Hillersjö stone
An unusually long inscription setting out a complicated inheritance passing through a woman, Geirlaug. Evidence that runestones did real legal work rather than only commemorating the dead.
At a glance
- Alphabet
- Younger Futhark
- Date
- 11th century
- Found at
- Hillersjö, Uppland, Sweden
- Signature
- U 29
The text
Why none is reproduced here.
Not reproduced. This inscription is either too long to quote in full or its reading is contested enough that printing one transliteration would suggest a settled text where there is not one. Look it up under U 29 in the standard catalogues, where the readings are given with their apparatus.
Discovery
Carved on a flat rock outcrop at Hillersjö in Uppland, where it remains. It opens by instructing the reader to interpret the runes, an address to a passer-by that implies an audience able to read them.
Why it matters
The text traces a chain of marriages, births and deaths in order to establish how Geirlaug came to inherit from her daughter. It is effectively a title deed cut in stone, and it is among the best evidence that runestones could function as public legal records. It is also a direct counter to the assumption that the runic record is a record of men.
Runes attested here (1)
Every dictionary entry that cites this object, with the reason it gives.
- MaðrYounger
An unusually long inscription setting out a complicated inheritance through a woman, Geirlaug: evidence that runestones did real legal work.
Sources
Full references on the sources page.