CHAPTER III.

THE FIRST CONTACT WITH CHRISTIANITY.

The Religious Results of Viking Cruises-Northmen in the British Isles Enforced Baptism-Half Christianity-The Missions from Hamburg and Bremen-Ansgar's Life and Work.

In order to understand the way in which the heathen Norwegians first learned of the Christian faith, it is necessary to retrace our steps. It was in the last quarter of the eighth century, or about eighty or ninety years before the accession of Harald Haarfagre, that the Viking expeditions began, which, for nearly three hundred years, made the Northmen the terror of North-Western Europe, and of certain districts in the Mediterranean as well. The adventurous chiefs from Norway, Sweden, and Denmark set forth in their long ships, each rowed by from twenty to forty men, and passing quickly over the waters of the North Sea, began to harry the coasts of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Northern France.

Readers of English history are familiar with the entry in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle under the year 787, which tells of the first appearance of these dreaded foes; and we know the way in which, from being at first mere marauding expeditions, they were continued until settlements and kingdoms were established in the north-east of England, the Orkneys and Shetlands, Dublin, and the Isle of Man. We are, however, not concerned so much with the political as the religious results of these expeditions, for they were the means by which, as far as we can learn, the heathen Norwegians were first brought in contact with Christianity. In England and Ireland they came to countries where,

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especially in the latter, the Christian faith had for some centuries entirely possessed the land, and had to a considerable extent tamed the wilder passions of the Saxon and Keltic races. When the warriors came ashore from their ships the churches and monasteries naturally offered a tempting prey on account of their unprotected state, and the Northmen quickly availed themselves of the treasure which they found there. They also undoubtedly learned of the Christian faith from the captives they had taken, and from seeing something, as they often did, during more peaceful visits, of the stately worship and ritual of the Church, which was not without its influence on the fierce Northmen.

The tenets of Christianity, however, did not naturally commend themselves to those who placed fighting in the very forefront of the duty of man, and to whom the clash of arms and the carnage of the battle would appeal more forcibly than the most stately service of the Church, with all the accessories of music and banners.

In places where the invaders settled for the winter, instead of returning back, or where, for one or another cause, they were detained, there were not wanting faithful priests, who, taking their lives in their hands, tried to win the fierce Vikings to the faith of Christ, at least, so far as to consent to be baptized, or if they would not do that, to allow themselves to be what was called primsigne (prima signatio), signed with the cross, a sort of half-way house to Christianity.

In these efforts they were not infrequently successful, but it must be borne in mind that compliance with the entreaties of the priests and others, did not at all necessarily imply the acceptance of a real faith in Christianity. On the contrary, we know that when the Viking marauders found themselves in a position from which they could not well extricate themselves, and were surrounded by their

enemies, it was not at all uncommon for the chief and his followers to allow themselves to be baptized en masse, as it usually offered a way of escape, and further enriched them with presents of handsome baptismal robes. Indeed, it appears an undoubted fact that it was not an unknown thing for Viking chiefs and their followers to be baptized several times over in different countries or places.

It is, of course, true that there were genuine conversions to Christianity among the Norwegians, but many of the earliest baptisms were of the nature described.

When, however, after some years the Norwegians and Northmen settled themselves in districts they had conquered, then real progress was made in the propagation of the faith, and they became, as in Dublin, in Cumbria, and the Danelag, as faithful and earnest Christians as those who had taught them the faith.

This, however, was outside the Norwegian kingdom. In Norway it only helped to break down the ancient faith in the gods. Many of the great men, like King Harald Haarfagre, were indifferent to the old religion, and only believed in the God who was the strongest and ruled all.

Some of the Vikings followed a middle course, like that adopted by the colonists whom the kings of Assyria placed in the cities of Samaria. They were baptized and they took Christ into their worship. The Sagas tell us of one of these, Helge the Thin, of Iceland, who had thus been converted. When he was ashore on his farm he worshipped Christ, but when he was at sea, or in any position of danger, he offered his prayers and sacrifices to Thor.

It may be wondered why it was that Christianity did not first come to Norway from the South, instead of from the British Isles; but the explanation is not a difficult one. The latter countries had already been christianized, while between Norway and the Christianity of the revived Western

Empire there was still a solid mass of heathenism. The Kaiser, Karl the Great, after reducing the Saxons to submission, was anxious to bring the Northern nations to Christianity, partly from religious and partly from political motives, so that he might be made more secure from attack. Nothing, however, seems to have been done in his day, but under Ludvig the Pious an attempt was made to evangelize the Danes, and he appealed to Ebbo, the Archbishop of Rheims, to send a missionary to them. The Pope (Paschal I.) also wrote a letter commending the work. Such, however, was the terror which spread over the north-west of Europe at the ravages of the Vikings, that at first no one was found to volunteer, until at last the famous Ansgar, "the Apostle of the North," a monk of Corvei, near Amiens, undertook the task.

He began his work in Holstein, accompanied by his faithful friend Autbert. After two years' labours he was obliged to flee to the court of the Emperor, and the work appeared to have failed. Just at that time, however, Bjørn, the King of Sweden, sent a messenger to the Kaiser asking for a Christian teacher, and Ansgar was sent in 830. After various adventures and dangers, Ansgar reached Birk (Sigtuna), and laboured with much success for a year and a half, when he returned with a letter to the Kaiser. Ludvig saw the importance of establishing an episcopal see near to the mission field, and selected Hamburg as the spot, and in 834 Ansgar was consecrated as Archbishop by the Archbishop of Metz and several other prelates. Shortly afterwards Gautbert was consecrated

Bishop of Sweden.

Thus the work progressed, but troubles were yet to come. In 845 the heathen King Erik, of Jylland, in Denmark, attacked Hamburg and burned the cathedral, library, and monastery to the ground, and Ansgar escaped only with his life. The Swedes at the same time attacked Gautbert

and destroyed his mission. Ludvig the Pious was now dead, and his sons divided the Empire, Ludvig the German having the portion which most concerned Ansgar.

At this time the bishopric of Bremen was vacant, and Ludvig decided to transfer the archiepiscopal see to that town in 849, and it was made the metropolitan see for the Northern nations, and independent of Köln, in which it was formerly situated.

The work again prospered. King Erik, the destroyer of Hamburg, became favourable to Christianity, and granted a place for a church in Slesvig, where, in 850, the first church in Denmark was erected, and dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. In 856 Ansgar's active life ended at the comparatively early age of sixty-four.

Thus it happened that Christianity had gained a hold in Sweden and Denmark a considerable time before it first appeared in Norway; but it is strange that there was practically no attempt made to christianize Norway from either Denmark or Sweden. To the British Isles, to England especially, the honour of having brought the faith of Christ to Norway is almost entirely due, and the Church in Norway was a daughter of the Anglo-Saxon Church.

A notice of the foundation of the metropolitan see of Bremen is necessary here, as it was for a considerable period the province in which the Norwegian Church was situated; and to the famous Chronicle of Adam of Bremen we are indebted for many interesting references to early Christianity in Norway.