Stones of Mora - History

History

The law of Uppland and Södermanland states: The three folklands, i.e. Tiundaland, Attundaland and Fjärdhundraland, shall first elect king. Then the election will be sanctioned by the lawspeaker of Uppland and then by all his subordinate lawspeakers in the rest of the kingdom, one by one. This process was done during the so called Eriksgata.

The Westrogothic law reminded the Geats that they had to accept this election: Sveær egho konung at taka ok sva vrækæ meaning Swedes have the right of choosing and deposing the king.

The detail that the Swedes were not only entitled to elect their king, but that they also had the right to depose him was institutionalized a long time before, as attested by Snorri Sturlason's (died 1241) accounts of Swedish history (the speech of Þorgnýr the Lawspeaker, and the deaths of Domalde and Egil in the Heimskringla). The location was on the border of a wetland, and according to Snorri, five kings had been drowned in this wetland, when the people had been displeased.

The newly elected king also had to go around Sweden on the Eriksgata, including the Geatish provinces. It was thus a sort of federation where the king started with his election at Mora Thing and then travelled throughout the kingdom to have the election confirmed by the local assemblies.

The Stone of Mora and many stones which flanked it with inscriptions commemorating the elections of earlier kings, were probably destroyed in 1515 during the civil war against the Danes. Gustav Vasa and John III are said to have tried to reconstruct the Stones of Mora without success.

One of the fragments is known as the Three Crowns stone since it is the earliest known example of the use of Sweden's national symbol, the Three Crowns. The fragment is what remains of the stone for the election of Albert of Mecklenburg.