The Conversion of Scandinavia: Vikings, Merchants, and Missionaries in the Remaking of Northern Europe by Anders Winroth (review)

This is a well-argued narrative of the Christianization of Scandinavia. Winroth’s writing flows easily, and his vivid depictions of events and people make his story come alive. His main argument is that Christianization was not the result of military conquest, or missionary efforts, but instead of Scandinavian chieftains acquiring Christianity as a tool in ongoing internal power struggles. Christianity was useful as it offered superior support for emergent kings and later played an important role in the unification of the Scandinavian countries.

According to Winroth, Christianization was a slow process, with its roots in the far-reaching contacts gained via Scandinavian Iron-Age trade and plundering activities. It involved a period of syncretism, seen in the burial record where archaeologists struggle to differentiate between Christian and pagan graves. Winroth shows that in the medieval chronicles, on the other hand, conversions are described as quick, with key events being royal acceptance of baptism and outlawing of pagan rites. He divides Christianization into three phases—missionary activity, royal conversions, and institutional conversion—and argues that it was not a question of changing beliefs, but rather of politics and religious practice.

So far, there is every reason to agree with Winroth. His description corresponds very well with the results of modern research in Scandinavia. Fridtjov Birkeli’s (1982) three phases of Christianization (infiltration, missionary activity, and establishment) are well known. Many archaeologists today agree with Winroth that it is more or less impossible to determine whether an individual grave is Christian or pagan and instead argue that they contain various traits showing influence from either “paganism” or Christianity. Indeed, Christianization has been a major focus of research in Scandinavia since the 1980s, in particular through two large research projects on “The Christianization of Sweden” and “The Conversion of the Nordic Countries.”

To tell his story, Winroth questions the scant medieval written sources for the conversion, using the known methods of thorough source criticism. It is doubtful whether it is productive to question these sources yet again, with largely the same methods and results as before. In several places, however, we are told why Winroth has gone to this trouble—he argues that modern historians often accept and follow the descriptions of conversion found in medieval texts (e.g., pp. 117, 137). Winroth’s critique of the chroniclers is in actual fact a critique of modern research, in the way he sees it. This may be relevant from his transatlantic perspective, but readers should note that such careful, critical appraisal also is found in the excellent work of scholars such as Anne-Sofie Gräslund, Bertil Nilsson, Stefan Brink, Jørn Sandnes, Anders Hultgård, Lars Lönnroth, and Thomas Lindkvist.

The book contains a bibliography of more than twenty pages, but Winroth does not seem to have made full use of all references. In addition, there are some surprising omissions such as the influential scholar Birkeli. Another issue is the lack of women. This book outlines a predominantly masculine narrative era, which is at odds with the increasing body of work highlighting the role of women not only in Viking society in general but also as pagan cult leaders and as active participants in Christianization.

This monograph, however, provides a useful summary of much recent work on the mechanisms of Christianization, especially for students and scholars not familiar with Scandinavian languages, and it will undoubtedly end up on reading lists of major universities. As a dynamic account of a significant phase of Scandinavian history it certainly has its place, but not, unfortunately, as an analysis of the results of modern research into Christianization.