The Conversion of Scandinavia: Vikings, Merchants, and Missionaries in the Remaking of Northern Europe

by Anders Winroth

In this book a MacArthur Award-winning scholar argues for a radically new interpretation of the conversion of Scandinavia from paganism to Christianity in the early Middle Ages. Overturning the received narrative of Europe's military and religious conquest and colonization of the region, Anders Winroth contends that rather than acting as passive recipients, Scandinavians converted to Christianity because it was in individual chieftains' political, economic, and cultural interests to do so. Through a painstaking analysis and historical reconstruction of both archeological and literary sources, and drawing on scholarly work that has been unavailable in English, Winroth opens up new avenues for studying European ascendency and the expansion of Christianity in the medieval period.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Religion, Medieval, Christianity, Scandinavian Literature

256 pages, Hardcover

First published December 5, 2011

Reviews

[Caleb Beers · Rating 5 out of 5]

Winroth makes a sophisticated argument about how and why Scandinavia became Christianized. I'll sketch out the basics here.

Scandinavia was a vast network of chieftains who competed with one another by means of gift-giving. Whoever gave the best gifts was more likely to attract followers. Sheer quantity of wealth was not enough. A chieftain had to give rare, exotic, valuable, or prestigious gifts. As the rest of Europe experienced an economic recovery following the nadir of its development after the fall of Rome, there was a lot of trade flowing through the continent, which meant that Scandinavians could find exotic and prestigious goods for use as gifts by either trading with the more "civilized" Europeans or raiding them. Cue the Viking Age.

After contact was established, either by means of raiding or trading, Christian practices began to filter into Scandinavia. A cultural shift came with that, and Scandinavian chieftains began to style themselves as kings in imitation of the Carolingians and other Christian European monarchs. Eventually, Scandinavians began to convert to Christianity outright, including baptism and the appropriate rituals. This was partially because godfathering someone in baptism was one of the most rare and prestigious gifts a chieftain could give, and also because it offered heathen kings job security owing to the reticence of Christians to assassinate a God-ordained king.

It wasn't a single linear chain of events, of course. The process largely involved Scaninavian strongmen slowly becoming Christian kings as a means of securing power. Such kings could even control the particular Christian church in their own country to wield even more power. Since they could control their national churches, stamping out paganism made it possible to be the sole religious authority, besides the distant and (at the time) mostly-uninvolved Pope. This, incidentally, seems almost like an omen of the success of Protestantism in Scandinavia centuries later; the tradition of national churches, whose kings were effectively the only religious authority, was already in place before the Reformation.

The overall picture is one of centralization of power spreading throughout Europe. The siren-song of greater authority seduced Scandinavians into the new religion, or was a factor anyway.

Winroth's argument is overall plausible, at least to this non-historian-who-occasionally-reads-history-books. The one issue I would take is that he seems to push the political angle a little too strongly in some places, such as attributing nearly everything the medieval sources say to some political motive. While he is doubtless right in many cases, I am not sure how far he can push that mode of explanation.

[Ben · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Winroth decided to place "conversion" in the title of his text, I think he understood it would be misleading to some, despite how he chooses to use the word.

This text is about the conversion of Scandinavia to reflect the western kingdoms that their Vikings and merchants were in contact with throughout the early medieval period.

Anyone looking for a text explicitly about the religious conversion, or Christianization may be disappointed. Though, the the couple chapters Winroth provides about the growing presence of Christianity in Scandinavia are worthwhile and thought provoking.

[Redsteve · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this work goes into more detail regarding the Christianization of Scandinavia than many other books, I don't feel that it is entirely new in concept. Most modern works about this period make it pretty clear that conversion to Christianity of the Norse peoples was pretty much a "top down" thing - driven by their rulers being baptized for any number of reasons - sometimes solely to get military or financial support from European monarchs in achieving their ambitions. On the other hand, the author's analysis of the phenomenon is excellent, demonstrating that the conversion to Christianity came about largely as a method of increasing political control and social unity - rather than a focus on religious belief or philosophical thought. He takes the long (but interesting) way around, discussing the gift economy of the early medieval Norse, trade routes, and the attendant "value added" of gifts which were exotic or finely made - before making an interesting comparison between an established church (not possible with the earlier pagan practices) and the earlier obligations of gift giving. Well written but in a way I feel like the author "snuck up" on his major points, rather than laying them out in the beginning before going into details. He often casts doubt on Medieval accounts, sometimes based on contradictory evidence (or simply applying the yardstick of 'cui bono' to the authors), but in other cases it seems a bit arbitrary. I'd give the historical analysis 3.5 stars and the writing 2.5, so we'll call it a solid 3 stars.

[Endre Fodstad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Winroth's basic thesis - that the christianization of scandinavia was a project of the elites, not in the essence of the "conversion kings" commonly depicted in older historeography but more of using the religion, its institutions, prestige and its ties to the continent - is not entirely new but it is quite clearly argued here for an english audience. Many scandinavian academics would do well to heed Winroth, as this concept, while definitely treated before, sadly has some trouble taking root in our historical tradition.

As other reviewers have noted, however, the book itself doesn't quite hang together - the two halves of it (older reciprocal relationships in the pagan aristocracy and the same aristocracy's adaption of christianity to expand and enrich their relationship networks) don't mend well. The book might also have done well with a third part - exploring how the population at large adapted the new religion and perhaps more on the end result of the conversion. As it is, it feels a bit disjuncted and ends very sharply. I would, however, recommend the book a great deal for someone interested in religious-political affairs of early medieval scandinavians.

[Jonathon Camper · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book elaborates on the conversion of Scandinavia up to 1000ce. Winroth contends that the traditional view of adamant Christian missionaries Christianizing Scandinavia over simplifies the facts. He argues that evidence supports the view that the elites adopted Christianity because it offered advantages that paganism didn't, and that subsequently the lower classes adopted the religion. The argument is a new take on the conversion of Scandinavia, the author researched his topic thoroughly and the writing style is immensely readable.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting take on an important historical process. A very reasonable analysis for the most part, but with certain speculations here and there whose probability is questionable.

[Taylor A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dr. Winroth is definitely my go to expert on the Vikings. I was fascinated by his thesis here; that the Viking kings and earls brought back Christianity to their clans as a gift to be utilized for power, rather than true evangelical faith in Christ but the thesis checks out to be honest. It isn't the type of history I would want to tell, but it is an honest one. Regardless, I trust the Lord's providence over the hearts of the converted (?) Vikings.

[Britta · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ler me start this off by saying that I had to read this for school. Well no. Not this book in particular, but I had to pick a book to do multiple projects on for an Intro to Christianity class that my school requires. Gotta love private schools!

Believe it or not, I had high hopes going into this book. I am 75% Norwegian and my family is extremely proud of ojr Norwegian heritage. So what was I expecting? Vikings, Thor, Odin, and lots of Olav Tryggvason. I got some Vikings and less Olav Tryggvason and a while crap load of discussion on artifacts. I was not amused. Believe it or not, I have never experienced such bordeom reading a book before. EVER. Honestly, I have no idea how I will even be able to use this book for my projects.

There was no flow to this book. It jumped around from one generation of Scandinavian rulers to the next.. and then back again. Also, the first half or so felf like a completely different book than the second half. It was also the more boring half that I got nothing out of. Needless to say, I am relieved to finally be done with this, despite, you know, taking nothing in.

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good bit of contemporary historical perspectives. Should have been called, "Silver, swords, baptism: how gift exchange spurred early Scandinavian politics." (That's from the last chapter.)

Winroth directs us past the writings of medieval monks and the Christian conversion story that has been used to explain Western European history up through and past the 19th century missionary colonialists. He argues that Scandinavian warrior band chiefs chose Christianity in their quests for power, rather than being actively Christianized. He describes the Viking routes to the Arab Caliphate -- and its new mines in Afghanistan and the east -- as the sources of silver into Western Europe, changing economies. I will not recite the points of his last chapter -- no spoilers here -- but the Vikings did promote positive change in Western Europe through their pillaging in England, France, and the Carolingian empire.

This is a good read for anyone interested in medieval history.

[John Wyss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very well written with clear prose and very clear argument. This book is not for someone who is not at all familiar with the historical period, but for those that are, the argument for the factors of conversion is very clearly laid out. It's certainly possible to debate the conclusions, but the fact that the book has such a clear argument makes this much easier to do.