Why the Vikings became Christian

#history #medievalhistory #medieval

[rugerraylewis]

"I am born of a rank that
recognizes no superior but
God"
~ Richard the Lionheart

[steve-real]

Interesting analysis on Christianity and power. That’s an avenue I would like to see more of fellas.

[AWBepi]

These guys are missing the point. Real Christianity isn't about control from the outside but self-control from within.

[unbearifiedbear]

Its not just that they saw that the Christians were successful, it's that the Vikings genuinely attributed that success to the *Christian God*

In the face of clear (in their mind) divine power, who would choose otherwise?

[vendist]

It was never about religion only. The Roman-catholic church was the first international corporation. Be a part of it and you get access to a lot of goodies.

[rosaliemarshall]

I had a Scandinavian Studies lecturer years ago who didn't think the Scandinavians were ever really Christianised. You could say a similar thing about any society, but to read Scandinavian literature you get the impression that the religion was very much imposed on rather than owned by ordinary people. But I'm sure that the situation was more nuanced than it seems.

I'm not especially interested in the conversion of the Vikings, but it would be cool to explore the development and of Christianity in Scandinavia from that era onwards.

[Pleblordy]

One of the strangest things I came across was the Abbey of Bury St Edmund’s. Now Saint Edmund was martyred by the Vikings but rather a than put this unfortunate bit of fairly recent history behind them Canute and other Norsemen actually helped sponsor the building of the abbey. They seemed to take a pride in the fact that their ancestors had killed him lol.? I guess it’s a way of adopting the high status religion while still not so subtly saying yeah we can be violent when we want to

[Mcbunz-px]

And people forget that a lot of vikings saw Cristian God as a real god, they just thought their gods were stronger, so them switching religions would be like going from praying to Oden to praying to haties

[thegreatwhitegoat]

Basically, Christianity = economic growth and power.

[henrikkrogh]

Much points to e.g. that many of the danish kings simply were pious belivers, with the exception of Svend I and perhaps Svend II.

There are no less than two saints in that family.

Christianity in scandinavia is old. E.g. At Ribe (with Hedeby the main trading port). The christian burial site was/is at the heart of the city and from the early 8th cent.

[kightsun]

"These war lords think." Bro how you gonna psychoanalyze literally centuries worth of thousands of kings? Lmao

[ScottDean-eehy]

Jesus is the Lord!
They saw all the great things Christ gave to believers!

[oppionatedindividual]

England was essentially the gold standard for a medieval kingdom especially around 1066 because it was the richest kingdom other than the eastern Roman Empire, due to a ridiculously efficient tax structure. And incredible workshops.

[mortensimonsen]

Power, power...well St Olaf knew he would face defeat when he returned to Norway in 1030. Certainly didn't look like the Christianity thing was an advantage. Must be hard to always interpret everything according to secular (power) logic.

[Matijo-ht]

I'd imagine Christian influence on ancient Scandinavian societies probably as early as the 3rd century with the Goths conversion by Wulfila, if *Jēskwō NasariþjaR was known in Scandinavia he would've been equated with ŌwlþuR (Glory) and WōdnaR (Odin) both being hanged gods and would've been adopted into the Proto-Norse pantheon as *KrīstaR but would not have accepted hard monotheism that early.

[gaatzeuitzendevries]

'Divine right to rule' so no more questions about who should be king

[SH-tcnp]

No, it was the culmination of the viking age

[ishmael]

How did christianity get changed from masculine warrior beliefs, to today's social justice altruism?

[eagleclaw]

The problem is Christians, never worshiped to their leaders so I don’t know where you got that, buddy

[loscursos]

How true would it be that the Ragnarök was a christian invention to end the norse mythology 🥺