Hakon Jarl Runestones - U 16

U 16

This runestone was located in Nibble on the island of Ekerö, but it has disappeared. In scholarly literature it was first described by Johannes Bureus (1568–1652), and it was depicted by Leitz in 1678. Johan Hadorph noted in 1680 that the name of the deceased in the inscription had been bitten off by locals who believed that doing so would help against tooth ache. Elias Wessén notes that roði Hakona refers to a leidang organization under a man named Hákon who could have been a jarl, but he considers it most likely that Hákon refers to the Swedish king Hákon the Red. Others identify Hákon with the Norwegian jarl Hákon Eiríksson, like Sm 76, below, and Omeljan Pritsak considers the man to whom the stone was dedicated to have been a member of the army of jarl Hákon Eiríksson in England.

Latin transliteration:

Old Norse transcription:

Gunni ok Kari ræisþu stæin æfti ... Hann vas bonda bæstr i roði Hakona.

English translation:

"Gunni and Kári raised the stone in memory of ... He was the best husbandman in Hákon's dominion."