This
sandstone runestone, which is walled into the south-western corner of the church of Hällestad, has been known since the late 17th century. The inscription begins in the left row on the front side and follows the
boustrophedon order of reading. The inscription is dated to the late 10th century, and shows an early dotted
k-rune which represents the g-phoneme in
aigi It also contains an unusual dotted
m-rune (), which is however only for decorative purposes since it does not change the pronunciation (compare the
Transjö Runestone). An interesting detail is the fact that it calls
Toki Gormsson "brother", which should be interpreted as "brother-in-arms" and not a biological brother. The
Viking Age warbands consisted of brotherhoods, where each member had equal worth, including the warchief who in this case was Toki Gormsson. Toki was probably the son of the Danish king
Gorm the Old, who died c. 958 or 959. This Toki is not remembered by the Norse sagas but, unlike the sagas, the runestones constitute contemporary documentation. Also notable is that the stone reports that the men went closest to Toki, meaning that the best warriors formed a shield circle around the warchief during battle in order to show fealty to their leader (compare with the
Kålsta Runestone). The hill which is referred to was probably a
barrow in which the brothers-in-arms buried Toki according to the traditions of the time.
Inscription First line is transliteration; second is transcription in Old Norse. {{fs interlinear |lang=non |spacing=0.5 |class1=bold |number=A {{fs interlinear |lang=non |spacing=0.5 |class1=bold |number=B {{fs interlinear |lang=non |spacing=0.5 |class1=bold |number=C ==DR 296==