GP 131 Hablingbo kyrka (I)

Context and Discovery
The stone and its find circumstances are treated in Gotlands runinskrifter (GR I, see G 59). The picture stone was positioned in the cemetery both during Hilfeling’s time and later, at right angles to the nave’s south wall, at a distance of almost 1 m, with the more richly decorated side facing west (Lindqvist 1941/42, p. II: 52; GR I, p. 77). It is known that the stone was standing to the south of the church, 1 m from the wall, before 1799 and until 1920. On a drawing by Pehr Arvid Säve, the stone can be seen standing beside the church wall (Säve 1864, p. 156). P. A. Säve also wrote in his travel account that the stone was damaged by time and weather, as it was loose grained and crumbly, and therefore the figures and the inscription are rather obscure (Säve 1864, p. 159). Carl Säve described in 1845 that the stone seems to have suffered (Säve 1852, p. 193). On photos by Gabriel Gustafsson, the stone appears to be still standing in the spot where it first was recorded. Sune Lindqvist thought that it was standing in situ, but Elias Wessén doubted it. Wessén was of the opinion that it would have been cumbersome to have the stone so close to the church, both during the church building in 1350 and when the earlier church was built (GR I, p. 81). In 1920, the stone was transferred to the west part of the church (the tower’s basement). The reason was partly that the stone was badly exposed to the roof drip, but also because it was cumbersome at funerals and other activities (Lindqvist 1941/42, p. II: 52; GR I, p. 77). Otto von Friesen inspected the stone together with pharmacist Hamner in July 1923, and made some notes on the runic inscription and its damage (Friesen 1923).

In 1988, another runic picture stone was found in the churchyard, GP 130 Hablingbo kyrka 2 (Gustavson et. al. 1990; G 370). The stone GP 131 was moved 2.5 metres to the west in the tower to make room for the new stone, GP 130, which was placed on the same spot as where the first stone had stood. The stones were placed with the pictorial scenes vis-à-vis each other, so as not to obscure the sight of the ship carving and a painting on the church wall (ATA 07347 89-11-29). In Hablingbo parish, an additional nine picture stones are known, including A-stones, a B-stone and kerbstones (GP 129, GP 132–139).

The first stone church was probably built c. 1170–1229. Only the tower and the northern portal remain of this church. The present chancel and the ship were built in 1350 (BeBR). Planks with carved ornament are preserved, possibly from an older wooden church (SHM; Norderäng/Widerström 2017, p. 5). In 2017, a small archaeological investigation was undertaken in the church, but the presence of an earlier wooden church could not be confirmed (Norderäng/Widerström 2017, p. 11).
LKÅ
GP 130 Hablingbo kyrka 2
GP 129 Hablingbo Stenstu
GP 132 Hablingbo Havor I
GP 133 Hablingbo Havor II
GP 134 Hablingbo Havor III
GP 135 Hablingbo Havor IV
GP 136 Hablingbo Havor V
GP 137 Hablingbo Havor VI
GP 138 Hablingbo Havor VII
GP 139 Hablingbo Havor VIII

Measurements, Material and Condition
Height 102 cm, largest width 96 cm. The stone slab is 15 cm thick at the base and 10 cm thick at the top. Limestone slab. The material is grainy and prone to decomposing. The pictures and the runic inscription are badly damaged by weathering; the backside with the ship is in worse condition than the front side with the runic inscription.

Face A, with the runic inscription and the serpents, is smooth and judging from several, particularly well-preserved areas, had been carefully polished. Face B, the reverse, is smooth, probably polished as well, but now more severely weathered than A. The edges are hewn flat at right angles towards the broad sides and have rounded edges (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, pp. 52–53).

The decoration on both broad sides is executed with chiselled lines and smooth background fields that had been sunk about 5 mm deep. The dots of the runic inscription and the eyes of the horseman and the horse are formed by conically drilled holes (Lindqvist 1941/42 II, p. 53).
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Description of Ornament and Images
Runic picture stone. The pictures consist of an equestrian, a runic serpent and a ship with crew. Lindqvist described the motifs as follows:

“Obverse: The border is constituted by two ribbon animals with head, foreleg, and tail that are linked by slipknots at the necks and tails. From the necks, trifurcated and richly twisted crests are extended. In the panel above the horizontal bar, which is located at the picture stone’s neck and designed as a two-stranded band pattern, a horseman can be seen, with his spear held horizontally and a shield(?), on a horse with long and wide tail (and only four feet). The horseman’s calves and feet reach down below the horse’s belly, one of the legs behind the other, but most of the leg at the back is now flaked off above the foot. A woman proffering a horn turns towards the horseman. Below the horn, there is an indistinct figure with a ring-shaped top that probably is standing on its horizontal bottom edge, albeit slightly above the floor line; as Liljegren assumed, this object in all probability is a basket. To the extreme right and left, a triangular shape stands at the edge of the border” (Lindqvist, 1941/42, pp. II, p. 53).

“Reverse: Inside the border, which now is almost completely destroyed by weathering, a ship with broad, square sail, from the lower edge of which hang down presumably six sheet ropes, each held by a crewman. The six men wear pointed headgear and knee-length tunics and stand with their feet on the railing. The ship’s hull is decorated with wedge-shaped motifs. At the stern, a rudder can be seen that is drawn as if it was attached to the port side. The stern is rounded smoothly; both stems likely were long and rounded” (Lindqvist, 1941/42, p. II: 53).

Erik Nylén called the style with two symmetrically arranged serpents Gotlandic runestone-style [Sw. gotländsk runstensstil], which in addition to the Hablingbo stone included Stånga kyrka I, Ekeby, Ardre VII, Ardre V and Ardre VI (Nylén 1972).
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Interpretation of the Imagery
The first known drawing was made by C. G. Hilfeling in 1799, who drew in detail the runic serpent with the interlaced tendrils behind their necks. However, Hilfeling did not recognize that there is a ship on the stone, and he interpreted the carving of the mast and its beam as a cross (Hilfeling [1799] 1994, p. 186).

Face A, with the serpent and the runic inscription, appears to feature a “Welcoming scene” at the top. Similar scenes, featuring a rider welcomed by a woman with a drinking horn, are found on several other picture stones and are most often interpreted as the greeting of a warrior into Valhalla, see, e.g., GP 94 Garda Bote, GP 390 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs III, GP 5 Alskog Tjängvide I and GP 209 Klinte Hunninge I. The Welcoming scene is less frequent on E-stones but can be identified on two other 11th-century picture stones of type E, on GP 278 När Bosarve and GP 71 Ekeby church (Ney 2012, p.74, p. 81). However, the Welcoming scene on the latter stone differs in featuring a person in a wagon, not an equestrian. The motif with the Welcoming scene has been extensively discussed in relation to picture stones as well as other objects. Ultimately, this motif seems to hark back to classical models (Oehrl, 2020c, p. 128).

On the stone in Hablingbo, between the figure with the drinking horn and the horse, there is an object that several scholars have interpreted as a basket (Lindqvist 1933, pp. 98–100; 1945, p. 123). The “basket” is clearly visible on the 3D-images.

Oscar Montelius mentions the Hablingbo stone as an example in a chapter about spiritual matters in heathen times (Montelius 1875–1877, p. 336). George Stephens suggested that the scene depicted “the arrival of a fallen Sea-king — summoned and chosen by Woden, and mounted on his war-steed, which had been buried with him — to the Halls of Walhall, one of the Heavenly Nymphs (the Walkyries) welcoming him thither with a Horn of Mead?” (quotation in GR I, pp. 79–80). Several scholars agreed with Stephens, as did Hans Hildebrand, Henrik Schück and Lindqvist, although they discussed whether the rider should be interpreted as Óðinn or as a deceased man, and whether the greeting woman was a death goddess or a valkyrie (Hildebrand 1881, pp. 21–22; Schück 1926, pp. 163–164; Lindqvist 1933, pp. 98–100; 1945, p. 123; GR I, p. 80). Alexander Bugge indicated that the dead warrior arrived in Valhalla on Óðinn’s eight-legged horse Sleipner and was greated by a Valkyrie (Bugge 1905, p. 323).

On the other side of the stone, Face B, there is ship with crew, which is the most common motif on the Gotland picture stones. For the interpretation of the ship motif on late type picture stones, see especially GP 5 Alskog Tjängvide I, GP 21 Ardre kyrka VIII, GP 94 Garda Bote, GP 209 Klinte Hunninge I, GP 212 Klinte Hunninge IV (Klintebys), and GP 390 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs III. The horseman and ship, are commonly regarded as depicting the deceased’s journey and arrival in the world of the dead.

Both P. A. Säve in his drawing from 1864 and Olof Sörling in his drawing discerned people standing on the hull holding sheets in their hands. In Säve’s drawing, there seems to be a weathervane at the top of the mast. Lindqvist suggests that this motif is a reminder of the occupation of the deceased as both warrior and merchant, but that the motif might also have had a deep symbolic meaning (Lindqvist 1933, p. 100; cf GR I, p. 81).

The Welcoming scene and the ship motif are traditional on picture stones of type C and D. E-stones are often dominated by the runic serpent and a cross, but there are a few runic picture stones where the 11th-century runic inscription along the edge were combined with traditional picture stone motifs. In this case, it has led to some discussion about the religious status of the sponsor and the commemorated. As the stone had been placed standing so close to the church, Carl Säve thought that it is a Christian monument (Säve 1852, p. 193). Lindqvist agreed and indicated that although the motifs on this stone seemed to be heathen, the stone had been produced in Christian times, perhaps for a sponsor who was a bit half-hearted in his Christian faith. Lindqvist indicated that the placement by the church was an argument for this (Lindqvist 1941/42, p. II: 53). Wessén disagreed, thinking that the motifs were purely heathen, lacking all Christian symbols and words, and that the stone probably had been moved from another location (GRI, p. 81). In later research, it is more seldomly argued with a strict distinction between heathen and Christian motifs, as it is recognized that traditional motifs can be reinterpreted and reconciled with the new faith.

C. Säve (Säve 1845, pp. 92–93; 1852, pp. 193–194), and later Wessén, further point out that the stone is reminiscent of the stone GP 5 Alskog Tjängvide. Wessén indicated that the Hablingbo stone could be interpreted in the light of the Tjängvide stone, where the equestrian and the ship are on the same side, while they have been distributed on different sides on the Hablingbo stone (GR I, p. 79). Hugo Pipping called attention to the cross beam without runes serving as the lower border for a field of figures and mentioned the Tjängvide stone as a parallel (Pipping 1901, pp. 34, note 1).

With its limited height, the stone can be considered a dwarf stone, i.e., belonging to subgroup b of Lindqvist’s type E. Cecilia Ljung compared these monuments to early Christian grave monuments on Öland. The early Christian grave monuments on Öland have similarities with the dwarf stones of type E-monuments on Gotland in their small size, the dressed shape and the ornament cut in relief, but unlike the stones on Öland, several of the Gotland stones are carved on both sides (Ljung 2016, p. 165). Ljung sees structural similarities between the late picture stone tradition on Gotland and the runestone tradition on Öland and in the Mälar basin: the rune-carved monuments in church contexts tend to be small, erected stones with dressed shape, on Öland and Gotland with ornament in relief. Another similarity is that they can be raised in the landscape as well as in a churchyard (Ljung 2016, p. 169). The late picture stones have been discussed in relation to the churchyard finds and the varied burial customs on Gotland during the missionary period (Ljung 2016, p. 170; Ljung 2020, p. 172).

The stone was 3D-scanned in 2013 as part of a research project at Swedish National Heritage Board. The data was included in a study aiming at a comparison of the carving techniques on Gotland and the Swedish mainland (Kitzler Åhfeldt 2019).
LKÅ
GP0094
GP 390 Stenkyrka Lillbjärs III
GP 5 Alskog Tjängvide I
GP0209
GP 278 När Bosarve
GP 71 Ekeby kyrka
GP 21 Ardre kyrka VIII
GP 212 Klinte Hunninge (IV) (Klintebys)

Runic Context and Comments
One of the sponsors is named either Hailgair or Hallgair. As mentioned above, the runestone GP 130 Hablingbo kyrka 2 (G 370) found on the churchyard in 1988, was raised by Vatar and Hailgair; hence there is a possibility – but far from certain – that one of the sponsors took part in both stones (Snædal 2002, p. 68).
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GP 130 Hablingbo kyrka 2

Type and Dating
Type E. Runic picture stone with mushroom or key-hole shape. The stone can be described as a runestone hewn into the traditional shape of a picture stone, or as a runic picture stone (Gustavson 2012, p. 107). The ornament can be classified as style group Pr3 according to the style-chronological system by Anne-Sofie Gräslund, indicating the date c. 1045–1075 (Gräslund 2006, p. 126).

Thorgunn Snædal divided the runic picture stones (type E) into two groups. According to Snædal, the Hablingbo stone belongs to the so-called Ardre-group, i.e., sepulchral monuments with an runic inscription along the edge and with pictorial and decorative elements in the middle (Snædal 2002, p.67; cf. Gustavson 2012, p. 113).
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References
Hilfeling 1799, p. 186; Liljegren 1833, p. 177; Säve, P. A. 1863, p. 213; 1864, pp. 158–159; Lindqvist 1941/42 I, Fig. 182–183; 223; II pp. 52–53, Fig. 368–369; GR I, G 59; Snædal 2002, p. 68.

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