The Kyrkogården Runestones are three Viking Age memorial runestones located at the cemetery of St. Mary's Church in Sigtuna, Stockholm County, Sweden, in the historic province of Uppland. One of the runic inscriptions documents the existence of a Viking Age mercantile guild in Sweden.U 379The inscription on the runestone listed as U 379 in the Rundata catalog consists of runic text in the younger futhark on a serpent that encircles a cross. The inscription on the granite stone is classified as being carved in runestone style KB, which is a designation used for designs that feature serpents bordered or framed by a runic text band.The runic text indicates that the stone was a memorial raised by members of a mercantile guild in memory of one of their members named Þorkell. U 379 is one of four runestones that mention guilds in Viking Age Sweden, the others being U 391 in Prästgatan, Ög 64 in Bjälbo, and Ög MÖLM1960;230 in Törnevalla. These stones and others which discuss félags are evidence of the trading activities during this period of Scandinavian history, and U 379 evidence of Sigtuna being a center of trade. Both U 379 and U 391 refer to a Frisian guild. Although merchants from Frisia dominated trade in northwest Europe from about 725 to 830, it is not believed that these two runestones indicate that the guild consisted of ethnic Frisians since the runic text is in Old Norse and the names (except for possibly one on U 391) are Scandinavian. It has been suggested that the word frisa in the late Viking Age had come to denote any person who was a merchant, and that Frisian guild on these runestones simply meant a mercantile guild.
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