Scandinavian history in the Viking age - Department of Anglo-Saxon ...

Scandinavian History in the Viking Age
Iceland and Greenland
The apparent absence of Viking-age runic inscriptions has always proved a bit of an enigma, especially
given their presence in neighbouring Greenland.
[B815] A. Bæksted, Islands runeindskrifter, Bibliotheca Arnamagnæana 2 (1942) [UL S752:01.b.1.1]; cf.
J.R. Hagland, ‘Islands eldste runetradisjon i lys av nye funn frå Trondheim og Bergen’, ANF 104 (1989),
89-102; J.R. Hagland, ‘Ingimundr prestr Þorgeirsson and Icelandic runic literacy in the twelfth century’,
Alvíssmál 6 (1996), 99-108; M. Stoklund, ‘Greenland runes: isolation or cultural contact?’, (A50):528-43
[B816] Þórgunnur Snædal. ‘From Rök til Skagafjörður: Icelandic runes and their connection with
Scandinavian runes of the Viking period’, SI 53 (2002), 17-28
Norway
Norway too has surprisingly few runic inscriptions from the Viking age, especially when compared with
the colonies in the British isles (B830 ff.); this means that the Norwegian corpus tends to be somewhat
left out of the statistical approaches taken by modern scholars (C90 ff.). The standard collection remains:
[B817] Norges innskrifter med de yngre runer, Norges indskrifter indtil reformationen: anden afdeling
ved M. Olsen et al., 6 vols (1941-90) [UL 593:01.b.1.66-70b] [Niyr]; covers the various Norwegian
provinces in turn throughout volumes 1 to 5, while volume 6 presents some of the mediaeval finds from
Bergen
[B818] T. Spurkland, I begynnelsen var fuþark: norske runer og runeinnskrifter, LNU, skriftserie 138
(2001)
Denmark
The fairly large body of Danish inscriptions numbers in the hundreds from the Viking age, but are
particularly interesting in that they seem to reflect the earliest adoption of widespread runic literacy on
runestones, possibly stimulated by the royal monument at Jelling (D60 ff.).
[B820] L. Jacobsen and E. Moltke, Danmarks runeindskrifter, 2 vols (1941-42) [UL S760.b.94.1-3]
[DR]; the standard corpus
[B821] E. Moltke, Runes and their origin: Denmark and elsewhere, transl. P. Foote (1985) [UL
763.c.98.14]
Sweden
The runic tradition, at least in the Viking age, reached its culmination in Sweden, where runestones in
particular number in the thousands; for the significance of this material for religious history, see (L165
ff.). As a body of material they naturally reflect the diversity of the various Swedish provinces, but have
a further point of interest in the art-work (M170 ff.) carried by many of them.
[B824] The huge series Sveriges runinskrifter (1900 ff.) [UL S760.b.90.1-33 (with gaps)] [SR] has been
running now for a century, and many of the older volumes are outdated and in the process of being
replaced. Cambridge University Library has most, but not all, of the volumes published so far; to
facilitate referencing, the breakdown of classmarks is: 1. Öland [UL S760.b.90.1]; 2. Östergötland [UL -
.2]; 3. Södermanland [-.3-4]; 4. Småland [-.5]; 5. Västergötland [-6-7]; 6-9. Uppland [-.8-14]; 11-12.
Gotland [only 12, nos 138-222, -.19]; 13. Västmanland [-.21]; 14.i Närke [UL -.31]; 14.ii Värmland [-
.32]; 15. Gästrikland [-.33]
[B825] For more general, selective presentations, see: S.B.F. Jansson, The runes of Sweden, transl. P.G.
Foote (1962) [UL 596:3.d.95.1]; C.W. Thompson, Studies in Upplandic runography (1975) [UL
763.c.97.28]; S.B.F. Jansson, Runes in Sweden, transl. P. Foote (1987) [UL 763.c.98.38]
[B826] The Swedish inscriptions have been subjected to a series of detailed studies in the Runrön series
published at Uppsala. Among those contributing most clearly to questions of history or literacy, see: J.
Axelson, Mellansvenska runristare: förteckning över signerade och attribuerade inskrifter, Runrön 6
(1992) [UL 763:01.c.3.4]; R. Palm, Runor och regionalitet: studier av variation i de nordiska
minnesinskrifterna, Runrön 7 (1992) [UL 763:01.c.3.5]; M. Åhlén, Runristaren Öpir: en monografi,
Runrön 12 (1997) (E.s.) [ASNC], T. Snædal, Medan världen vakar. Studier i de gotländska
runinskrifternas språk och kronologi, Runrön 16 (2002)
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