The story of Sweden's Christianization begins here in Birka, a few miles west of Stockholm.
Birka was a prosperous trading town during the 700s up till the late 900s.
From here came wares from all over Europe, including Russia, and even from destinations further away.
As I mentioned in the previous video, silk from Sogriana in China has been found in Uppsala.
And Birka was indeed well situated, geographically speaking, to bring wares to Uppsala.
Birka was the principal trading town in Svialand, whereas Uppsala was the religious and civic center.
The most important exports from Birka, and thus Svialand, Sweden in general, were iron and furs.
From the countries across the Baltic Sea came fine goods such as honey, beeswax and linens.
And the import of linen garments from the Baltic is a fine tradition that I endeavor to reignite.
And a large and important part of the imports that came into Birka came from the powerful Frankish Empire to the south.
Understanding Europe during the 800s is to a large part understanding the Frankish Empire.
As I mentioned in the last video, the great Germanic migration era had created numerous new kingdoms all over Europe.
The most powerful kingdom, or rather empire, would become the Frankish one.
The Frankish Empire, at the height of its power, encompassed large parts of France and Germany and even more lands, as can be seen by this map.
The reason for discussing the Frankish Empire when talking about Sweden's Christianization is because the influence of Christianity came from two major sources, the British one and the Frankish one.
And if you wonder why the story begins here in Birka, almost 200 years before Sweden became Christian, it's because it was here the Frankish missionary Anskar first landed during the 800s.
He did create a church that was active for a few years, but ultimately it was abandoned and it would be another 200 years until Sweden began its Christianization process.
Although Sweden didn't become Christian overnight, it was a gradual process over the entire Middle Ages.
And many pagan beliefs, just as in most of Europe, clinged on and took the shape of Catholic holidays, for example.
So even though Anskar failed to bring Christianity to Sweden, Sweden became Christian eventually.
And the question is, how did Sweden become Christian?
Why did Sweden become Christian?
And it's actually a matter more of politics rather than spirituality.
As the Viking Age draw to its conclusion, if you will, the Vikings or the Scandinavians got tighter connections to England and Germany and the great empires of the continent.
The Vikings also realized that the Christian kingdoms were quite powerful indeed.
So one could argue that it's actually the powerful aspect of Christianity that was appealing to the Vikings here in Sweden for example.
And a difference between how the various Nordic countries become Christian differs a bit.
So in Norway you had a quite brutal king Ulav who took the sword to anyone who didn't want to become Christian basically.
And if we're talking about Christianity as a state religion, it is a better option for a ruler, for a centralized king, than paganism is just based upon the teachings of Christianity versus paganism, where paganism is a bit more suited to someone who's wild, a people that is wild, a bit more chaotic.
Whereas if you want to cement a kingdom, if you want to create a kingdom where everything is a bit more centralized, you have a king who is chosen by God himself.
It's easier to rule a bit more calm people, so to speak.
So in Norway, it was a bloody and dramatic affair.
In Sweden, it was more or less to do with trade and connections to the continent.
So Birka, for example, where we are, a central hub of trade, both east primarily to the Viking colonies in Russia, for example, but also during, but also to all of the Baltic.
So Christianity was a good choice for Swedes to adapt to get closer to the continent culturally and spiritually.
So it was a good deal.
It was a good deal to get on the winning team, so to speak.
So the pagan world was a bit outdated.
The new, modern, powerful was on the continent, and the continent was Christian.
So it might have been the case that they looked towards England with its advanced statescraft.
They looked towards France or the Frankish kingdom or to Germany, saw the majestic cathedrals, churches, and heavy knights, and saw that is the way to go.
This white Christ is a powerful entity.
We need to adapt his ways.
And also, if we're talking about polytheism, if you have many gods, it's easier to adopt yet another god who is quite similar to Balder, as I mentioned in the last episode.
So if you have this white Christ, it might be a good idea to have him on your side.
And if you already have eight or so gods or three main deities and then you want to add in another god whose disciples and whose kingdoms are so powerful, why take the chance to not go with that god as well?
So that could be another aspect, seen from a religious point of view, why Swedes, Swedish Vikings adapted Christianity.
But my analysis, and I'm hardly the first one to present this, is that it was probably mostly to do with a way to get closer in terms of trade, in terms of cultural exchange, in terms of getting to the same power level as the other kingdoms on the continent and in Denmark, for example.
So 200 years earlier when Anskar was here, the kingdoms of the continent in England weren't as prepared to face off against the Viking raiders.
But 200 years later, as we draw up to the 11th century, they were a bit more used to it.
They had better military capacity to fight off Viking invaders.
So Sweden, for example, had to adapt to it.
So that could be said to be the reason for Sweden becoming Christian.
Then I'm sure there are plenty of different explanations as to why this happened.
But for a king who's out for power, it made perfect sense.
The different nations in Europe dealt with the Vikings in different manners.
A notable example is how the Frankish king dealt with the Vikings.
He invited the Normans, or the people who would become the Normans.
He invited their king Rollo and said, You can have this land as long as you defend it against other Vikings.
Now of course the Normans, as most of you know, went on to even further conquests, most primarily the throne of England in perhaps the most well-known battle of all time, the Battle of Hastings 1066.
They also conquered Sicily and was a quite aggressive and brutal people in general.
So a lot more can be said about the Christianization of Sweden, but I thought to give this brief overview and I might talk more about this in coming videos because it is an important and interesting topic.
So thank you for watching.
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