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CHRISTIANIZATION AND STATE FORMATION IN EARLY MEDIEVAL NORWAY

2005; Routledge; Volume: 30; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/03468750510014088

1502-7716

Sverre Bagge,

Historical and Archaeological Studies

Abstract 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. Notes R. Keyser, Den norske Kirkes Historie under Katholicismen (Christiania, 1856), pp. 19–37, 117–21, 188–216; A. Chr. Bang, Udsigt over Den norske Kirkes Historie under Katholicismen (Kristiania, 1887); A. Taranger, Den angelsaksiske kirkes indflydelse paa den norske (Kristiania, 1890). See also T. Rasmussen, "Erkjennelse og interesse. Middelalderen i norsk kirkehistorieskrivning", in S. Imsen (ed.), Kirkehistoriske utfordringer (Trondheim, 2005 – forthcoming). J. E. Sars, Udsigt over den norske historie (3rd ed., Kristiania 1905), 1. part, pp. 294–323, 2. part, pp. 33–57, 174–78; E. Bull, Folk og kirke i middelalderen (Kristiania, 1912). These accounts are discussed in S. Bagge, "The Making of a Missionary Hero – the Medieval Accounts of Olaf Tryggvason and the Conversion of Norway", Journal of English and Germanic Philology [forthcoming]. S. Bagge, "Kristendom og kongemakt", in N. Lund (ed.), Viking og hvidekrist. Norden og Europa i den sene vikingtid og tidligste middelalder (Copenhagen, 2000), pp. 9–19 and "Middelalderens kirkehistorie i Skandinavia – 'bindestrekshistorie' eller samfunnshistorie?", Historisk tidsskrift för Finland (forthcoming). A. Sandmark, Power and Conversion. A Comparative Study of Christianization in Scandinavia (Uppsala, 2004), pp. 75–83. H. Koht, Innhogg og utsyn (Kristiania, 1921), pp. 142–55. On the Marxist interpretation of Norwegian history in the Middle Ages, see O. Dahl, Norsk historieforskning i det 19. og 20. århundre (Oslo, 1959), pp. 247–59 and S. Bagge, "The Middle Ages", in W. Hubbard et al. (eds.), Making a Historical Culture (Oslo, 1995), pp. 117–21 with ref. A. Holmsen, Norges historie. Fra de eldste tider til 1660 (4th ed., Oslo, 1977), pp. 217 f. F. Paasche, Kristendom og kvad (Kristiania, 1914). F. Birkeli, Norske steinkors i tidlig middelalder (Oslo, 1973). F. Birkeli, "Hadde Håkon Adalsteinsfostre likevel en biskop Sigfrid hos seg?" Historisk tidsskrift (Norwegian) 40 (1960), pp. 113–36 and Tolv vintrer hadde kristendommen vært i Norge (Oslo 1994), pp. 65–101. See also references to the sources in S. Bagge "A Hero between Paganism and Christianity. Håkon the Good in Memory and History", Poetik und Gedächtnis. Festschrift für Heiko Uecker zum 65. Geburtstag (Bonn, 2004), pp. 186–195. B. Solli, Narratives of Veøy. An Investigation into the Poetics and Scientifics of Archaeology, Universitetets Oldsakssamlings Skrifter, Ny rekke no. 19 (Oslo, 1996). P. Hernæs, "Kristen innflytelse i Rogalands vikingtid", in H.‐E. Lidén (ed.), Møtet mellom hedendom og kristendom i Norge, pp. 80–120 (Oslo, 1995). B. Sawyer, The Viking‐Age Rune‐Stones: Custom and Commemoration in Early Medieval Scandinavia (Oxford, 2000), see also B. and P. Sawyer, Die Welt der Wikinger (Berlin, 2002), pp. 208–210 and O. Tveito, Ad fines orbis terrae. En studie i primær trosformidling i nordisk kristningskontekst, Acta humaniora no. 209 (Oslo, 2004), pp. 199–222. C. Krag, Vikingtid og rikssamling, vol. 2, in K. Helle (ed.), Aschehougs Norgeshistorie (Oslo, 1995), pp. 106 ff. K. Lunden, "Overcoming Religious and Political Pluralism. Interactions between Conversion, State Formation and Change in Social Infrastructure in Norway c. AD 950–1260", Scandinavian Journal of History 22 (1997), pp. 83–97; G. Steinsland, Den hellige kongen. Om religion og herskermakt fra vikingtid til middelalder (Oslo, 2000). P. Berger, The Sacred Canopy. Elements of a Social Theory of Religion (New York, 1969 [orig. 1967]); T. Jørgensen, "Religionsskifteprosesser – et skifte av plausibilitetsstruktur?", Norsk tidsskrift for misjon 3 (1995), pp. 169–176. B. Solberg, Jernalderen i Norge. 500 før Kristus til 1030 etter Kristus (Oslo, 2000). K. Gellein, Kristen innflytelse i hedensk tid? En analyse med utgangspunkt i graver fra yngre jernalder i Hordaland (Master thesis, the University of Bergen, 1997, unpublished); Anne‐Sofie Gräslund, Ideologi och Mentalitet. Om religionsskiftet i Skandinavien från en arkeologisk horisont, OPIA 29 (Uppsala, 2002). Old Norse siðr covers a wide range of meanings, customs, ways of behaving, morality, and what we would call religion, cf. the opposition between nýr siðr and forn siðr = paganism/Christianity. Thus the term does not necessarily imply that people at the time regarded religion as purely external but nevertheless indicates a more vague distinction between religion and other aspects of life than in later ages. The frequent references to new customs, like holidays and fasts, in accounts of missionary preaching and religious discussions point in the same direction (see below). I do not give detailed references for factual information about Norwegian history in the following. However, there are several recent works in English which contain references to earlier literature, e.g. Richard Fletcher, The Conversion of Europe. From Paganism to Christianity 371–1386 AD (London, 1997), pp. 369–416; M. Carver, ed. The Cross goes North: Processes of Conversion in Northern Europe, AD 300–1300 (York, 2003); K. Helle, ed. The Cambridge History of Scandinavia I (Cambridge, 2003); Sandmark, Power and Conversion. See most recently Sandmark, Power and Conversion, pp. 76 f. D. Trestik, "Von Svatopluk zu Boleslaw Chrobry. Die Entstehung Mitteleuropas aus der Kraft des Tatsächlichen und aus einer Idee", in: P. Urbanzyk (ed.), The Neighbours of Poland in the 10th Century (Warsaw, 2000), pp. 11–45 regards missionary activity as an integrated part of a German imperial project: first conquest, then Christianization. Consequently, the conversion of the neighbouring countries becomes a response to German policy. Jerzy Strzelzcyk, "The Church and Christianity about the Year 1000 (the missionary aspect)", in: P. Urbanzyk (ed.), Europe around the Year 1000 (Warsaw, 2001), pp. 51 f. and passim also points to other factors and is less certain about Germany's role in the conversion of Poland. Although the Ottonian and Salian Empire was hardly as monolithic as Trestik seems to imply and diplomacy should to be added to military conquest, there can be no doubt about the strength of the German Empire as a factor in the conversion of its neighbouring countries. Latinske dokument til norsk historie, E. Vandvik, ed. (Oslo, 1959) no. 1, cf. Magistri Adam Bremensis Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, B. Schmeidler, ed. Monumenta Germaniae Historica. Scriptores in usum scholarum [2] (Hannover, 1917) III.17, pp. 160 f. The most important study on this is still Taranger, Den angelsaksiske kirkes. See also L. Abrams, "The Anglo‐Saxons and the Christianization of Scandinavia", Anglo‐Saxon Studies 24 (1995), pp. 213–49. M. Myking, Vart Norge kristna frå England? Ein gjennomgang av norsk forskning med utgangspunkt i Absalon Tarangers avhandling Den angelsaksiske kirke indflytelse paa den norske (Oslo, 2001). O. S. Tøtlandsmo, Før Norge ble Norge. Politiske forhold på Sørvestlandet i vikingtid (Sola, 1996), pp. 40–43. Abrams, "The Anglo‐Saxons" pp. 220 f.; Sawyer and Sawyer, Die Welt der Wikinger, pp. 192–197; Tveito, Ad fines orbis terrae, pp. 98–110. D. A. Bullough, "The Educational Tradition in England from Alfred to Ælfric: teaching utriusque linguae", in his Carolingian Renewal: Sources and Heritage (Manchester, 1991), pp. 297–334; K. Eilhardt, For Force is not of Good (master thesis, University of Oslo, 2003, unpublished), pp. 41–48. D. Skre, "Missionary Activity in Early Medieval Norway. Strategy, Organization and the Course of Events", Scandinavian Journal of History 23 (1998), pp. 1–19. S. Bagge, "A Hero", pp. 191–193. C. Krag, "Norge som odel i Harald Hårfagres ætt", Historisk tidsskrift 68 (1989), pp. 288–301; S. Bagge, "Ætt, stat og politikk fra vikingtiden til 1200‐tallet", Norsk slektshistorisk tidsskrift 38 (2001), pp. 68 f. Heimskringla, ed. Finnur Jónsson (Copenhagen, 1893–1901), vol. I, The Saga of the Eirikssons ch. 2, with reference to a skaldic stanza. Berger, The Sacred Canopy, pp. 3–101. However, Berger explicitly rejects the assumption that religion is determined by or is a "reflection" of social processes (ibid. p. 47 f.). Thietmari Merseburgensis episcopi Chronicon, R. Holtzmann, ed. Monumenta Germaniae historica in usum scholarum IX (Berlin, 1955) IX.4, quoted in Fletcher, The Conversion, p. 432. Ari Þorgilsson fróði, Íslendingabók, J. Benediktsson, ed. Íslenzk fornrit I.1 ch. 7, pp. 14–18. See most recently Orri Vésteinsson, The Christianisation of Iceland (Oxford, 2003), pp. 17–19 with ref. G. Steinsland, 2000b. "Kåre Lundens analyse av religionsskiftet i Norge", in Anne Eidsfeldt et al. (eds.), Holmgang om førmoderne samfunn. Festskrift til Kåre Lunden (Oslo, 2000), pp. 273–290. We can here think of the materialistic assumption that deprivations in the present life lead to greater belief in and longing for a life after death, as well Ariès's idea of a change from "la mort apprivoisée" to "la mort de soi", i.e. from the quiet acceptance of death in primitive, collectivist society to individualistic man's horror of annihilation. See Philippe Ariès, L'homme devant la mort (Paris, 1977), pp. 13 ff., 97 ff. C. Krag, "Trosskiftet og teorien om sakralkongedømmet", Collegium medievale 14 (2001), pp. 211–225; G. Steinsland, "Om Claus Krags syn på kilder og metoder", Collegium medievale 14 (2001), pp. 233–241; L. Hedeager, "Religion og herskermakt. [rev. of] G. Steinsland, Den hellige kongen", Collegium medievale 14 (2001), pp. 227–232. Thus W. Baetke, "Yngvi und die Ynglingar. Eine Quellenkritische Untersuchung über das nordische 'Sakralkönigtum'", Sitzungsberichte der sächsischen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig. Phil‐hist. Kl. 109.3 (Berlin, 1964). For references to the later discussion, see Bagge, Society and Politics, p. 219; Steinsland, Den hellige kongen, pp. 53–59 and most recently Olof Sundqvist, Freyr's offspring. Rulers and religion in ancient Svea society (Uppsala, 2002), pp. 18–38. In his study of ancient Swedish kingship, Sundqvist himself takes an intermediate position between the two extremes (op. cit. pp. 365–370 and passim). Old Norse gæfa, gipta, or hamingja, see Bagge Society and Politics, pp. 218–224 with ref. and Steinsland, Den hellige kongen, p. 54. H. Haefele, Fortuna Heinrici IV imperatoris. Untersuchungen zur Lebensbeschriebung des dritten Saliers, Veröffentlichungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung, L. Santifaller, ed. vol XV (Graz etc. 1954); H. Wolfram, "Fortuna in mittelalterlichen Stammesgeschichten", Mitteilungen des Instituts für österreichische Geschichtsforschung 72 (1964), pp. 1–33; S. Bagge, Kings, Politics, and the Right Order of the World in German Historiography c. 950–1150, Studies in the History of Christian Thought 103 (Leiden, 2002), pp. 328 ff. E.g. F. Fuglestad, "Earth‐Priests, 'Priest‐Chiefs' and Sacred Kings in Ancient Norway, Iceland and West Africa", Scandinavian Journal of History 4 (1979), pp. 47–74, an interesting but largely neglected discussion on the general aspects of sacred kingship based on African examples. M. Douglas, Natural Symbols (New York, 1970), pp. 129 f.; Bagge, Society and Politics, pp. 218–224. See most recently A. I. Røkeness, "…ok kalla menn hann helgan. Hellighetsforestillinger og maktpolitikk i borgerkrigstidens Norge" (master thesis, Oslo, 2004) for these and other examples. T. Vestergaard, "Marriage Exchange and Social Structure in Old Norse Mythology", R. Samson, ed. Social Approaches to Viking Studies (Glasgow, 1991), pp. 21–35. S. Bagge, "Ætt, stat og politikk", pp. 68, 72. M. Clunies Ross, Prolonged Echoes. Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, vol. 1, The Viking Collection, no. 7 (Odense, 1994), pp. 131–143. H. Antonsson, "Some Observations on Martyrdom in post‐Conversion Scandinavia", Saga Book 28 (2004), pp. 70–94. Den norsk‐islandske Skjaldedigtning, F. Jónsson B I, ed. (Copenhagen, 1912), pp. 300 f. and 239–245; cf. L. B. Mortensen and E. Mundal, "Erkebispesetet i Nidaros – Arnestad og verkstad for Olavslitteraturen", in S. Imsen (ed.), Ecclesia Nidrosiensis 1153–1537. Søkelys på Nidaroskirkens og Nidarosprovinsens historie, Senter for middelalderstudier, NTNU. Skrifter no. 15 (Trondheim, 2003), pp. 354–357. E. Hoffmann, Die heiligen Könige bei den Angelsachsen und den skandinavischen Völkern. Königsheiliger und Königshaus (Neumünster, 1975); G. Klaniczay, "From Sacral Kingship to Self‐Representation. Hungarian and European Royal Saints in the 11–13th Centuries", in his The Uses of Supernatural Power. The Transformation of Popular Religion in Medieval and Early Modern Europe (Princeton, 1990), pp. 79–94. "Germanization" may not be the right term, as the idea of a specifically Germanic version of Christianity has been subject to severe criticism; see Tveito, Ad fines orbis terrae, pp. 367–370 with ref. There can be no doubt, however, that Christianity had been adapted to the needs of society in the Roman Empire as well as its various successor kingdoms from the fourth century onwards. O. Tveito, Kvite‐Krist. En analyse av Gudsbildet i eldre norrøn skaldediktning, Centre for Viking and Medieval Studies. Occasional Papers 3 (Oslo, 2002), pp. 191–227 and passim. Heimskringla. The Saga of Olav Tryggvason, vol. I ch. 53, pp. 360–63 and The Saga of St Olav, vol. II, ch. 60, pp. 87 f.; cf. Bagge, Society and Politics, pp. 105–07 and "The Making". Denmark may partly be an exception, depending on how much importance we should attach to the decision to establish bishoprics in the country at the synod of Ingelheim in 948. See most recently Sawyer and Sawyer, Die Welt der Wikinger, pp. 181, 217 f. and "Scandinavia enters Christian Europe", in Helle, Scandinavia, pp. 149 f., 154–156. F. Barlow, The English Church 1000–1066. A Constitutional History (London, 1966), p. 246. Latinske dokument, no. 2. V▒luspá, in Norrœn fornkvæði, S. Bagge, ed. (Christiania, 1867, repr. 1965), vv. 1–25, pp. 1–5; cf. The Poetic Edda, vol. II. Mythological Poems, ed. with transl., intr. and comm. by U. Dronke (Oxford, 1997), pp. 7–13. [The King's Mirror] Konungs skuggsiá, L. Holm‐Olsen, ed. (Oslo, 1945), pp. 75–84; cf. S. Bagge, The Political Thought of The King's Mirror (Odense, 1987), pp. 54–59, 225–233; Stjórn. Gammelnorsk bibelhistorie, R. Unger, ed. (Christiania, 1862), pp. 35–41; Sverris saga, G. Indrebø, ed. (Kristiania, 1920), ch. 99; cf. S. Bagge, From Gang Leader to the Lord's Anointed, Kingship in Sverris saga and Hákonar saga Hákonarsonar (Odense, 1996), pp. 62–65 and Da boken kom til Norge 1000–1537, Norsk idéhistorie I, T. B. Eriksen and Ø. Sørensen, eds. (Oslo, 2001), pp. 109–120. S. Bagge, "Nature and Society in The King's Mirror", Arkiv för nordisk filologi 109 (1994), pp. 5–42 and "Ideologies and Mentalities", pp. 465–468 with ref. S. Bagge, "Old Norse Theories of Society. From Rígspula to Konungs skuggsiá", J. E. Schnall & R. Simek, eds. Speculum regale. Der altnorwegische Königsspiegel (Konungs skuggsiá) in der europäischen Tradition (Vienna, 2000), pp. 7–45. Antonsson, "Some Observations", p. 77. S. Bagge, From Gang Leader . . , pp. 61–65, 80–88, 147–160. For a similar development in Germany from the tenth to the twelfth century, see Bagge, Kings, Politics, pp. 389–407 and passim. H. Koht, Innhogg og utsyn (Kristiania, 1921), p. 271. S. C. Rowell, "Baltic Europe", in M. Jones (ed.), The New Cambridge Medieval History VI (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 705–12. Sverre Bagge (b. 1942) is Professor of Medieval History at the University of Bergen and Director of the Centre for Medieval Studies. His books include The Political Thought of The King's Mirror (1987), Society and Politics in Snorri Sturluson's Heimskringla (1991), From Gang Leader to the Lord's Anointed. Kingship in Sverris Saga and Hákonar Saga (1996), Da boken kom til Norge. Norsk idéhistorie I (2001), Kings, Politics, and the Right Order of the World in German Historiography c. 950–1150 (2002). Address: Centre for Medieval Studies, University of Bergen, PO Box 7800, N‐5020 Bergen, Norway. [email: Sverre.Bagge@cms.uib.no]