religious consecration. As, on the one side, characters developed which actually went beyond the
established religion, longing for something higher and deeper, it was, on the other side, still more
frequent to meet with characters which passed by the established religion with utter indifference,
believing in nothing but their own strength.
The principal obstacle which Christianity had to encounter in Scandinavia was moral rather
than religious. In his passions, the old Scandinavian was sometimes worse than a beast. Gluttony
and drunkenness he considered as accomplishments. But he was chaste. A dishonored woman was
very seldom heard of, adultery never. In his energy, he was sometimes fiercer than a demon. He
destroyed for the sake of destruction, and there were no indignities or cruelties which he would not
inflict upon a vanquished enemy. But for his friend, his king, his wife, his child, he would sacrifice
everything, even life itself; and he would do it without a doubt, without a pang, in pure and noble
enthusiasm. Such, however, as his morals were, they, had absolute sway over him. The gods he
could forget, but not his duties. The evil one, among gods and men, was he who saw the duty, but
stole away from it. The highest spiritual power among the old Scandinavians, their only enthusiasm,
was their feeling of duty; but the direction which had been given to this feeling was so absolutely
opposed to that pointed out by the Christian morality, that no reconciliation was possible. Revenge
was the noblest sentiment and passion of man; forgiveness was a sin. The battle-field reeking with
blood and fire was the highest beauty the earth could show; patient and peaceful labor was an
abomination. It was quite natural, therefore, that the actual conflict between Christianity and
Scandinavian paganism should take place in the field of morals. The pagans slew the missionaries,
and burnt their schools and churches, not because they preached new gods, but because they
"corrupted the morals of the people" (by averting them from their warlike pursuits), and when, after
a contest of more than a century, it became apparent that Christianity would be victorious, the pagan
heroes left the country in great swarms, as if they were flying from some awful plague. The first
and hardest work which Christianity had to do in Scandinavia was generally humanitarian rather
than specifically religious.
§ 29. The Christianization of Denmark. St. Ansgar.
Ansgarius: Pigmenta, ed. Lappenberg. Hamburg, 1844. Vita Wilehadi, in Pertz: Monumenta II.;
and in Migne: Patrol. Tom. 118, pp. 1014–1051.
Rimbertus: Vita Ansgarii, in Pertz: Monumenta II., and in Migne, l.c. pp. 961–1011.
Adamus Bremensis (d. 1076): Gesta Hamenburgensis Eccl. pontificum (embracing the history of
the archbishopric of Hamburg, of Scandinavia, Denmark, and Northwestern Germany, from
788–1072); reprinted in Pertz: Monumenta, VII.; separate edition by Lappenberg. Hanover,
1846.
Laurent: Leben der Erzb. Ansgar und Rimbert. 1856.
A. Tappehorn: Leben d. h. Ansgar. 1863.
G. Dehio: Geschichte d. Erzb. Hamburg-Bremen. 1877.
H. N. A. Jensen: Schleswig-Holsteinische Kirchengeschichte, edit. A. L. J. Michelsen (1879).
During the sixth and seventh centuries the Danes first came in contact with Christianity, partly
through their commercial intercourse with Duerstede in Holland, partly through their perpetual
raids on Ireland; and tales of the "White Christ" were frequently told among them, though probably