'Denmark’s salvation'? Runestones hint at Viking queen's power

New research on 1,000-year-old inscriptions suggests that the wife and mother of two Viking rulers may have been much more powerful in her own right—perhaps even a leader of the early Danish realm.

In a study published today in Antiquity, scientists provide a new analysis of Denmark’s Jelling runestones—inscribed stone monuments carved more than a millennia ago to commemorate the Viking king Gorm the Old, his wife Thyra, and the actions of their son, king Harald Bluetooth.

The Jelling Stones, located in the eastern Jutland town of Jelling, contain the earliest mentions of Denmark as a political entity. The smaller and older runestone, with an inscription written in the runic alphabet, was erected by Gorm around A.D. 950; the inscription on the larger Jelling Stone, commissioned by son Harald Bluetooth, also records Denmark’s conversion from Norse paganism to Christianity in 965 and is considered by many to be Denmark's "birth certificate."  (Harald Bluetooth’s name is best known today as a networking standard for wireless communications.)

Both of the Jelling runestones include the name of Thyra, the woman who was Gorm’s wife and Harald’s mother. Women named Thyra also appear in the inscriptions of two other Viking runestones of the period—more than any other name of any gender—but it’s not clear that they all refer to Thyra, wife and mother of kings. But now a new discovery adds to the Thyra puzzle, and may challenge some understandings of the roles of women in Viking society.

Carved in stone

The new analysis involved the 3-D scanning of seven runestones from Jutland, including the larger Jelling Stone, to reveal unseen details of their runic inscriptions.

The analysis revealed that the inscription on Harald Bluetooth's runestone was carved by the same hand that inscribed the Laeborg Runestone, located roughly 20 miles southeast of Jelling.

That hand belonged to a carver who named himself on the Laeborg Runestone as Ravnunge-Tue—and with Ravnunge-Tue's new connection to the iconic Jelling Stone, Danes now know the name of the craftsperson who created their "birth certificate," says archaeologist and runologist Lisbeth Imer of the National Museum of Denmark, the lead author of the Antiquity study.

But Imer is particularly interested in what the newly recognized link between the runestones says about Thyra: It’s unusual for Viking women to be mentioned on runestones at all, but the name Thyra appears on four runestones from the period, at least three of which are now known to refer to the same woman. The inscription carved by Ravnunge-Tue on the Laeborg stone also states Thyra was his dróttning—a Norse word meaning “mistress” or “lady” and later translated as “queen.”

Taken together, the runic references suggest Thyra was a key figure in the new Danish realm—perhaps even eclipsing her husband Gorm and her son Harald in influence, says Imer. “No other person in Viking Age Denmark is commemorated on so many stones, not even Harald Bluetooth, her famous son—so she must have been very important for forming the state,” she suggests.

Imer also notes that the only written sources from Viking Age Denmark are runestones, “and their texts are very short.” But archaeological sources point to the fact that Viking women in Denmark may have owned land in their own right and may have had political power as well.

Written sources from 10th century Europe also record powerful women in places like Italy and Germany, and the new Danish state may have mirrored that, she adds.

Viking women

Professor of Viking Studies Judith Jesch at the University of Nottingham in the UK, who wasn’t involved in the research, says the new discovery “brings Thyra to the fore in a whole new way.”

If all the runestones refer to the same Thyra, “this fact alone… suggests that she had substantial influence in that part of Denmark at a time when the country was just beginning to coalesce as a nation,” she says.

Jesch also notes Thyra is called “Denmark’s salvation” (or possibly “Denmark’s strength”) on the smaller Jelling stone erected by Gorm: “a slightly obscure comment, which does seem to hint at a pivotal role in the politics of the time.”

Runologist Henrik Williams at Sweden’s Uppsala University, who also wasn’t involved in the study, adds that some other Viking runestones, including some in Norway and Sweden, also feature the names of women, and “prove that women had resources in Viking Age Scandinavia,” he says.

But Williams and Viking expert Stefan Brink, of the University of the Highlands and Islands in the UK, are both cautious about whether the inscriptions provide firm new evidence of Thyra’s political power.

Brink, who also wasn’t involved in the new study, says it was “possible and probable” that Thyra was a very important woman in Denmark at that time, but whether she was the political equal of her husband Gorm is not established.

“It might be so, but how to prove it?” he asks.