Ask me anything about cult of saints in Norway and Iceland

Hello. I don't usually post here much, but I'm a bachelors student studying history in Scandinavia. Currently writing a sit-at-home exam on the subject of cult of saints in medieval Scandinavia.

It would be fun to get a discussion about this going, so feel free to ask me anything about the cult of saints in Scandinavia. I know most about the ones in Norway and Iceland from the early and high middle ages.

Exam is on the political functions of the cult of saints. I will reply to every post in this thread until I go to bed in eight or ten hours.

Pic related, it's the eternal king of Norway, Saint Olav.

Do you know of any saints who have and/or are associated with traits of the old pagan pantheons? I know that you have high levels of syncretism of Christianity with local religions as you went along, and I would think this would be a natural vector, but I don't really know enough about specifics to spot any.

Well, I'm not sure if I can point to one single saint, but I do know for a fact that many historians point to the relation laymen had to saints in the early and high middle age was similar to that of the pagan attitude towards the gods. Jon Vidar Sigurdsson, an Icelandic historian who wrote a book about the christianization of Norway wrote about an interesting example in the part of the book which talks about saints. It was a miracle performed by St. Olav, where a woman was told by her master to bake bread on a sunday. She invoked him saying if he doesn't help her, she will stop praising Olav and instead invoke other saints. He then supposedly turned the breads into stone and blinded the master for good measure.

Funny, because the Christian god is supposed to be absolute and infallible, but the old norse tradition of having a sort of "barter system" with the gods survived well into the 13'th century, but now with saints instead of gods.

I guess nobody wants to learn more about saints. Oh well.

Aside from St Olav, are there other warrior saints ?

Who are the saints for sailors and other men of the sea, like fishermen or marines?

Were most saints indigenous or did they import outside ones, especially those semi-mythological ones from the Roman times?

Well, there were many kings which were canonized in Scandinavia. I don't know that much about the ones in Denmark, and even less about Sweden. There I've only studied a bit about the process of christianization. It would not be unreasonable to assume that a bunch of those were warrior saints.

I'd like to add though, that one theory about the christianization of Scandinavia, is that a driving factor for individual conversions were that the act of piracy/going in viking, was on the decline. As such, it would make sense to convert to a religion which did not require a death in battle to reach paradise. Christianity, compared relatively to pagan religion in the North, was a religion of peace, at least as far as my understanding goes.

One I can mention right off the bat would probably be St. Sunniva, considering how she died a martyr death after setting out on a sea journey which ended up in Selja. St. Sunniva was an important saint during the civil wars in Norway in the 1200'ds.

Not sure which other ones there were, most I've read about were the ones dealing with healing miracles.

The manufacture of indigenous saints is probably one of the more important parts of medieval "nationalism" and nationbuilding. It would not be unfair to say that many of the early canonized saints of Iceland were used heavily to create A) a local source of revenue, as the pilgrimages to Nidaros (modern day Trondheim in Norway) brought much revenue to the city. It would make sense for them to have some of their own, so there would be pilgrimages there. B) A way to encourage a sort of "nationalism" and independence from Norway and Denmark. Having local saints to invoke helped a lot for the building of an Icelandic identity, so to speak.

Although, the most important ones in Scandinavia was of course St Mary and other "universal" saints, so to speak. There is a chapel to St. Alban in Western Norway though, which is quite interesting to note.

Funny, did you also pick the course that went this autumn assuming you go to UiO

What saint acted in the most unsaintly and brutal manner?

Yes, I did. You too? I don't really go to this board much.

Eh, a bunch of them probably. I'd go with St. Olav, considering he spent most of his early days pillaging and murdering east and west. This was before he converted in Rouen though. The thing is, hagiographical texts tend to exaggerate the holiness of the people involved. They're texts written with the intent of canonizing someone.

Please don't write like some kind of Marxist attributing everything to some political motive and using cringeworthy phrases like "the manufacture of indigenous saints".

Anyway, to which saints were attributed their conversion? Which misdionaries, if any, were canonized?

bumping for interest

>Please don't write like some kind of Marxist attributing everything to some political motive and using cringeworthy phrases like "the manufacture of indigenous saints".
Marxist historical theory stands strong at the university of Oslo. I guess it has colored my interpretations. English is not my main language, sorry if some of the sentences may be worded weirdly. I'm also currently writing a text about just this, the political function of these saints.

Which saints were attributed the conversion of Scandinavia? St. Olav was a missionary king, there were a bunch of attempts of conversion from the diocese of Hamburg Bremen, but most of them fell through. Some of these were Saint Unni of Bremen, and Saint Ansgar, both of which failed to convert the Swedes.

Thank you. Currently trying to write along on my exam, it's not easy. I feel like the subject is too broad. The task is just simply "discuss the political functions of the cult of saints in Iceland and Norway," and I need to give at least one example from each country. Will write mostly about St. Olav and St. Sunniva from Norway, and St. John of Holar, and St. Thorlakr of Skalholt. Most of the icelendics were "used" to gain distance from Norway and Denmark, as well for the church to gain more independence from the local chieftains.

I see.

Since there's a dragon in the OP picture, I wonder, are there references to creatures of Scandinavian mythology in hagiographies?

To what degree of importance would you place the cult of the scandinavian saints in regards to the christening of Scandinavia? Did they (both personally and through the cults surrounding them postmortem) play a large role in this or where there other factors which are more important for the conversion process in the north?

Also is UIO any good in your opinion? Thinking about studying there either this spring or autumn

>I haven't realized that all religions are continuations and synchronizations of what came before them
And you're a bachelors student? Studying RELIGION?

yup i did, pretty good course. Nice professor too.

The dragon in the picture is actually a beast symboling St. Olavs conquest of evil, a symbol of him christening the country.

I'm actually writing about that right now. Direct copy paste from my exam: (i sure fucking hope this doesn't trigger any plagiarism things)

>Glælognskvida can paint an interesting picture of the cult of Saint Olav. If we look at the context of which it was written, where it was read, and who it was directed to, we can see clearly how the martyrdom of St. Olav was used with political goals in sight. Written by Thorarin Loftunga around 1032, it was directed to king Svein Knutsson, Olavs adversary, and told of his life and miracles. At the end of the poem, Thorarin urges king Svein to bow to the now canonized king. The old Germanic superstition of kings having power even after their death, becomes apparent here, along with the clear political use of the cult of Saint Olav. The dedication to king Svein and the urge to pray to St. Olav can easily be said to not have been accidental. It could have been a symptom of king Sveins supposedly harsh rule of Norway, and the discontent found in many men who were hoping to profit from the power vacuum left by the earls of Lade, such as for example, Kalv Arnesson and Einar Tambarskjelve. Later on, the two aforementioned men supposedly went to Gardarike to bring back Olavs son Magnus, under whom many Norwegians rallied to defeat the Danes around 1035 due to great discontent with the Danish rule and its perceived unfair and strict laws, as well as the heavy taxation by the Danes.

>The use of Olavs status as a saint can be said to have had a great impact on the end of the Danish rule of Norway in the mid 11’th century. In many ways, a dead king could have a bigger impact on the politics of the middle ages than a living one, Saint Olav is a prime example of just that, not just with the expulsion of the Danes, but with other things as well.

I don't know, I don't really have anything I can compare it to.

I don't get what you're trying to say here. It's just one way to look at history to be quite honest. If you want to emphasize differences or similiarities, then that's all up to you. There is no denying that there were large differences between christianity and paganism, but the church was pretty lax in the way it represented christ to the pagans.

I'm not studying religion I'm just studying history, this is just one class I'm taking.

She is quite nice, but appears a bit "vimsete", or "klutzy" i guess you could say in English. Almost cute in a way.

Bumping again, I'll be up until 11AM CEST. Feel free to ask me anything about the christianization of Norway and Scandinavia until then.

Will reply to everyone.