His mis sionary policy. Progress and reaction. King The policy with regard to the question of self-support in the Mission Field that Anskar adopted, and which he recommended to the missionaries whom he sent out, was this. He maintained that a missionary should ask nothing of those to whom he went but should rather endeavour, following the example of St. Paul, to support himself by his own labour. At the same time he accepted from the emperor and from kings, and himself gave to his missionaries, what was needed for their subsistence, and in addition enabled them to make presents, by the gift of which friends and patrons might be secured amongst the heathen. Missionary work both in Denmark and Sweden was carried on under great difficulties and was frequently interrupted by the desolating raids made by the pagan tribes of the north. The Danes, however, who settled in England at this period became subject to Christian influences and a Dane named Odo became archbishop of Canterbury in 942. Referring to a period half a century or more after the death of Anskar, Adam of Bremen writes: "Let it suffice us to know that up to this time all (the kings of the Danes) had been pagans, and amid so great changes of kingdoms or inroads of barbarians some small part of the Christianity which had been planted by Saint Anskar had remained, the whole had not failed." 1 During the earlier years of the tenth century King Gorm showed bitter hostility towards the Christians, but in 934 he was compelled by the German Emperor Henry to desist from persecuting them and at the same time to give up Schleswig to the German 1 Adam Brem. i. 54. bishop Harald, Empire. Schleswig was afterwards occupied to a large extent by Christian settlers and from it as a starting ground several efforts were made to spread Christianity in Denmark. One of these was made by Archbishop Unni of Hamburg,1 who exercised con- Archsiderable influence with Harald the son of Gorm and Unni. the heir to his throne. Harald's mother Thyra was a daughter of the first Christian prince Harald and she had influenced her son to declare himself a Christian although he had not been baptized. Harald himself King became king in 941 and reigned for nearly fifty years. 941. In 972, after an unsuccessful war with Otto I, he and His bapthe whole of his army accepted Christian baptism,2 and on this occasion the emperor himself stood as godfather to his son Sweyno (Sweno). After his baptism he hesitated to renounce altogether his ancestral gods, but he gave encouragement to Christian missionaries and endeavoured to establish churches and Christian institutions throughout Denmark. In 948 Archbishop Adaldag of Hamburg had been encouraged by him to consecrate three bishops of German nationality Consecrafor Denmark, Hored, Reginbrand and Liafdag, the three last of whom was a devoted and successful missionary. tion of After Harald had reigned nearly fifty years his son Sweyn, although he had been baptized as a Christian, placed himself at the head of a pagan reaction and on the death of his father in battle he became king in 991. King Sweyn, On acceding to the throne he re-established paganism, 991. expelled the Christian missionaries and destroyed 1 Adam Brem. c. 61. 2 See Heimskringla, i. p. 393 f. 3 The story of Bp. Poppo, related by Adam Brem. and Thietmar, who is said miraculously to have carried invades Bishop Gotebald. Later on Sweyn Sweyn many of the Christian buildings. England. invaded England, where he devastated wide districts, burning villages and plundering churches and monasteries. Before his death in England on February 2, 1014, he had abandoned his hostility towards Christianity and returned to the faith in which he had been baptized. After he resumed his profession of the Christian faith he took active measures to win over his Danish subjects to the same faith. Instead of applying to the Bishop of Hamburg for additional missionaries he caused Gotebald to be consecrated as a bishop in England and sent him to Denmark to act as a leader in a new missionary campaign. His son Canute became an earnest supporter of the Christian faith. It was no easy task which the missionaries in Denmark essayed,to influence a people who thought it disgraceful to shed tears over their own crimes, or on the occasion of the death of those whom they had loved.1 Canute issued orders forbidding honours to be shown to the pagan gods and directing that his subjects should everywhere be taught to say the Lord's Prayer and the Creed and to receive the Holy Communion three times a year. Canute. Of the many bishops whom Canute had consecrated in England for missionary work in Denmark Adam of Bremen mentions three by name, Bernard bishop of Schonen (Sconia), Gerbrand bishop of Seeland and Reginbert bishop of Funen. It is uncertain whether these bishops were of English or of German nationality.2 Before the close of the twelfth century the influence 1 Hauck's K. D. iii. 641. 2 See Hauck's K. D. iii. 642 n.; Adam Brem. ii. 53. exerted by Christianity in Denmark had again decreased and the God of the Christians was regarded in the same light as the national gods of the country and was referred to as "the German god."1 Moreover, "The Gerthe profession of Christianity ceased to exert any definite influence upon the behaviour of its professors.2 man god." islands. The Faroe islands 3 were probably first colonized The Faroe by Grim Kamban during the reign of the Norwegian king Harald Haarfager. Christianity was introduced by Sigmund Bresterson, one of the chief men in the islands, towards the end of the tenth century. King Olaf Tryggvason sent for him and offered him his friendship and great honour if he would become a Christian. He and his companions were accordingly baptized and, returning to the islands in 998 accompanied by missionaries sent by King Olaf, he endeavoured to persuade the islanders to follow his example. They, however, raised a strenuous opposition which was put down by force in the following year, when a large number of baptisms took place. Sigmund erected a church on his own estate and endeavoured to spread the Christian faith, but as soon as the argument of force was removed many of those who had been baptized relapsed into their former heathenism. Later on a bishopric was established at Kirkebo, but the islands are at present connected with the bishopric of Zealand. They now belong to Denmark, but prior to 1815 they belonged to Norway. 1 "Teutonicus deus," cf. Ebo, iii. 1. 2 See Saxo Grammaticus, xiv. 893, "qui tametsi christiano nomine censerentur titulum moribus abdicabant, professionem operibus polluentes." 3 They are said to have derived their name from the word "faar," sheep. settlers, 861. of Thorwald. ICELAND Iceland (Insula Glacialis) was apparently first visited by Irish Christians, traces of whose work were found First Nor- when the first Norwegian settlers arrived about 861. wegian These settlers remained heathen till 981, when Thorwald, who was roving the seas as a pirate chief, fell in with a bishop named Friedrich in Saxony, by whom he was Baptism instructed and subsequently baptized as a Christian. The bishop visited Iceland in company with Thorwald and spent five years in travelling from place to place and preaching Christianity. One of those whom he baptized, Codran the father of Thorwald, had challenged the bishop to prove to him that the God of the Christians was stronger than the idol which he worshipped and which consisted of a large stone. The bishop accepted the challenge and proceeded to chant hymns over the stone until it burst in pieces. Needless to say the result brought conviction to those who witnessed the miracle. The preaching of the bishop encountered much opposition and, despite his remonstrance, Thorwald killed two of the scalds or national poets who had composed satires upon Christianity. In the northern part of the island a number of converts were obtained, one of whom Thorwald Spakbodvarssum built a church on his estate, to serve which the bishop appointed a priest. Soon after this the bishop returned to his own country. In 996 King Olaf Stefner. Tryggvason of Norway induced Stefner, a member of one of the principal families in Iceland, to go as a missionary to his fellow-countrymen. He failed to 1 Kristni Saga. |