where the scribal technology was in the hands of a new social elite, the clergy. With the
establishment of the Church a new hierarchy in society emerged. The Church became
the prime mover and the dominant force in Europe in the Middle Ages.
We have a big problem when it comes to the study of the Christianisation of
Scandinavia due to the deficiency of reliable – or in fact any – written sources. We have
from the critical period – the ninth, tenth and eleventh centuries – only a handful of
written sources: Vita Ansgarii, the history of Archbishop Ansgar and his life in the ninth
century, written by the disciple Rimbert, who became the second archbishop in
Hamburg–Bremen at Ansgar’s death in 865. It is believed that Rimbert completed
this hagiography sometime before 876. Adam of Bremen’s history of the archdiocese
Hamburg–Bremen (Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum), written c. 1070 , and then
some scattered notices in Frankish and English annals and chronicles. In addition, we of
course have the Old Norse sagas and their tales of what happened a couple of centuries
earlier. Every one of these sources is marred by source-critical problems of various kinds;
none has of course been written as a historical account on the basis of modern source-
critical methods. Hence, the written sources we have to build our reconstruction on
are biased in several respects. However, archaeology can provide us with more material
to take into account; and comparisons with neighbouring people with more written
sources describing their Christianisation process, as with the Anglo-Saxons, also offer
interesting parallels.
THE CHRISTIANISATION PROCESSFor many centuries, ever since the early Middle Ages, the historical writings on the
conversion have intimately been connected to the activities of certain missionaries in
Scandinavia. In principle every province has a tradition of ‘their’ missionary, who is
said to have converted people and made them able to see the new light. Iceland had
Þangbrandr, Vestlandet in western Norway had St Sunniva, Västmanland in Sweden
had St David, Södermanland had St Eskil and St Botvid, Småland had St Sigfrid,
Hälsingland had Stenfi or St Staffan. There were more local saints, such as St Elin in
the town of Skövde and St Elav in Borgholm. The history of the introduction of the
Christian religion in Scandinavia became the history of these holy men and women, who
in principle had to give their lives in the religious struggle, but which eventually
resulted in a local cult and a canonisation of the one killed. A legend was produced and
became part of the history of the early Church.
This traditional view of the Christianisation of Scandinavia can be described as a
process which starts at the bottom of society and eventually climbs up on the societal
ladder. The missionaries were assumed to have been wandering around among people,
just like Jesus did in Palestine, preaching, converting and baptising them, and not least
stressed was the importance of Christian slaves, taken abroad. The Christian religion was
supposed to successively have permeated society.
Modern research has in a way turned this picture upside-down. Today we stress the
importance of kings and chieftains in the Christianisation process, toning down the
importance of Christian slaves, furthermore stressing that it was very much a process,
stretching over several centuries in time. The Christianisation is looked upon as part of a
much larger cultural shift, which has sometimes been termed a ‘Europeanisation’, where
Scandinavia adapted to a Continental situation. This culture revolution took place in the
–– Stefan Brink––