Stones of Mora, Medieval royal election site near Uppsala, Sweden
The Stones of Mora are the surviving memorial stones from the medieval royal election site at Mora Meadow in Knivsta. They are kept in a small building designed by Carl Wijnbladh and erected in 1770. Inside, six weathered grey-green stones rest on a low platform of grey wooden planks over red bricks; one long rectangular stone lies centrally, carved with an inscription including the word "Johan", and a smaller white card sits near its top edge. The other five are rounded, irregular blocks of rough stone, placed at the top end, the bottom end and along the left side.
The first documented royal election at Mora Meadow was that of Magnus Ladulås on 22 July 1275. The last was Christian I in 1457. Under the Uppland Law of 1296 the three folklands elected the king first, and from 1362 Finland sent representatives. The Mora stone itself disappeared around 1515.
The name Mora likely comes from a dialect word for boggy spruce forest, referring to the wet meadows by the Långhundraleden waterway. Each newly elected king placed a small memorial stone beside the main Mora sten, and when the next king was chosen the older stone was moved aside. One surviving fragment, part of Albert of Mecklenburg's memorial stone from 1364, is among the earliest known uses of the Three Crowns as a Swedish symbol.
The stones are kept in a locked building at Mora äng, about 600 metres south-east of the Uppsala municipality border along Östunavägen. Parking is at the monument off Östunavägen, reached from the motorway via riksväg 77 or länsväg 282, and buses run from Knivsta station. A large flat block in a field just over a kilometre south-east of the building is sometimes identified as Mora sten, though this is unproven.
One of the preserved fragments is known as the Three Crowns stone, since it is one of the earliest known uses of the Three Crowns as a Swedish national symbol. The fragment belongs to the memorial stone from the election of Albrekt of Mecklenburg in 1364.
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