The Christianisation of Scandinavia

Abstract

This paper looks at the impact of economic and social factors of contact with other peoples through trade and migration in the Christianisation of Scandinavia. It is argued that this was a slow process that operated on a number of different levels. The Carolingians and Ottonians supported one Scandinavian ruler against another, with baptism a condition of that support. Other evidence that can be found from runestones and skalds indicates that Christianisation was gaining ground by the eleventh century, although these sources of evidence are not without their own interpretive complications.