England runestones
Oslo
Copenhagen
Stockholm
Clickable map of the geographic distribution
of
the England Runestones
in southern
Scandinavia and northernmost Germany
(modern administrative borders and cities
are shown)
Runestones that mention expeditions outside of
Scandinavia
• Viking runestones
• England runestones
• Hakon Jarl runestones
• Varangian runestones
• Baltic area runestones
• Greece runestones
• Italy runestones
• Ingvar runestones
The England runestones (Swedish: Eng-
landsstenarna) is a group of c. 30 runestones
that refer to Viking Age voyages to Eng-
land.[1] They constitute one of the largest
groups of runestones that mention voyages to
other countries, and they are comparable in
number only to the c. 30 Greece Rune-
stones[2] and the 26 Ingvar Runestones, of
which the latter refer to a Viking expedition
to the Middle East. They were engraved in
Old Norse with the Younger Futhark.
The Anglo-Saxon rulers paid large sums,
Danegelds, to Vikings, who mostly came from
Denmark and who arrived to the English
shores during the 990s and the first decades
of the 11th century. Some runestones relate
of these Danegelds, such as the Yttergärde
runestone, U 344, which tells of Ulf of Bor-
resta who received the danegeld three times,
and the last one he received from Canute the
Great. Canute sent home most of the Vikings
who had helped him conquer England, but he
kept a strong bodyguard, the Þingalið, and its
members are also mentioned on several rune-
stones.[3]
The vast majority of the runestones, 27,
were raised in modern-day Sweden and 17 in
the oldest Swedish provinces around lake
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
England runestones
1
Mälaren. In contrast, modern-day Denmark
has no such runestones, but there is a Danish
runestone in Scania that mentions London.
There is also a runestone in Norway and a
Swedish one in Schleswig, Germany.
Some Vikings, such as Guðvér did not only
attack England, but also Saxony, as reported
by the Grinda Runestone Sö 166 in Söder-
manland:[1]
Grjótgarðr (and) Einriði, t