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A new interpretation of the partial inscription on the memorial cross at Grens, Mästerby parish, Gotland
Arkeologerna, Sverige.
Department of Archaeology, University of York, United Kingdom.
2021 (English)In: Fornvännen, ISSN 0015-7813, E-ISSN 1404-9430, Vol. 116, no 1, p. 38-53Article in journal (Refereed) Published
Abstract [en]

A large stone memorial cross with a partial inscription is situated at Grens, in Mästerby parish, central Gotland. According to oral tradition the termination of the 1361 Mästerby battle between Danes and Gotlanders was fought here. An inscription on it has been interpreted as containing the year 1550 but a recent ‘raking light’ survey now enables another interpretation. Through comparing the observed letters with medieval texts, including that on the Korsbetningen cross, at the mass graves in Visby, we suggest that the Grens cross is 1361 related. The Grens cross itself, as well as its engraving, might have been made by non-professionals, due to the evident lack of skilled manufacture, resulting in a somewhat misaligned cross and an abandoned inscription. The seven readable charactersare an “a” and following a gap, “do”, together interpreted as representing “Anno Domini”. After a wider gap, four letters might be interpreted as “ic:ob”. The first part is ambiguous, because of the shallow and incomplete nature of these letters.The “o” is the most certain letter in this part of the inscription. The “:” might represent a punctuation mark. Our interpretative suggestion for this section is “hic obiit”, that is, “here died”. The early erection of the Mästerby cross might suggest that the country dwellers were determined to be resourceful, albeit with small economical margins thus commemorating this important event with a lasting memorial.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
Stockholm: Kungl. Vitterhets Historie och Antikvitets Akademien, 2021. Vol. 116, no 1, p. 38-53
Keywords [en]
Mästerby; Gotland; Battlefield Archaeology; Inscribed Cross; 1361
National Category
History and Archaeology
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:raa:diva-6217OAI: oai:DiVA.org:raa-6217DiVA, id: diva2:1547000
Available from: 2021-04-23 Created: 2021-04-23 Last updated: 2022-01-24Bibliographically approved

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CiteExportLink to record
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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
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  • nn-NB
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  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
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  • asciidoc
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