Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction
Chapter I. Rune Stones, their distribution and historical background
1: The rune-stones and their distribution
2: Previous work
3: Why were the rune-stones erected?
4: Historical background
Chapter II. Presentation of the corpus and its subgroup: bases of analyses
THE CORPUS
5: Variables
6: General features
7: Regional groupings
8: Chronology and dating problems
THE SUBGROUP AND CATEGORIES OF RELATIONSHIP
9: The nature of relationships between sponsors and deceased
10: Sponsorship patterns
11: Complex relationships
BASES OF ANALYSES
12: Inscriptions
13: Relationships
Chapter III. Property and inheritance
THE INSCRIPTIONS AS DECLARATIONS OF INHERITANCE
14: Formulation
15: Additional references 16.One or more
16: One or more sponsors
17: The order in which sponsors are mentioned
18: Two or more inscriptions interpreted together
19: The sponsorship pattern as reflecting property rights
THE SPONSORS AS HOLDERS OF JOINT OR INHERITED PROPERTY
20: Joint ownership
21: Inheritance customs
22: Unspecified relationships
23: Conclusion
Chapter IV. Inheritance: customs and law
24: Inheritance and other devolutions of property
25: The runic evidence
26: Gradual and parentela principles
27: The sponsorship patterns inheritance principles used? 29. The laws 30. Sponsorship
28: Why were different inheritance principles used?
29: The laws
30: Sponsorship patterns and the laws
31: Differences within Uppland
32: Conclusion
Chapter V. Society and status
33: Sponsors and deceased
34: Titlebearers
35: Epithets
36: Thegns and drengs
37: 'Boni homines'
38: Women
as landholders 39. Travellers 40. Conclusions
Chapter VI. Conversion
41: Transition: pagan and/or Christian? 43. Christian features 44. Conclusion
42: Pagan features
43: Christian features
44: Conclusion
Chapter VII. Conclusion and future research
45: The rune-stone fashion
46: Late Viking Age society
47: Future research
Excursus: The tug of war over Thyre
Sources
Appendices
Catalogue
Explanantory Notes
Denmark and Bornholm
Norway
Sweden (excluding Uppland)
Uppland
References

Reviews

This book marks a big step forward in the study of commemorative runic inscriptions and late Viking-Age history. By assembling and analysing so much information from tenth- and eleventh-century rune stones the author has provided scholars with a wealth of readily accessible data for future research. By raising so many interesting questions she will also, as she hoped, have stimulated fellow workers to delve into that data. Saga-Book Extremely detailed analysis ... The Viking-Age Rune-Stones has many strengths. The result of years of painstaking work, it demonstrates an intimate knowledge of the late Viking-Age rune stone corpus and its background ... The Viking-Age Rune-Stones has brought a wealth of important data to the attention of the scholarly community. Saga-Book The secions on the patterns of social order and inheritance will make this book an indispensable example of runology applied to social history, a line of study with a future. It is worth buying for the careful tabulation of inscriptions and motifs alone. English Historical Review This is a stimulating book, challenging accepted interpretations and suggesting new sources for Viking Age social history. R.I. Page, Times Higher Education Supplement Thorough statistical coverage, backed up by a seventy page "Catalogue" ... her work puts the English-speaking reader for the frst time in possession of the basic information painstakingly recorded by Scandinavian scholars, as well as providing an entirely fresh and convincing explanation of the Viking Age corpus ... Birgit Sawyer [has] offered models of patient and dispassionate research in potentially exciting and contested areas. Tom Shippey, Times Literary Supplement