The article introduces the runestone on Kuli by accentuating the liminary aspects of the location, the inscription, and the stone itself. Located at the beginning of the sheltered sailing course northwards and into Trøndelag, the islands...
moreThe article introduces the runestone on Kuli by accentuating the liminary aspects of the location, the inscription, and the stone itself. Located at the beginning of the sheltered sailing course northwards and into Trøndelag, the islands Kuli and Edøy are geographically at the border between Trøndelag and Vestlandet, and historically the area constituted the northern outpost of West-Norwegian Christian expansion during the time of conversion. Culturally and socially the Kuli stone can be understood as a compromise between a traditional, heathen society and the new faith supported by the aristocracy. The article further discusses the archaeological and historical evidence for the claim announced in the runic inscription, namely that Christianity had been in Norway twelve years before the stone was erected, and it provides support to the view that the inscription refers to some kind of formal decision of conversion that is likely to have been made during the reign of Óláfr Tryggvason.
