Hällestad Runestones

The Hällestad Runestones are three runestones located in the walls of Hällestad Church in Torna-Hällestad, about 20 kilometers east of Lund in Skåne, southern Sweden. Their Rundata identifiers are DR 295, 296, and 297. DR 295 is notable because it is held to be raised in memory of a warrior who fell in the legendary Battle of the Fýrisvellir, near Uppsala, Sweden between the Jomsvikings led by Styrbjörn the Strong and Styrbjörn's uncle Eric the Victorious, the king of Sweden, c. 985. The other stones were raised by the same people, and they probably formed a monument together in memory of comrades lost in the battle.

This sandstone runestone, which is walled into the south-western corner of the church of Hällestad, has been known since the late 17th century. The inscription begins in the left row on the front side and follows the boustrophedon order of reading. The inscription is dated to the late 10th century, and shows an early dotted k-rune which represents the g-phoneme in aigi It also contains an unusual dotted m-rune (), which is however only for decorative purposes since it does not change the pronunciation (compare the Transjö Runestone). An interesting detail is the fact that it calls Toki Gormsson "brother", which should be interpreted as "brother-in-arms" and not a biological brother. The Viking Age warbands consisted of brotherhoods, where each member had equal worth, including the warchief who in this case was Toki Gormsson. Toki was probably the son of the Danish king Gorm the Old, who died c. 958 or 959. This Toki is not remembered by the Norse sagas but, unlike the sagas, the runestones constitute contemporary documentation. Also notable is that the stone reports that the men went closest to Toki, meaning that the best warriors formed a shield circle around the warchief during battle in order to show fealty to their leader (compare with the Kålsta Runestone). The hill which is referred to was probably a barrow in which the brothers-in-arms buried Toki according to the traditions of the time.

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