Just north of Stockholm, Runriket (“The Realm of Runes”), boasts the world’s densest concentration of runestones. Encircling Lake Vallentuna within the municipalities of Vallentuna and Täby, Runriket consists of about 50 runestones predominately dated to the 11th century spread along a 37 kilometer long circuit.1 As with all runestones, they were raised by members of society’s upper strata who had the power and wealth to do so. Also, as with most runestones, they were raised in the Christian period and thus reflect the changing beliefs that occurred in the late Viking Age prior to the formation of Sweden as the nation we recognize today.
Three particularly powerful families lived around Lake Vallentuna at the time, and the Jarlabanke släkt (“Jarlabanke kin,” named for the family’s most prominent man) was the most powerful. Jarlabanke himself directed the raising of multiple runestones as well as other imposing projects, the most notable of which that still exists today is Jarlabankes bro (“Jarlabanke’s Bridge”). Built in 1050, Jarlabankes bro crossed marshy ground and acted as a flashy entrance to Jarlabanke’s property. So while it served a practical purpose, it also served to flaunt Jarlabanke’s wealth. Modesty was not in vogue in the 11th century at Lake Vallentuna, so to really drive the point home, Jarlabanke also had four runestones placed beside the bridge.
Archaeologists have determined that the bridge was constructed of bundled branches over which stones and gravel were laid. This pathway was actually still used as a normal road till the 1960s, at which point it was finally decommissioned. In the early 2000s the bridge was reconstructed but at only one third of its original length—and it no longer crosses marshy ground. Today, it acts as the formal gateway to Runriket. It’s only a 15 minute walk along Vikingavägen from Täby kyrkby station, which is served by a light rail passenger line (Roslagsbanan) from Stockholms östra station in central Stockholm.
As the main point of entry to Runriket, Jarlabankes bro provides the most informative signage of any of the sites in Runriket. In addition to the basics of the local history for the time period in question, the signs also tell the story of Jarlabanke’s grandmother, Estrid, who outlived her husbands and many of her children and grandchildren. Despite the rise of Christianity, when she eventually passed away at the end of the 1000s, she was buried with valuable grave goods per the customs of the old way. Archaeologists believe they found her grave in 1995 in a field a short distance away at Broby bro—another one of the stops on Runriket’s circuit.
The notion of Runriket itself is, of course, a modern one. Jarlabanke did not walk around his farm talking about a conceptual “Realm of Runes” that he established in conjunction with his neighbors, whom he instead most likely competed with for bragging rights about who had the best farm, coolest runestones, and any other bells and whistles that were fashionable and worth gloating about. It’s easy to imagine Jarlabanke pointing at his bridge or collection of runestones and bragging about how much better they were than those of the Skålhamra family, who were probably busy themselves trying to figure out how to try and one-up Jarlabanke with their next vainglorious project.
The concept of Runriket was created by Stockholms läns museum (Stockholm’s County Museum) and brought together the county government and the municipal governments of both Vallentuna and Täby to make the idea reality. The organizations did a nice job of bringing the vision to life; it is now a coherent destination with appropriate signage, maps, and identity. And every May there is even a viking festival. Vallentuna hosts the official Runriket website here, which includes some videos while Täby hosts the main promo video on its YouTube channel that you can watch below. It’s in Swedish, but language comprehension is not necessary to admire the scenery!
- If you visit Runriket’s official website, you will see references in both Swedish and English that the circuit is 3.5 miles long and that Jarlabankes bro is only 2.5 miles from Stockholm. These are Swedish miles, which are equivalent to 6.6 English miles or 10.5 kilometers. Runriket is close to Stockholm but not as close as it sounds if you have English miles in mind. ↩︎
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