Effects Of Christianity On Vikings

It is true that nearly all of the population of Scandinavia were pagans at the start of the Viking age and that meant that Vikings had many gods. Some of them were Odin, Thor, Loki and Freyia. (Williams, 2011)

Even though Vikings believed in many god, the most power and the most popular god was the one-eyed Odin, the all father, god of justice, warfare, wisdom, death and poetry. Thor, who was very strong was the defender of the gods against the giants. He was also the god of thunder and had a hammer that he used to control lighting. Thor was worshipped by many Vikings but he was mostly worshiped by seafarers. The frey and Freyja were brother and sister they were ] god and goddess of fertility, they were also important to Vikings as 20% of the

The Vikings often maintained their beliefs throughout their raiding, there was a huge pressure to convert to Christianity if they wished to have friendly relationship with the Christians. . The treaty bound the Viking leader Guthrum to accept Christianity, with Alfred of Wessex as his godfather, and Alfred in turn recognised Guthrum as the ruler of East Anglia. (McIntosh, 2014)

More or less formal conviction applied to trade, the custom of 'primsigning ' was introduced. , since Christians were not really supposed to trade with pagans, this custom could allow Christians to trade with pagans. Further pressure came as Viking raiders settled down alongside Christian neighbours. Although scholars disagree on exactly how extensive the Scandinavian settlement was in different parts of the British Isles, few people would now accept that the Vikings completely replaced the native population in any area. In particular, the settlers often took native wives or partners, although some settlers apparently brought their families over from Scandinavia. The children of these mixed marriages would therefore grow up in partially Christian households, and might even be brought up as Christians. Further intermarriage, coupled with the influence of the Church, gradually brought about a complete conversion. (Williams,

One coin type carries the name of St Peter, rather than the ruler. This seems very obviously Christian, but on many of the coins, the final 'I ' of 'PETRI ' takes the form of Thor 's hammer, and some of these coins also have a hammer on the reverse. These coins seem to carry a deliberate message that both paganism and Christianity were acceptable. (norse religion, 2016)

In conclusion after Vikings adopted Christianity they benefited from many things like they would not be under attack from Christian countries nearby, they would gave more land to settle on, as they can settle on Christian countries and the main benefit they had after being Christian was that they could trade with Christians, as Christians are not allowed to trade with