedish translation:


 * "... och Ingeberg efter bonde sin. Han drunknade på Holms hav, skred knarr hans i kvav, tre endast kommo av."

U 346
This runestone has disappeared but it was located at the church of Frösunda. It was made by the runemaster Åsmund Kåresson in style Pr3-Pr4, and it was raised in memory of a man who died in Virland. It contains the same message as U 356.

U 356
This runestone in style Pr3 is located in Ängby. It was made by the runemaster Åsmund Kåresson for a lady in memory of her son who died in Virland. It contains the same message as U 346.

U 439
This runestone in style Fp is one of the Ingvar Runestones and due to uncertainties as to the decipherment also one of the Serkland Runestones. It was located at Steninge Palace, but it is lost. Johan Bureus, one of the first prominent Swedish runologists, visited Steninge on May 8, 1595, and made a drawing of the runestone which stood by the jetty. Only 50 years later it had disappeared and in a letter written in 1645 it was explained that the stone had been used in the construction of a new stone jetty. The inscription contained an Old Norse poem.

U 533
This runestone is in the wall inside the porch of the church of Roslags-Bro. It is in style Pr1, and it was raised in memory of a man who died in Virland (in Estonia). The style shows that it was made by the runemaster Torbjörn Skald.

U 582
This runestone has disappeared but it was located at the church of Söderby-Karl. It was possibly in style Pr1 and it commemorated a son who died in what is called Finland. At this time, Finland referred to the south-western part of what today is Finland.

U 698
This runestone has disappeared but it was located at the church of Veckholm. It was in style Pr2-Pr3. The inscription was considered difficult to read, but it refers to a man who fell in Livonia, and possibly in an expedition led by Freygeirr.

Sö 39
This is a runic inscription on bedrock at Åda. It is in style Pr3 and it commemorates a brother who drowned in Livonia.

Sö 198
This runestone in style Fp is found in Mervalla on the island of Selaön in lake Mälaren. It is raised in memory of a man who regularly sailed a valuable knarr to Zemgale, passing Cape Kolka (Dómisnes). North of the Cape there is a long underwater reef which probably was infamous among the sailors of the Viking Age, and this is probably why Sigríðr wanted posterity to know that her husband had often passed it. The expression dyrum knærri ("valued cargo-ship") is an instrumental dative and it also appears in a famous stanza by the Icelander Egill Skallagrímsson. Egill had written that his mother had promised him a fast ship so that he could sail with the Vikings and

Gs 13
This runestone in sandstone is found in the church of the holy trinity in Gävle. It is in style Pr2 and it commemorates a brother name Egill who died in Tavastia. Åsmund Kåresson was one of the runemasters. Egill probably fell in a leidang expedition, led by Freygeirr who was a military leader.

Vg 181
This runestone in style Pr1 is found at Frugården. It was raised in memory of a man who died in Estonia.

G 135
This runestone, originally located in Sjonhems, tells of the same family as G 134 and G 136, and it was made in memory of a man who died in Vindau (Ventspils, Latvia).

G 319
This is a late runic inscription on a grave which is dated to the early 13th century. It is located in Rute Church and it commemorates a man who died in Finland.

References and sources

 * References


 * Sources


 * Jansson, Sven B. F. (1980). Runstenar. STF, Stockholm. ISBN 91-7156-015-7
 * Peterson, Lena. Nordisk Runnamnslexikon Swedish Institute for Linguistics and Heritage (Institutet för språk och folkminnen).
 * Pritsak, Omeljan. (1981). The Origin of Rus'. Cambridge, Mass.: Distributed by Harvard University Press for the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. ISBN 0-674-64465-4
 * Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk - Rundata
 * Williams, Henrik. (2005). Vittnat runstenen från Söderby (Gs 13) om Sveriges första ledungståg? Runfilologi och konsten att läsa som det står. ISSN 0349-0416
 * Project Samnordisk Runtextdatabas Svensk - Rundata
 * Williams, Henrik. (2005). Vittnat runstenen från Söderby (Gs 13) om Sveriges första ledungståg? Runfilologi och konsten att läsa som det står. ISSN 0349-0416