The Skarthi Stone (Danish: Skardesten), also known as Hedeby 3 or DR 3 for its Rundata catalog number, was found in 1857 at Danevirke. It was raised in about 982. This granite runestone is currently displayed at the Hedeby Viking Museum.
The reference in the inscription to King Sveinn is believed to refer to Sweyn Forkbeard (Old Norse Sveinn Tjúguskegg), and "the west" to a campaign in England. The king commissioned the stone in honor of Skarði, who had the title heimþega or heimþegi (pl. heimþegar), meaning "home-receiver" (i.e., one who is given a house by another). A total of six runestones in Denmark refer to a person with this title, the others being DR 1, DR 154, DR 155, DR 296, and DR 297. The use of the term in the inscriptions suggest a strong similarity between heimþegar and the Old Norse term húskarl (literally, "house man"), or housecarl. Like housecarls, heimþegar are in the service of a king or lord, of whom they receive gifts (here, homes) for their service. Some, like Johannes Brøndsted, have interpreted heimþegi as being nothing more than a local Danish variant of húskarl.
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Famous quotes containing the word stone:
“Nations are possessed with an insane ambition to perpetuate the memory of themselves by the amount of hammered stone they leave. What if equal pains were taken to smooth and polish their manners?”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)