_Libentis_, the successor of Adalrag, was also an honour to his dignity. Fit missionaries were despatched by him into both Denmark and Sweden; and if their progress was slow, it was steady. Their efforts were much assisted by Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastics, who inspired less jealousy than those of Germany, and who had the happiness to baptize the Swedish king, Eric _Arsael_. This monarch, it is said, was the victim of his zeal. Not satisfied with encouraging the diffusion of Christianity throughout his states, he laid violent hands on the holy temple of Upsal; and for this last act fell in a tumult of the populace (1001). On the death of Libentis, in 1013, his successor, archbishop _Unver_, trod in his steps. In the time of this latter prelate, Denmark, which obeyed Canute the Great, became decidedly Christian. The same blessing was in preparation for Sweden. Olaf, surnamed Scot-Konung, or the Tributary, because he sanctioned a yearly tribute to the pope, established three bishoprics, and was enabled to ensure a preponderance to the religion which he had embraced. From his death, in 1026, Sweden may therefore be regarded as a Christian state. Thus all the three kingdoms forsook idolatry for the truth about the same period, viz., the commencement of the eleventh century. This revolution, as we have had many opportunities of observing, was exceedingly progressive. In Norway it continued during three quarters of a century; in Denmark, from the mission of St. Anscar to the reign of Canute the Great; in Sweden, from the same event to the reign of Olaf Skotkonung,—in both instances about a century and a half. Yet we must not forget that paganism _lingered_ in all three, especially Sweden, down to the twelfth, or even the thirteenth, century. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BOOK II. THE MIDDLE AGE. ------------------ CHAPTER I. DENMARK.[130] 1014–1387. CANUTE THE GREAT.—HARDA-CANUTE.—MAGNUS.—ROMANTIC ADVENTURES OF HARALD HARDRADE.—SWEYN II.—HARALD III.—CANUTE IV.—OLAF II.—ERIC III.—NICHOLAS.—ERIC IV.—ERIC V.—CANUTE V. AND SWEYN III.—VALDEMAR I.—HIS ABLE REIGN.—ARCHBISHOPS ESKIL AND ABSALOM.—CANUTE VI.—VALDEMAR II.—DECLINE OF THE DANISH POWER, AND THE CAUSES WHICH LED TO IT.—ERIC VI.—ABEL.—CHRISTOPHER I.—ERIC VII.—ERIC VIII.—CHRISTOPHER. II.—INTERREGNUM.—VALDEMAR III.—MEMORABLE TRANSACTIONS WITH NORWAY AND SWEDEN.—OLAF III.—UNION OF DENMARK AND NORWAY. CANUTE THE GREAT. 1015–1035.