Gørlev Church

At Gørlev, only 4km south of Tissø, there’s a Romanesque church that was built around 1100 and in its porch are two rune stones. The first was discovered in 1921 and was being used as a threshold. It read: “Tjodvi raised this stone in memory of Oðinkárr. (Fuþork). Respect this monument! Thistle, mistletoe, small casket. I set these runes correctly. Gunne, Armund ...” What’s special about this stone is the use of a spell; particularly the word starting with fuþąrk – a term found on a range of Viking Age objects. Futhark is the runic alphabet – named after its first six letters and it seems the word was also used as an invocation. The second rune stone wasn’t found until 1964. It reads: “Thorgot/Thorgund placed this stone in memory of Halfdan, his/her father …” In other words we’re unsure if the stone setter was male or female. It’s not unlikely that both stones are linked to Tissø. Odinkar and Thorgot may have both been powerful chieftains who lived close the church?