"Pagani and Christiani. Cultural Identity and Exclusion Around the Baltic in the Early Middle Ages." The reception of Medieval Europe in the Baltic Sea Region : papers of the XIIth Visby Symposium, held at Gotland University [2002], Visby / editor: Jörn Staecker. - Visby 2009, pp. 171-191. (original) (raw)
Related papers
Bridges to Eternity: A Re-Examination of the Adoption of Christianity in Viking-Age Sweden
Viking and Medieval Scandinavia, 2016
This paper reconsiders the nature of Christian conversion in Viking-Age Sweden and traditional assumptions of a centre-periphery model that places Viking and medieval Scandinavia on the periphery of Christian Europe. Notions of Scandinavians as barbarians lingered and tainted outsiders’ perception of them even after conversion, as seen in early medieval texts which portray Scandinavians’ Christian beliefs and practices as trivial or unsophisticated. The Swedish Viking-Age runestones provide evidence that challenges the assumption that Christianity was passively appropriated to Scandinavia from Europe. Instead, the runic material helps demonstrate the Scandinavians’ originality and sophisticated understanding of the new religion by exposing how they adopted and incorporated Christian beliefs and practices into their uniquely Scandinavian context. Scandinavians’ adoption and application of Christian concepts, such as the development of Purgatory and its association with bridges and Christian deeds, to their monuments in order to accommodate the new religion is particularly examined.
Christianization and State Formation in Early Medieval Norway
Scandinavian Journal of History, 2005
The article deals with problems and directions of research in the study of the Christianization of Norway. While scholars from the 19th century onwards largely accepted the sagas' account of the Christianization as the work of two missionary kings in the late tenth and early 11th century, the recent trend has been in the direction of a long and gradual process of Christianization, starting in the late ninth or early tenth century. This interpretation seems to regard the Christianization as the direct consequence of increasing contact with the new religion, thus neglecting the question of why the conversion took place. The present contribution directly addresses this question. It emphasizes the political aspect of the conversion and the importance of the Viking kings coming from abroad for giving Christianity the religious monopoly. Further, it suggests three lines of investigation for future research: (i) a thorough examination of the rich archaeological material, (ii) a comparison with the whole area of Northern and East Central Europe that was included in Western Christendom in the tenth and 11th centuries, and (iii) a focus not only on the conversion period, but on the gradual penetration of Christianity in the following period and its consequences for state formation, the development of society, and cultural and ideological transformation. The following article has its origin in a comparative project on the Christianization of northern and east central Europe. Its aim is not to give a complete account on the Christianization of Norway but to discuss some theories and approaches to the problem and point out some directions for future research.
The significance of places: the Christianization of Scandinavia from a spatial point of view
World Archaeology, 2013
The question of cult continuity from pagan 'temples' to Christian churches in Scandinavia is a classic issue in archaeology and history. In this paper the discussion is surveyed and new perspectives are outlined, based on the ritual differences between the two religious traditions. Churches were located in relation not so much to pagan ritual buildings as to different elements in multi-focused pagan ritual landscapes, for instance burial grounds. This means that the spatial patterns varied between different parts of Scandinavia.
Parergon, Vol. 35, No. 2, pp. 203-205, 2018
This large edited book consists of thirty-seven chapters and three introductions, and covers a broad range of historical and cultural receptions of pre-Christian Scandinavian myths and legends from the Christian Middle Ages to the nineteenth century. It is an immensely learned and useful resource, though not best suited to being read in toto, but rather to dip into to look for information on specific topics, geographical regions, or eras. More than sixty illustrations magnify the impact of the scholarship considerably. Editor Margaret Clunies Ross’s introduction situates the large-scale research project, initially conceived by Jónas Kristjánsson (1924– 2014), and later led by Bergur Thorgeirsson, which will result in two other sets of published outputs (four volumes of Histories and Structures and two of Sources, textual and archaeological) apart from the two-volume set of which this volume is the first. The reflexive nature of the project is clear. Clunies Ross notes that ‘it is now recognized, more perhaps than it was in former times, that research itself is subject to changes in cultural values and assumptions, and that research is itself a kind of reception, just as artistic creativity is’ (p. xxv).
The aim of this paper is to discuss some aspects of early Christianity in Rus', especially the role played by people of Scandinavian descent, known until the end of the tenth century as Rus' and subsequently as Varangians, and whether that role may explain the receptivity of early Christianity in Rus' that still found expression in the twelfth century, for instance in the adoption of a sequence of Anglo-Saxon and Scandinavian martyrs in the litany of a Russian prayer.1 In that discussion a phenomenon that I have tentatively labelled "Varangian Christianity" will play a major role, as will some reflections on the spread of early Christianity into the territory of present-day Finland prior to its integration into Sweden and the Roman Church as a result of crusades starting in the twelfth century. With regard to Christianity in Rus' as well as in Finland, the veneration of the Norwegian king and martyr St Olav, who is one of the martyrs mentioned in the litany, will also be touched upon.
International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2023
This exploration of a pilgrimage site associated with St. Olaf helps to link the legends and sagas associated with early Christianity in the Viking world. Ancient people would only undertake arduous journeys on pilgrimage if there was a good reason to make that trip. It seems quite possible that it was the nature of the people buried here that made S:t Olofsholm a site worthy of pilgrims traveling to it. We find evidence for migration and for weapon injuries in those buried at this pilgrimage site. In view of the historical texts about Olaf’s conversion of Gotland, Geber’s team argue that these individuals may have been involved in the Christian conversion of the island, so making the site worthy of pilgrimage.