said that the greatest miracle in his life would be, if God ever made a thoroughly pious man out of
him.^130 Most prominent, however, among the spiritual features of his character shines forth his
unwavering faith in the final success of his cause and the never-failing patience with which this
faith fortified his soul. In spite of apparent failure he never gave up his work; overwhelmed with
disaster, he still continued it. From his death-bed he wrote a letter to king Lewis to recommend to
him the Scandinavian mission. Other missionaries may have excelled him in sagacity and organizing
talent, but none in heroic patience and humility. He died at Bremen, Feb. 3, 865, and lies buried
there in the church dedicated to him. He was canonized by Nicholas I.
Ansgar’s successor in the archiepiscopal see of Hamburg-Bremen was his friend and
biographer, Rimbert, 865–888. In his time all the petty kingdoms into which Denmark was divided,
were gathered together under one sceptre by King Gorm the Old; but this event, in one respect very
favorable to the rapid spread of Christianity, was in other respects a real obstacle to the Christian
cause as it placed Denmark, politically, in opposition to Germany, which was the basis and only
support of the Christian mission to Denmark. King Gorm himself was a grim heathen; but his queen,
Thyra Danabod, had embraced Christianity, and both under Rimbert and his successor, Adalgar,
888–909, the Christian missionaries were allowed to work undisturbed. A new church, the third in
Denmark, was built at Aarhus. But under Adalgar’s successor, Unni, 909–936, King Gorm’s fury,
half political and half religious, suddenly burst forth. The churches were burnt, the missionaries
were killed or expelled, and nothing but the decisive victory of Henry the Fowler, king of Germany,
over the Danish king saved the Christians in Denmark from complete extermination. By the peace
it was agreed that King Gorm should allow the preaching of Christianity in his realm, and Unni
took up the cause again with great energy. Between Unni’s successor, Adaldag, 936–988, and King
Harald Blue Tooth, a son of Gorm the Old, there grew up a relation which almost might be called
a co-operation. Around the three churches in Jutland: Schleswig, Ribe and Aarhus, and a fourth in
Fünen: Odense, bishoprics were formed, and Adaldag consecrated four native bishops. The church
obtained right to accept and hold donations, and instances of very large endowments occurred.
The war between King Harald and the German king, Otto II., arose from merely political
causes, but led to the baptism of the former, and soon after the royal residence was moved from
Leire, one of the chief centres of Scandinavian heathendom, to Roeskilde, where a Christian church
was built. Among the Danes, however, there was a large party which was very ill-pleased at this
turn of affairs. They were heathens because heathenism was the only religion which suited their
passions. They clung to Thor, not from conviction, but from pride. They looked down with
indignation and dismay upon the transformation which Christianity everywhere effected both of
the character and the life of the people. Finally they left the country and settled under the leadership
of Palnatoke, at the mouth of the Oder, where they founded a kind of republic, Jomsborg.
From this place they waged a continuous war upon Christianity in Denmark for more than
a decade, and with dreadful effect. The names of the martyrs would fill a whole volume, says Adam
of Bremen. The church in Roeskilde was burnt. The bishopric of Fünen was abolished. The king’s
own son, Swen, was one of the leaders, and the king himself was finally shot by Palnatoke, 991.
Swen, however, soon fell out with the Joms vikings, and his invasion of England gave the warlike
passions of the nation another direction.
(^130) Si dignus essem apud Deum meum, rogarem quatenus unum mihi concederet signum, videlicet ut de me sua gratia
faceret bonum hominem." Vita by Rimbert, c. 67 (Migne 118, p. 1008).