Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
It is possible that they were developed during the encounter with Christianity, as pagans sought to establish a creation myth complex enough to rival that of Christianity; [further explanation needed] [146] these accounts could also be the result of Christian missionaries interpreting certain elements and tales found in the Old Norse culture ...
The fylki were divided into fourths or eighths and a church of minor rank was established in each subdivision. [39] Wealthy people were allowed to build private churches, known as convenience churches. [39] The earliest churches were built by the monarchs or noblemen and the builders' successors insisted on the appointment of the local priests ...
Danes were still tribal in the sense that local chiefs determined attitudes towards Christianity and Christians for their clan and kinsmen. Bringing Christian slaves or future wives back from a Viking raid brought large numbers of ordinary Danes into close contact with Christians for perhaps the first time.
In the hands of Early Christian writers they became apocalyptic hordes. Throughout the Middle Ages, they were variously identified as the Vikings, Huns, Khazars, Mongols or other nomads, or even the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. The legend of Gog and Magog and the gates were also interpolated into the Alexander Romances. According to one ...
The combination of Christian and Norse pagan symbolism on the cross may be evidence of the use of pagan stories to illustrate Christian teachings. [2] Christ here is depicted as a deity of power, hence why he is absent on the cross on the tip. He was popularly interpreted as a deity of power amongst Viking culture. [3]
[1] [2] The Íslendingabók ("The Book of the Icelanders") makes mention of Christians known as papar or fathers who had already settled in Iceland by the time the first Norse settlers arrived. [1] [3] [4] They departed from the island leaving behind "Irish books, bells, croziers, and lots of other things" [5] at the arrival of the new ...
Get AOL Mail for FREE! Manage your email like never before with travel, photo & document views. Personalize your inbox with themes & tabs. You've Got Mail!
The following day he announced that Iceland was to become Christian, with the condition that old laws concerning the exposure of infants and the eating of horseflesh would remain, and that private pagan worship be permitted. These sticking points related to long-established customs that ran contrary to the laws of the Church.