2 30. THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF SWEDEN. 119
thing necessary for the work. Gautbert labored with great suc cess. In Birka he built a church, and thus it became possible for the Christians, scattered all over Sweden, to celebrate service and partake of the Lord's Supper in their own country without going to Duerstede or some other foreign place. But here, as in Denmark, the success of the Christian mission aroused the jealousy and hatred of the heathen, and, at last, even Hergeir was not able to keep them within bounds. An infuriated swarm broke into the house of Gautbert. The house was plundered; Nithard was murdered; the church was burnt, and Gautbert himself was sent in chains beyond the frontier. He never re turned to Sweden, but died as bishop of Osnabriick, shortly before Ansgar. When Ansgar first heard of the outbreak in Sweden, he was himself flying before the fury of the Danish heathen, and for several years he was unable to do anything for the Swedish mission. Ardgar, a former hermit, now a priest, went to Sweden, and in Birka he found that Hergeir had suc ceeded in keeping together and defending the Christian congre gation; but Hergeir died shortly after, and with him fell the last defence against the attacks of the heathen and barbarians. Meanwhile Ansgar had been established in the archicpiscopal see of Hamburg-Bremen. In 848, he determined to go him self to Sweden. The costly presents he gave to king Olaf, the urgent letters he brought from the emperor, and the king of Den mark, the magnificence and solemnity of the appearance of the mission made a deep impression. The king promised that the question should be laid before the assembled people, whether or not they would allow Christianity to be preached again in the country. In the assembly it was the address of an old Swede, proving that the god of the Christians was stronger even than Thor, and that it was poor policy for a nation not to have the strongest god, which finally turned the scales, and once more the Christian missionaries were allowed to preach undisturbed in the country. Before Ansgar left, in 850, the church was rebuilt in Birka, and, for a number of years, the missionary labor was
120 FOURTH PEEIOD. A. D. 590-1049.
continued with great zeal by Erimbert, a nephew of Gautbert, by Ansfrid, born a Dane, and by Bimbert, also a Dane.
Nevertheless, although the persecutions ceased, Christianity made little progress, and when, in 935, Archbishop Unni himself visited Birka, his principal labor consisted in bringing back to the Christian fold such members as had strayed away among the heathen, and forgotten their faith. Half a century later, however, during the reign of Olaf Skotkonge, the mission re ceived a vigorous impulse. The king himself and his sons were won for the Christian cause, and from Denmark a number of English missionaries entered the country. The most prominent among these was Sigfrid, who has been mentioned beside Ausgar as the apostle of the North. By his exertions many were converted, and Christianity became a legally recognized religion in the country beside the old heathenism. In the Southern part of Sweden, heathen sacrifices ceased, and heathen altars disap peared. In the Northern part, however, the old faith still con tinued to live on, partly because it was difficult for the mission aries to penetrate into those wild and forbidding regions, partly because there existed a difference of tribe between the Northern and Southern Swedes, which again gave rise to political differ ences.
The Christianization of Sweden was not completed until the middle of the twelfth century.
§ 31. The Christianization of Norway and Iceland.
SNORRE STURLESOX (d. 1241) : HeimsJcringla (i. e. Circle of Home, writ ten first in Icelandic), seu Historia Regum Septentrional ium, etc. Stockholm, 1697, 2 vols. The same in Icelandic, Danish, and Latin. Havn., 1777-1826; in German by Mohnike, 1835; in English, transl. by Sam. Laing. London, 1844, 3 vols. This history of the Norwe gian kings reaches from the mythological age to A. D. 1177.
N. P. SIBBERN : Bibliotheca Historica Dano-Norvegica. Hamburg, 1716. Fornmanna-Sdgur seu Scripta Hist. Islandorum. Hafnise, 1828.
K. MATJRER: BeJcehrung des Norwegischen Stammes zum Christenthum. •Miinchen, 1855-56, 2 vols.
THOMAS CARLYLE : Early Kings of Norway. London and N. York, 1875.
G. F. MACLEAR : The Conversion of the Northmen. London, 1879.