Dating Medieval Roman Alphabet Inscriptions– An Example from Hallvard’s Cathedral in Oslo

Abstract

In order for Roman alphabet inscriptions to be useful primary sources for historical, linguistic or other research, it is important that they are dated. Moreover, the user of these inscriptions should be able to judge the quality, i.e., the certainty, or uncertainty of the proposed dates. Several criteria for dating Roman alphabet inscriptions are presented, based on my cataloguing work in the project "Between Runes and Manuscripts". These are applied on Guðrun's gravestone from Hallvard's Cathedral in Oslo. Øystein Ekroll and Bent Lange have previously dated this gravestone to c. 1200, however, I argue that the inscription should be dated to the fourteenth century.