— Ch. 1 · Viking Voyages To England —
England runestones.
~3 min read · Ch. 1 of 6
In the 990s, Anglo-Saxon rulers began paying large sums of silver to Scandinavian Vikings who arrived on English shores. These payments were known as Danegelds and marked a shift from pure raiding to negotiated tribute. The money flowed into Viking hands in exchange for leaving or ceasing attacks. Some runestones explicitly mention these transactions. Ulf of Borresta received three separate Danegelds during his lifetime. His final payment came directly from Canute the Great in 1018. Other stones record men dying while serving in armies that demanded such payments. The flow of wealth changed how these warriors lived after returning home. Many became wealthy magnates in Sweden rather than remaining poor adventurers.
Runestone Distribution And Geography
Modern-day Sweden holds twenty-seven of the approximately thirty known England runestones. Seventeen of these stones cluster around Lake Mälaren in the province of Uppland. This concentration suggests a specific regional interest in English expeditions. Denmark possesses no such stones within its borders today. A single stone exists in Scania which mentions London. Norway contains one stone located in Galteland near Aust-Agder. A Swedish-made stone stands inside Schleswig Cathedral in Germany. The vast majority of these monuments remain in their original locations across Sweden. They appear in gardens, churchyards, and cemetery walls. Each location tells a story about where the family chose to honor the dead.Artistic Styles And Runic Inscriptions
The inscriptions use the Younger Futhark script common to Viking Age Scandinavia. Carvers employed distinct styles like Pr3, RAK, and Urnes to decorate the stones. Style RAK is considered the oldest form found on these monuments. It features simple bands without attached serpent or beast heads. Style Pr3 appears alongside U 194 as an early example of the Urnes style in Uppland. Some carvings used bind runes to combine two letters into a single symbol. This technique saved space on the stone surface. Other examples show dotted m-runes or k-runes with strokes pointing left instead of right. These stylistic choices help experts date the stones to specific decades. The text often runs from right to left along the runic band.