Conversion to Christianity of the Scandinavian people
This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Christianization of Scandinavia" – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR(April 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)
Part of a series on
Scandinavia
Countries
Denmark
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
History
History by country
Åland
Denmark
Faroe Islands
Finland
Greenland
Iceland
Norway
Scotland
Sweden
Chronological history
Prehistory
Stone Age
Bronze Age
Iron Age
Migration Period
Viking Age
Norsemen
Christianization
Kalmar Union
Sweden
Denmark–Norway
Sweden–Norway
Denmark–Iceland
Nordic Council
Geography
Mountains
Peninsula
Baltic Sea
North Sea
Economy
Nordic model
Finland
Sweden
Related
Languages
Scandinavism
Nordic countries
Monetary Union
Defence Union
Scandinavian Airlines
Denmark
Faroe Islands
Finland
Iceland
Norway
Sweden
v
t
e
The Christianization of Scandinavia, as well as other Nordic countries and the Baltic countries, took place between the 8th and the 12th centuries. The realms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden established their own archdioceses, responsible directly to the pope, in 1104, 1154 and 1164, respectively. The conversion to Christianity of the Scandinavian people required more time, since it took additional efforts to establish a network of churches.
The earliest signs of Christianization were in the 830s with Ansgar's construction of churches in Birka and Hedeby.[1] The conversion of Scandinavian kings occurred over the period 960–1020.[1] Subsequently, Scandinavian kings sought to establish churches, dioceses and Christian kingship, as well as destroy pagan temples.[1] Denmark was the first Scandinavian country to Christianize, as Harald Bluetooth declared this around AD 965,[2] and raised the larger of the two Jelling Stones.[3] According to historian Anders Winroth, Christianity was not forced upon Scandinavians by foreign states or foreign missionaries, but instead willfully adopted by Scandinavian kings who saw the religion as politically advantageous.[4]
Although the Scandinavians became nominally Christian, it took considerably longer for actual Christian beliefs to establish themselves among the people in some regions,[5][6] while the people were Christianized before the king in other regions. During the Early Middle Ages the papacy had not yet manifested itself as the central Roman Catholic authority, thus making it possible for regional variants of Christianity to develop.[7]
^ abcWinroth, Anders (2012). The Conversion of Scandinavia: Vikings, Merchants, and Missionaries in the Remaking of Northern Europe. Yale University Press. pp. 104–118. ISBN 978-0-300-17026-9. JSTOR j.ctt1nq59r. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^"Christianity comes to Denmark". National Museum of Denmark. Archived from the original on 3 February 2023. Retrieved 3 February 2023.
^"Jellingstenene, ca. 950–965". danmarkshistorien.dk. Archived from the original on 7 January 2020. Retrieved 4 September 2020.
^Winroth, Anders (2012). The Conversion of Scandinavia: Vikings, Merchants, and Missionaries in the Remaking of Northern Europe. Yale University Press. pp. 161–162. ISBN 978-0-300-17026-9. JSTOR j.ctt1nq59r. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 27 September 2022.
^Elena Melnikova, "How Christian Were Viking Christians?." Ruthenika, Suppl. 4 (2011) pp. 90–107
^Schön 2004, 170
^Sanmark 2004: 15
and 28 Related for: Christianization of Scandinavia information
The ChristianizationofScandinavia, as well as other Nordic countries and the Baltic countries, took place between the 8th and the 12th centuries. The...
Islands Christianizationof the Basque people Christianizationof Iceland ChristianizationofScandinaviaChristianizationof Finland Christianizationof Kievan...
Scandinavia came later than most parts of Europe. In Denmark Harald Bluetooth Christianized the country around 965. The process ofChristianization began...
gradual Christianization in the course of late antiquity and the Early Middle Ages. By AD 700, England and Francia were officially Christian, and by 1100...
Scandinavia is a subregion of Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. Scandinavia most...
during the Viking Age, when, in the face of the process of the ChristianizationofScandinavia, emblems of his hammer, Mjölnir, were worn and Norse pagan...
(2004). "New Perspectives on the ChristianizationofScandinavia and the Organization of the Early Church". Scandinavia and Europe 800-1350: Contact, Conflict...
Vlasto 1970, p. 208. Berend, Nora, ed. (2007). Christianization and the Rise ofChristian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' c. 900–1200. Cambridge...
combination ofChristian symbols with Nordic symbols, being a tangible piece of evidence of the impact of the ChristianizationofScandinavia. The Gosforth...
the year 500 A.D. up until the ChristianizationofScandinavia (by the 13th century), these large halls were vital parts of the political center. They were...
several hundred years after the ChristianizationofScandinavia. In the 1970s, Alfred Smyth supported the historicity of the rite, stating that it is clearly...
Age they were committed to writing, mostly by Christian monks after the ChristianizationofScandinavia. Initially, they were geographically limited to...
Proto-Indo-European mythology. Archaeological remains, such as petroglyphs in Scandinavia, suggest continuity in Germanic mythology since at least the Nordic Bronze...
king of Denmark, England and Norway. The ChristianizationofScandinavia resulted in "consolidated" kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and by the end of the...
pendants in the course of the ChristianizationofScandinavia from the 8th to 9th century. After the Roman Empire became Christianized, mythological narratives...
between the clans due to the importance of kinship. As central government gradually was established in Scandinavia, the ætt lost its relevance for commoners...
and pre-Christianization practice was slowly being replaced. The Frankish state under the Merovingian dynasty had many of the characteristics of Germanic...
ISBN 978-1-906716-18-9. Berend, Nora (2007). Christianization and the Rise ofChristian Monarchy: Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus' c. 900–1200. Cambridge...
inhabitants of Scandinavia and their overseas settlements and chronologically coincides with the Viking Age, the ChristianizationofScandinavia and the consolidation...
the tribe of the Germanic Suebi. The knot is attested by Tacitus in his 1st century AD work Germania, found on contemporary depictions of Germanic peoples...
backdrop of the gradual ChristianizationofScandinavia, contrasting the pragmatic Norse pagan outlook with the exclusiveness of Islam and Christianity...
The Viking way : religion and war in late Iron Age Scandinavia. Uppsala universitet. Uppsala: Dept. of Archaeology and Ancient History. ISBN 978-9150616262...
compulsory. Ari Thorgilsson's Book of the Icelanders, the oldest indigenous account of Iceland's Christianization describes how Icelanders agreed to convert...
Teutons on the largest island, Codannovia, presumed to be Scandinavia, which was one of a group of islands in a large bay called Codanus, open to the ocean...
expert appointed by Swedish Chamber of Commerce and Lloyds/Brookfield Underwriting. ChristianizationofScandinavia Harald Bluetooth Hiddensee treasure...
Norse religion was officially abandoned with the ChristianizationofScandinavia, belief in many spirits of Norse mythology such as tomtar, trolls, elves...