What sort of information can we learn about Viking society from runic inscriptions?
"Scandinavia did not have a literary tradition like the Christian and Islamic areas, we lack the Vikingsâ own words. So the historiography about the Viking Age has often been based primarily on foreign sources*, and on sources written down much later, in the 1200â1400s, based on oral tradition."
However, we have the Runes, usually limited to few lines and their occurrence are usually scattered, geographically and chronologically. Some of these runic inscriptions for the political and social conditions.Â
For example, on the Jelling Stone, we can read: âKing Harold ordered this monument made in memory of his father, Gorm, and his mother, Thyra; the Harold who conquered all of Denmark and Norway, and made the Danes Christian.âÂ
*also, enemies, so we have a biased account
Font:Â http://www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/index.php?id=804&L=1#.U4SbQ5RdVAs
"The runic inscriptions can tell us something about the Vikingsâ side of things. A lot of the inscriptions come from the great rune-stones of the Viking period. These were often memorials, commemorating those who died far from their homelands. There are also some inscriptions that people put up in their own honour â âat sik kvikvanâ (in his own lifetime) or âeftir sik siĂĄlfanâ (in honour of the man himself) and often commemorate great deeds that the person had done."
Other inscriptions tell of voyages to Greece, Russian trading towns i.e. GarĂ°ar, Baltic, Serkland (a land of dark-skinned people â the Arab caliphates), etc...
A stone at Ulunda, Uppland tells of a man who âjourneyed boldly and made money among the Greeks for his heir.â
At Veda, Uppland a monument to Irenmundr tells how he âbought this estate and made his money in the east, in GarĂ°ar".
Other inscriptions tell of voyages over the Baltic: e.g. for Sveinn âwho often sailed his fine freighter to Semigallen round Domesnasâ, or for Björn who âfell in Viromaaâ, or for BergviĂ° who drowned in Livonia.
