What happened when the Vikings converted to Christianity?

Vikings are often seen equally heathen marauders mercilessly targeting Christian churches and killing defenceless monks. But this is only part of their story. The Vikings played a key part in spreading Christianity, besides.

Norse mythology has long captured the popular imagination and many today have heard stories about the pagan gods, particularly Odin, Thor and Loki, recently reimagined in  Marvel'southward comic books and movies . Some now fifty-fifty follow reconstructed versions of these beliefs, known as  Ásatrú (the religion of the Aesir).

Our main source for this mythology, the  Prose Edda, was written past a 13th-century Christian, the Icelandic politician Snorri Sturluson. Scandinavia converted to Christianity later than many parts of Europe, just this process is all the same an important part of the Vikings' real story. Indeed, there are fascinating works of Norse literature with a Christian theme, including sagas of bishops and saints.

It would be wrong to minimise Viking violence , only raiding – hit and run attacks for plunder – in the medieval period was not confined to these Scandinavian seafarers. The Irish annals, such as the  Annals of Ulster , record far more attacks past Irishmen on other Irishmen, including the raiding and burning of churches, than attacks past Scandinavians.

An ideological clash is ane suggested cause of the  "Viking Age" . This line of thinking suggests that pagan Scandinavians sought to avenge Christian attacks, such every bit the Frankish emperor Charlemagne's invasion of Saxony from 772AD to 804AD. This 30-year conflict involved forced mass baptism, the death penalty for "heathen practices" and included the execution of iv,500 Saxon rebels at  Verden in 782AD .

It seems more likely, however, that Christian monasteries were initially targeted because they were poorly defended and independent portable wealth in the form of metalwork and people. Settling in richer Christian lands likewise offered ameliorate prospects for some than remaining in resource-poor Scandinavia.

Vikings Attacking Lindisfarne Monastery Credit: Algol / Adobe Stock

The Ascension of Christianity

The conversion of Scandinavia was gradual with Christian missionaries preaching intermittently in Scandinavia from the eighth century. While there was some resistance, Christianity and Norse paganism were non always fundamentally opposed. A 10th-century soapstone  mould from Trendgården in Jutland, Denmark, immune the casting of metallic Thor's hammer amulets alongside crosses. The aforementioned craftsman clearly catered for both pagans and Christians.

The starting time Scandinavian king to exist converted was the Danish exile  Harald Klak . He was baptised in 826AD with the Carolingian emperor Louis the Pious as his sponsor, in commutation for imperial support for an (admitting unsuccessful) attempt to regain his throne.

Guthrum, a king from the Viking Smashing Army which attacked England in the ninth century, was besides baptised as part of his agreement following defeat by the Due west Saxon king Alfred "the Swell" in 878AD. Indeed, coming into contact with Christian kingdoms which were more politically centralised arguably led to greater unification of the Scandinavian realms.

One of the most significant turning points in the Christianisation of Scandinavia was the conversion of the Danish king  Harald Bluetooth  in the 960s.  Bluetooth technology  is named after Harald because he united disparate parts of Denmark, while the engineering unites advice devices.

Harald proudly proclaimed on the at present iconic  Jelling rock , an impressive monument with a runic inscription, that he "made the Danes Christian". And this connection between kingship and Christianity continued.

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The baptism of Harald Bluetooth ( CC by SA 3.0 )

Norway was converted largely due to ii of its kings: Olaf Tryggvason and  Olaf Haraldsson . The latter was canonised before long afterwards his death in boxing in 1030AD, becoming Scandinavia's offset native saint.

Hereafter Norwegian kings benefited from their clan with Olaf Haraldsson, who became Norway'south patron saint. Other royal Scandinavian saints would follow, notably Erik of Sweden and Knud the Holy of Kingdom of denmark. The Norse earldom of Orkney also produced a martyr from its ruling family: St Magnus, who was killed in around 1116 in a dynastic squabble.

The 2018 Danish Eurovision entry (Rasmussen'due south vocal  College Footing ) portrays Magnus equally a pacifist viking refusing to fight.  Saga sources  practise suggest that Magnus refused on one occasion to raid with the Norwegian king and fled from the armada, just his career was not without violence.

Scandinavians who settled abroad in Christian lands were as well converted to the dominant faith. While Scandinavian settlers initially buried their dead in traditional heathen ways, they presently adopted the community of those living around them. And their settlements became part of the political and cultural makeup of their host societies.

Some of the most celebrated pieces of medieval Irish gaelic ecclesiastical art were likely made by Hiberno-Scandinavian craftsmen from Viking-founded towns like Dublin. These objects also feature stylistic elements which had spread from the Scandinavian homelands.

For example, the 11th-century  Clonmacnoise crozier  is busy in the Scandinavian art mode of Ringerike, with snake-like animals in effigy-of-viii patterns. Clonmacnoise in County Offaly, associated with the sixth-century St Ciaran, is one of Ireland'southward oldest and almost important ecclesiastical sites. And the ancestors of these craftsmen might have been the very raiders who had attacked Irish churches.

Olaf Haraldsson was canonised before long after his death in the Battle of Stiklestad in 1030AD ( public domain )

Soldiers of God

Fifty-fifty Scandinavian settlers in the remote islands of the Northward Atlantic joined the European mainstream with some enthusiasm. Partly due to pressure from Norway, Republic of iceland officially converted to Christianity in  the year 1000 . Following consultation at their national assembly (the Alþing) it was decided that the state would catechumen simply that some pagan practices would notwithstanding be tolerated.

The settlements on Greenland  eventually failed in the 14th and 15th centuries, but even when the inhabitants were starving they even so devoted precious resources to importing luxury goods for the church, including wine and vestments.

A Christian cantankerous from the Viking Age. Found in Uppåkra, near Lund, Sweden ( CC by SA 3.0 )

Scandinavians also joined the Crusades; now they were the Christians attacking the so-called heathens. The Norwegian king  Sigurd "Jerusalem-farer"  – named for his visit to the Holy Country – was, in fact, the offset European king to participate in the Crusades personally, making a journey from 1108 to 1111, a curt while after the Get-go Cause culminated in the Christian reoccupation of Jerusalem in 1099.

Crusading was, after all, not so unlike from Viking raiding, but this time the killing and looting had Christian backing. Instead of an afterlife of feasting in Valhalla as a advantage for dying in battle, those who died on Cause would go straight to Sky.

Indeed, the Viking globe was every bit much populated past missionary kings, bishops and saints as it was by raiders, gods and giants.

Summit prototype: Viking holding Christian cantankerous. Credit: Warpedgalerie / Adobe Stock

The commodity ' Vikings didn't just murder monks and pillage monasteries – they helped spread Christianity likewise' by Caitlin Ellis was originally published on The Conversation and has been republished under a Creative Commons license.

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Source: https://www.ancient-origins.net/history/christian-vikings-0013072

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