The Lovö Runestones are five Viking Age

Viking Age

Viking Age is the term for the period in European history, especially Northern European and Scandinavian history, spanning the late 8th to 11th centuries. Scandinavian Vikings explored Europe by its oceans and rivers through trade and warfare. The Vikings also reached Iceland, Greenland,...

 memorial

Memorial

A memorial is an object which serves as a focus for memory of something, usually a person or an event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or art objects such as sculptures, statues or fountains, and even entire parks....

 runestones that are located outside the Lovö church on the island of Lovön

Lovön

Lovön is an island located in the Swedish Lake Mälaren in Ekerö Municipality of Stockholm County. It was a municipality of its own until 1952, when it was joined with Ekerö Municipality. Lovön's greatest attraction is Drottningholm Palace and its many public gardens, which were built on the island...

 in Lake Mälaren

Mälaren

Lake Mälaren is the third-largest lake in Sweden, after Lakes Vänern and Vättern. Its area is 1,140 km² and its greatest depth is 64 m. Mälaren spans 120 kilometers from east to west...

, which is in Stockholm County

Stockholm County

Stockholm County is a county or län on the Baltic sea coast of Sweden. It borders Uppsala County and Södermanland County. It also borders Mälaren and the Baltic Sea. The city of Stockholm is the capital of Sweden. Stockholm County is divided by the historic provinces of Uppland and Södermanland...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

, and in the historic province of Uppland

Uppland

Uppland is a historical province or landskap 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...

.

U 46

Runic inscription U 46 is the Rundata

Rundata

The Scandinavian Runic-text Data Base is a project involving the creation and maintenance of a database of runic inscriptions. The project's goal is to comprehensively catalog runestones in a machine-readable way for future research...

 catalog listing for this runestone which is approximately two metres in height and is made of gneiss

Gneiss

Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...

. It contains a runic text within a serpent surrounding a stylized Christian cross

Christian cross

The Christian cross, seen as a representation of the instrument of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, is the best-known religious symbol of Christianity...

 in the upper centre of the stone.

The runestone was located outside of the church's weapons house in the 17th century, and was covered with earth when the weapons house was demolished in 1798. The runestone was uncovered in 1935 during restoration work at the church and it was then placed in its present position.

Runic text

hulmk[a]iR * auk * u... ...[ist]u * st[a]in ... aftiR * muþu- ...-nuk-... ...[i]l... ...u * siua

Transcription into Old Norse

Holmgeirr ok ... [r]eistu stein ... eptir móðu[r] ... ... ... ...

Translation in English

Holmgeirr and ... raised the stone ... in memory of (their) mother ... ... ... ...

U 47

Runic inscription U 47 contains runic text within a serpent surrounding a cross in the upper central area. The stone is about 1.75 metres in height. The inscription is attributed to a runemaster

Runemaster

A runemaster or runecarver is a specialist in making runestones.Most early medieval Scandinavians were probably literate in runes, and most people probably carved messages on pieces of bone and wood. However, it was difficult to make runestones, and in order to master it one also needed to be a...

 with the normalized

Old Norse orthography

The orthography of the Old Norse language was diverse, being written in both Runic and Latin alphabets, with many spelling conventions, variant letterforms, and unique letters and signs. In modern times, scholars established a standardized spelling for the language. When Old Norse names are used in...

 name of Ärnfast and is classified as being carved in runestone style Pr3, which is also known as Urnes style

Urnes style

The Urnes style was the last phase of Scandinavian animal art during the second half of the 11th century and in the early 12th century. The preceding phases of Scandinavia's Viking Age animal ornamentation are usually categorized as Oseberg style, Borre style, Jelling style, Mammen style and...

. 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. The signature of Ärnfast is carved on four surviving inscriptions, U 41 in Kumla, U 43 in Törnby, U 79 in Skesta, and the now-lost U 123 in Karlberg, and about eight other inscriptions including U 47 have been attributed to him based upon stylistic analysis.

This runestone was discovered in the south wall of the Lovö church. Before the historical significance of runestones was understood, they were often used as materials in the construction of buildings, bridges, and roads. It was removed from the wall in the 19th century on orders from King Karl XV

Charles XV of Sweden

Charles XV & IV also Carl ; Swedish and Norwegian: Karl was King of Sweden and Norway from 1859 until his death....

 and moved to a park at Drottningholm Palace

Drottningholm Palace

The Drottningholm Palace is the private residence of the Swedish royal family. It is located in Drottningholm. It is built on the island Lovön , and is one of Sweden's Royal Palaces. It was originally built in the late 16th century. It served as a residence of the Swedish royal court for most of...

. The runestone was returned to the church in 1952.

Runic text

: þorkisl : auk : sikniutr : þiR : raistu : stain : at : uik : faþur : sin :

Translation in English

Þorgísl and Signjótr, they raised the stone in memory of Vígr, their father.

U 48

Runic inscription U 48 contains runic text within a serpent that is beneath a cross. It is classified as being carved in runestone style Pr4, which is also known as Urnes style. The stone is 1.75 meters in height and is grey gneiss. A portion of one side of the runestone has broken off and this part of the inscription is missing.

The runestone was uncovered in 1932 during trenchwork and moved approximately 60 meters away from a road to its present location in 1951.

Runic text

* iluhi * li(t) (r)aisa * stain × eftiR × þikfast × sun × sin ... ...(u)lfastr ' at * broþur ' s...

Transcription into Old Norse

Illugi lét reisa stein eptir Þingfast, son sinn ... ...fastr at bróður s[inn].

Translation in English

Illugi had the stone raised in memory of Þingfastr, his son ... ...-fastr in memory of his brother.

U 49

Runic inscription U 49 has runic text within a serpent that surrounds a cross. It is classified as being carved in runestone style Pr3, or Urnes style. It is believed to have been carved by the same runemaster as inscription U 50.

The stone is about one meter in height and is made of sandstone. It was discovered being used as the cornerstone of a tower of the Lovö church at the south wall. It was removed in 1935 and placed in its current location. Based upon their size and text, it has been suggested that U 49 and U 50 once were a coupled monument that was located in a cemetery, with the runic text ending before a name on U 49 and being continued on U 50.

U 50

Runic inscription U 50 has runic text within a serpent that surrounds a cross. It is believed to have been carved by the same runemaster as inscription U 49.

The runestone was found being used as a cornerstone of a church tower and was removed to its current location in 1935. It is composed of red sandstone and is about one meter in height. As noted above, it has been suggested that U 49 and U 50 were once a coupled monument that was located in a cemetery with their text intended to be read together.

Translation in English

Jóhan the pugnacious(?) landmark; and Ragnvôr in memory of (her) husbandman.