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
the love of his subjects. The alienated chiefs conspired with
the Danish Canute; the whole country rose against him; he himself
fell in battle, and Norway became a Danish province. The crushing
yoke of the Danes, however, caused a sudden rebound of public
feeling in regard to Olaf. The king, who was before universally
hated, was now looked on as the martyr of national liberty and
independence. Innumerable miracles were wrought by his bones,
and even so early as A.D. 1031 the country unanimously proclaimed
him a national saint. The enthusiasm over the veneration of the
new saint increased from day to day, and with it the enthusiasm
for the emancipation of their native country. Borne along by
the mighty agitation, Olaf’s son, Magnus the Good, drove out the
Danes in A.D. 1035. Olaf’s canonization, though originating in
purely political schemes, had put the final stamp of Christianity
upon the land. The German national privileges, however, were
insisted upon in Norway over against the canon law down to the
13th century.[264]
§ 93.5. =In the North-Western Group of Islands=, the Hebrides,
the Orkneys, Shetlands, and Faröe Isles, the sparse Celtic
population professing Christianity was, during the ninth century,
expelled by the pagan Norse Vikings, and among these Christianity
was first introduced by the two Norwegian Olafs. The first
missionary attempt in =Iceland= was made in A.D. 981 by the
Icelander Thorwald, who having been baptized in Saxony by a
Bishop (?) Frederick, persuaded this ecclesiastic to accompany
him to Iceland, that they might there work together for the
conversion of his heathen fellow countrymen. During a five years’
ministry several individuals were won, but by a decision of the
National Council the missionaries were forced to leave the island
in A.D. 958. Olaf Trygvesen did not readily allow an Icelander
visiting Norway to return without having been baptized, and twice
he sent formal expeditions for the conversion of Iceland. The
first, sent out in A.D. 996, with Stefnin, a native of Iceland,
at its head, had little success. The second, A.D. 997-999, was
led by Olaf’s court chaplain Dankbrand, a Saxon. This man, at
once warrior and priest, who when his sermons failed shrank not
from buckling on the sword, converted many of the most powerful
chiefs. In A.D. 1000 the Icelandic State was saved at the
last hour from a civil war between pagans and Christians which
threatened its very existence, by the adoption of a compromise,
according to which all Icelanders were baptized and only
Christian worship was publicly recognised, but idol worship
in the homes, exposure of children, and eating of horses’ flesh
was tolerated. But in A.D. 1016, as the result of an embassage
of the Norwegian king Olaf Haraldson, even these last vestiges
of paganism were wiped out.--=Greenland=, too, which had been
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account