The runestones that tell a mother's tale

Six runestones stand at Broby bro in Uppland. The oldest of these - U 137 - was carved in a style dated to the period 1020-1050. It tells the story of a woman named Estrid and her son Gag, who died while his father Östen was still alive. Estrid was the maternal ancestor of the Jarlabanke clan and the maternal grandmother of the powerful Jarlabanke who claimed to own all of Täby.

U 135 and U 136 form a twin monument telling that Östen went to Jerusalem and died in the Byzantine Empire. These stones show that Gag died as relatively young as he is not mentioned on them. Estrid and Östen had three sons - Ingefast, Östen and Sven - who built a bridge and a barrow after their father.

The stones are connected to the local strongman Jarlabanke and his clan. They centre on the matriarch Estrid, who is also mentioned on a number of runestones in Täby and other locations. The carver of the Snottsta runestone where Estrid and her brother Ragnfast are mentioned also made the runestones for the Jarlabanke clan, suggesting that Estrid was born in Snottsta and married Östen of Täby.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons