How important were the political and economic factors in the Christianization of Vikings

In their efforts to convert the Vikings from heathen to kinsmen, the Christians employed different methods and took different approaches. Sometimes their successes in Christianizing the Vikings came about through diplomatic victories. Other times, however, the conversion was through the consequence of violent conquests. One of the earliest examples of this would be Charlemagne’s somewhat brutish conversion of the Saxons after the sacking of Eresburg, in which he ordered the destruction of the Irminsul, directly cognate with Yggdrasil, the tree that holds up the world in Scandinavian mythology. This was done, in spite of the fact that war waged in order to bring about the conversion of non-Christians was not permitted. As was the view put forward by Pope Gregory I (590-604), and it was to be maintained throughout Christian history. However, forced conversion was sometimes justified by claiming it as an act of self defence against the pagan attacks. Such justifications were supported through the Viking’s history of aggression towards Christendom. The homeland of the Vikings, the North, had been deemed to be a ‘place of evil and pagan abomination’ as they periodically raided the coastlines of the North Sea and Atlantic Ocean. An alternative and more efficient form of action to conversion after conquest was for the conqueror to establish systems of overlordship and tributes. From this they could reap the rewards of tribute. Such a method would not be feasible if the Vikings would convert to Christianity. However, the diplomatic methods used to Christianize the Vikings were sometimes ineffective, hence violent conquests to convert the Vikings were often seen as necessary in order to neutralize the threat they posed to Christendom. Consequently, the aggressive tactics the Christians employed when converting the Vikings was an important political factor in the Christianization of the Vikings as it was regarded as the logical alternative to ‘peaceful’ methods, which could subsequently be justified by the Viking’s violent nature.

The process of Christianization was rarely an immediate one. It often spanned over several decades, or in some cases, longer. If they were not converted forcefully, then it was often a consequence of their local pagan ruler voluntarily accepting Christianity. This was conversion from ‘above’, initiated by local chieftains, linked to the creation of new Christian polities. Christianity took off in Scandinavia in the late tenth century. The Danish king Harald Bluetooth accepted baptism about 966; Christianity was introduced in Norway from 995 onwards by King Olaf Tryggvason; and in Iceland at Alþingi in 1000. Christianization however, was never a uniform process. Many parts of Scandinavia were difficult to reach, and the Christianization of isolated communities took a long time. This is summed up perfectly in Bede’s letter to Egbert, ‘many villages and hamlets of our people are situation in inaccessibly mountains and dense woodland, where a bishop is never seen for many years at a time to exhibit any ministry of celestial grace’. Thus the isolated environment in which the Vikings tended to live in rendered the spread of Christianity to the Viking populations a slow process. Due to this geography, it meant that some areas of Viking populations would require more time to covert to Christianity than other populations. It would not be practicable to allow religion to spread, so as a result of this, the political pressures the Christians exerted served as the essential catalyst in converting the Vikings.

Christianity brought completely new rituals, beliefs and rules of conduct, such as baptism, burial in the consecrated churchyards without grave-goods, while eating horseflesh, human sacrifice and the worshipping of the old gods were prohibited. However, when the pagans were baptized, they often did so without receiving very much instruction in their new faith. Perhaps as a result of this, the traditional beliefs and practices did not die out with the advent of Christianity, and were consequently, at least in the case of Sweden (1080), the cause of pagan revolts. Ari wrote that the decisions of the Alþing were accompanied by certain exceptions, including the permission of sacrifices to the pagan gods among others, provided that they took place privately. The Christians church, in its infancy remained weak for a long time and had to set about its task cautiously. In about 1120, Ælnoth wrote that ‘the Svear and the Götar seem to honour the Christian faith only when things go according to their wishes, and luck is on their side’, otherwise they ‘persecute the Christian faithful and seek to chase them out of the land’. From a political perspective, it made far more sense to embrace some of the Pagan practises as over emphasising the new traditions of Christianity to the Vikings posed the threat of conflict. There are a number of customs in Christianity today that have Pagan roots. For instance, decorations such as mistletoe and holly were traditionally decorations the Pagans used for celebrating Yule. In fact, the Church leadership in Rome’s choice to celebrate the birth of Christ on the 25th of December was most likely selected due to it being the approximate time for the winter solstice.  Consequently, the political tactic of fusing together some of deep Viking traditions into Christianity were important, as they further swayed the Vikings to convert to Christianity by demonstrating that the religion had evolved to encompass them into it.

The motivation behind Latin Christianity’s desire to convert pagans was political as much as it was religious. It was especially important for Western Christendom to convert the pagans in order to both increase its political power and to stunt the potential new growth of political power of the supreme adversary, Byzantium. At the forefront of this battle were the Kievan Rus who traded with neighbours on all sides, in Byzantium and in Asia and were consequently exposed to a wide range of ideas, technologies, and cultural influences. It interacted effectively with Christian Europe, the Hellenic Empire of Byzantium and the Islamic civilization of the Arabs. The open society of the Kievan Rus was in a position where it could covert to either one of the three political entities. As the Kievan Rus had links with all three empires, it served as a prime example of the warring political powers that were Latin Christendom, Byzantium and Islam. The political rivalries that the trio had with one another were perhaps the main reason as to why the Byzantine emperors of the 9th and 10th centuries were staunch evangelists. The emperor had to refuse the critiques by Islam to ensure that Byzantium looked like the superior intellectually, as well as militarily. The Caliph and his advisors had the same problem, and this is perhaps exemplified by their response to the grandness of the Hagia Sofia by building the Great mosque at Damascus. An example of Byzantine ‘wonder’ would be when the Rus launched an invasion fleet to Constantinople in the year 941, when Byzantium was preoccupied with fighting the Arabs in the Mediterranean. Despite the lack of garrison, the Byzantines assembled a small fleet of ships and repelled the invaders with their use of ‘Greek fire’. Following military defeat the Rus eventually converted in 988. The superstitious temperaments of the Rus may have meant that they perceived the ‘Greek fire’ as ‘divine magic’ thus emphasising the power of the Byzantium God. They were almost certainly awestruck by it, hence executing the use of Byzantium ‘wonder’ as a political tool. This in turn may have influenced the Rus to convert to Eastern Christendom as it portrayed Byzantium’s as holding superior military technology over the over Western Christendom and Muslims.

The implications of Christianization became visually apparent over time, as was seen in the changes in architecture and armour. Built between 989 and 996 in commemoration of the baptism of the Kievan Rus in 988, the Church of Tithes in Kiev is an example of this. It not only marked change in religion, but also a shift in architecture, which was influenced by the dome shaped buildings of Byzantium. The grandeur of Christian architecture represented wealth and economic stability, thus the Viking’s adoption of the Christian architecture was one of the key economic factors in the Christianization of the Vikings as it illustrated their desire to become a part of the economical power that cathedrals represented. Likewise to the Viking’s embracement of Christian architecture, they also began to replicate mail coats and cavalry of the Christendom norm. This was exemplified by the Normans, who had clearly adopted the military methods and tactics of the Franks. In effect, the Vikings stopped looking like ‘Vikings’, and resembled the standard factions of Christendom. One notable effect was that the Vikings helmets and mail coats became standardized whereas before they were more personalised. This suggests that their weapons had been handed to them whereas before they belonged to individual Vikings, all in all suggesting that hey had become more ‘industrialised.’ The change in the Viking’s appearance came hand in hand with their change in tactics. An example of this would be when the Normans transported Frankish horses to England for the battle of Hastings, and also used the Frankish tactics of ‘feigning’ retreat to draw the Anglo-Saxons from the hills. The ‘feigned retreat’ was one of the most important tactics used by mounted troops during the Middle Ages. The adoption of Christian armour and tactics signified that the Viking state had become a unified Kingdom as opposed to colonies to be ruled by individual chieftains.

Overall, as the distinct culture and appearance of the Vikings had begun to fade into the rest of the Christendom, it flagged the inevitable victory of the Christianization of the Vikings. On the surface of it, the conversion of the Vikings to Christianity was due to the economic pressure of protecting the Christian countries from the Viking’s plundering. The conversion, however, became a symbol of the struggle for power between the warring political powers of Western, Eastern Christendom and Islam. It is important to note that the political and economical factors in the Christianization of the Vikings were not confined to benefiting the Christians. Although sources indicate that the peasants may have been at an advantage under the Old Norse society, which would have resulted in a significant political reason for the peasants to resist converting to Christianity, for economical reasons, converting appeared to be an attractive prospect, as the new trade links gave the Vikings the potential of greater wealth. Having said this, however, allowing the religion to gradually spread to the Vikings would be impracticable. As a result of this, the economical pressures the Vikings exerted to the Christendom served as the essential catalyst in the forced Christianization of the Vikings, whereas the political factors in that converting them would both protect and empower the Christian empires served as the ultimate cause to the Christianization of the Vikings.

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