Church History, Volume 2 (of 3)Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
History
Church History, Volume 2 (of 3)
Kurtz, J. H. (Johann Heinrich)
Church history
§ 93.2. In =Denmark=, Gorm the Old, the founder of the regular
Danish monarchy, makes his appearance toward the end of the
ninth century as the bitter foe of Christianity. He destroyed
all Christian institutions, drove away all the priests, and
ravaged the neighbouring German coasts. Then, in A.D. 934, the
German king Henry I. undertook a war against Denmark, and obliged
Gorm to pay tribute and to grant toleration to the Christian
faith. Archbishop Unni of Bremen then immediately began again
the mission work. With a great part of his clergy he entered
Danish territory, restored the churches of Jutland, and died in
Sweden in A.D. 936. Gorm’s son, Harald Blaatand, being defeated
in battle by Otto I. in A.D. 965, submitted to baptism. But his
son Sweyn Gabelbart, although he too had been baptized, headed
the reactionary heathen party. Harald fell in battle against
him in A.D. 986, and Sweyn now began his career as a bitter
persecutor of the Christians. Eric of Sweden, however, formerly
a heathen and an enemy of Christianity, drove him out in A.D. 980,
and at the entreaty of a German embassage tolerated the Christian
religion. After Eric’s death in A.D. 998, Sweyn returned. In
exile his opinions had changed, and now he as actively befriended
the Christians as before he had persecuted them. In A.D. 1013
he conquered all England, and died there in A.D. 1014. His son
Canute the Great, who died in A.D. 1036, united both kingdoms
under his sceptre, and made every effort to find in the profession
of a common Christian faith a bond of union between the two
countries over which he ruled. In place of the German mission
issuing from Bremen, he set on foot an English mission that had
great success. In A.D. 1026 by means of a pilgrimage to Rome,
prompted also by far-reaching political views, he joined the
Danish church in the closest bonds with the ecclesiastical centre
of Western Christendom. Denmark from this time onwards ranks as
a thoroughly Christianized land.
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