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Early Medieval Conversion

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     Though the process took several centuries, the gradual spread of orthodox Christianity throughout Europe over the course of the early Middle Ages marked one of the most successful periods of mass conversion in history. Culture, timing and the political layout of the European continent all played substantial roles, but the specific techniques used by missionaries and clergymen to convert both pagans and unorthodox Christians also served as influential factors in the success of catholic expansion. Bishops, priests and monks used methods that varied from situation to situation, and a method used on the Angles might be find less success among the Celts or Bavarians,(1)  but similarities do arise. The most notable of these include encouraging active evangelism within the catholic community, prioritizing kings and other powerful figures, discrediting pagan beliefs, using miracles and divine power as a tool of proof, easing transitions by blending customs and, occasionally, force of arms. The process by which Christianity spread had great bearing on its eventual expansion among the peoples of western Europe, and would leave behind a thousand-year legacy of both ecclesiastical and secular dominance.
     Before the conversion of Constantine, Christianity spread primarily in urban communities like Rome on a person-to-person basis. As a minority religion there were few, if any, mass conversions.(2)  In this sense it expanded like most growing cults, although the nature of the Christian faith encouraged active conversion to a much greater degree than any of the western European polytheistic beliefs. This attitude stemmed from the New Testament, in particular a passage from Matthew that laid down what would later be called Christ's Great Commission: "After his resurrection in the New Testament, Jesus called together his disciples and told them "Go ye… and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."(3)  It is this inherent difference in thought that largely contributed to why Christianity, of all religions, would play such an assertive role in dominating Europe over the following centuries. By contrast, most pagan religions of Western Europe were performed for the purposes of individual well being, and the beliefs of other groups held no serious importance to them personally. While political and territorial expansion was common, faith was always an internal concept. What transformed Jesus' Great Commission into a complete movement, however, was active encouragement by members of the clergy, and the papacy as a whole. Hagiographies commended the zeal of missionaries, and actively spreading orthodoxy was portrayed as a highly admirable goal, one that should ideally be the main motivation in a person's life. One hagiography focusing on the life of Saint Anskar notes how the 9th century archbishop "was afflicted with great sorrow" when he learned of the lack of active missionaries in pagan Sweden, and laments that anyone in the world should "remain in darkness."(4)
     Beyond the mindset, orthodoxy in the west was naturally in a prime position to spread. The Eastern Roman Empire from late antiquity onward was situated in a position that neighbored other civilizations of comparable size and influence, and therefore saw much more limited success against other significant political powers, including Persian Zoroastrians, Arab Muslims, and Chinese Confucianists, Taoists and Buddhists, although they were active among Slavic tribes in the ninth and tenth centuries. Although the Western Roman Empire was ultimately unable to defend itself from its own neighbors, the multitude of powers were less organized in a religious sense than the "civilized pagans" - as most Romans reluctantly called them - in the east, and were therefore more subject to conversion.(5)  Additionally, as the papacy was in a unique position in that it worked as its own entity after the eighth century rather than as a section of the state, it could serve as a sort of "safeguard" against superficial converts: whereas kings could appoint people to high rank as a favor or for some other ulterior motive, the papal hierarchy had no reason to operate beyond devotion alone. This certainly did not always or even usually work out in practice, but it did prevent the church's complete reliance on a greater government to at least some degree, and kept Christianity united by something beyond national lines.  The church as a nonpolitical symbol allowed for its expansion with the support of Catholics everywhere, without Christian kings needing to worry about its expanding reach or of their territory being encroached upon. Instead, kings could operate on the pope's behalf without preventing the papacy from simultaneously acting on its own by expanding its reach into other kingdoms.
     The first case of expanding orthodoxy by means of converting powerful individuals came with the conversion of Emperor Constantine. Made aware of the Christian faith by his mother, Helena and converting after attributing a vision from God to his victory at Milvian Bridge in 312, the emperor helped ensure that the fledgling religion's growth could continue without restraint.(7)  Eventually, Constantine and successive orthodox emperors would modify local laws beyond mere toleration and toward active promotion. The Emperor's first motion was to pass legislation exempting the clergy from taxation, a right bestowed upon any officially supported religions. Later, citizens were encouraged to convert as greater limits were placed on practitioners of alternate faiths. In the later Roman Empire this took the form of laws forbidding the consultation of oracles, the repair of ruined temples, and the construction of new idols. In 391 and 392 laws grew less tolerant, restricting sacrifices, the visiting of pagan holy sites, and intermarriage between Jews and Christians, and in 409 many standing pagan temples were actively demolished.(8)  The expansion of Christianity was not immediate following Constantine's conversion, but even still by 500 the catholic population would be many times larger than it was when he first came to power.(9)
     Outside of the boundaries of the old Roman Empire, the theory that conversion of a population would follow that of a king served as one of the primary concepts of mass conversion among both Arians and pagans. In one letter to Burgundian King Gondebaud, Saint Avitus, the Bishop of Vienne, wrote: "The barbarians march to baptism as to battle, behind their chieftain."(10)  Such was the case of Clovis, who converted from paganism in the late fifth century. The Frankish king was encouraged to convert by his wife Clotilda, though Avitus and several ranking clergymen influenced the marriage.(11)  Remigius, the Bishop of Rheims, also gave the monarch particular attention, giving him his congratulations on his ascension to the crown when he became ruler, but in that same letter requesting that he convert. Clovis and the Franks were still pagan at that time, although most Barbarians were Arian Christians.(12)
While the majority of Europe would not become Christian for another 400 years, Clovis' conversion would open the door to Frankish orthodoxy within a few generations. Likewise, Bede acknowledges the direct influence a king has over his subjects in his account of the conversion of King Edwin, noting that "The Northumbrian people's acceptance of the Faith of Christ came through their king's alliance with the kings of Kent," as the alliance later gave him the opportunity to send several of his advisers to speak with a troupe of missionaries.(13)  Additionally, Pope Gregory sent Augustine to convert King Ethelbert of Kent, and later advised him to make the conversion of his subjects his top priority.(14)
     The fourth century saw the beginning of significant active missionary work in the west.(15)  Several clergymen, including Augustine of Hippo, responded to these new efforts toward expansion by writing apologetics, letters listing responses to common arguments against Christianity.(16)  Several surviving apologetics from the early Middle Ages give a response to the common argument among Roman pagans in late antiquity, which is that the sack of Rome was a result of neglect toward the old gods.(17)  These apologetics served as useful guides for missionaries, who often relied on open discussion to convince groups or individuals to switch to orthodoxy. On occasion leaders would call councils designed to argue the points of contrasting faiths. King Edwin held a council in 627 with his advisors, where Paulinus convinced them to accept Christianity,(18) and in Spain, 589, Ricared held the First Council of Toledo, to formally debate Catholicism versus Arianism.(19)  While less effective for mass conversion, discussion and preaching formed the groundwork for missionary activity on a whole, and acted as the theoretical foundation of most conversion techniques.
     Another one of the earliest and most basic tools of Christianity in gaining followers was leading by example. As the fourth century clergyman Chrysostom wrote, "There would be no more heathen if we would be true Christians."(20)  There is no shortage of examples of ideal Christians in medieval literature, and hagiographies and martyrologies painted pictures of individuals that any Christian should strive to imitate. From its beginnings as a state religion, the church also took an active role in charity and poor relief. Its support by the empire allowed Christianity to transform from a cult to a powerful religion comparable to Buddhism and Zoroastrianism in the east. However, it was the collapse of organized roman institution that allowed the church to dominate the west. As the empire slowly disintegrated, the church took on the responsibilities the government could not, such as public works and maintenance of infrastructure. This transition led to a substantial influx of converts out of gratitude, but it also served to transform the Catholic church from a religion supported by the empire to a political power in itself. Though associated with a waning culture, it was this death that gave Christianity the opportunity to gain a political foundation in its own right.(21)  Whether due to altruism or expansion, clerical charity was one of the main reasons for orthodoxy's eventual place in the political world. However, poor relief was carried out well beyond simply replacing dying roman institutions. In the ninth century Ebbo, Archbishop of Rheims "distributed much money in the northern [Danish] districts in order that he might win the souls of the people."(22)
     On the opposite end of the spectrum, violence was also occasionally used to encourage conversion. Most writers publicly condemned it: Saint Avitus stated that "To resort to force is unworthy of the Dove,"(23)  reaffirming the policy laid down by Saint Augustine. However, it did occur on occasion, with baptism delivered as a form of submission, such as when Charlemagne converted the Saxons at sword-point in the early ninth century. Einhard wrote: "Thus, the war that had lasted for many years ended on the terms laid down by the king and accepted by the Saxons, namely that they would reject the worship of demons, abandon their ancestral rites, [and] take up the Christian faith and the sacraments of religion."(24)  Although many condemned this practice as being contrary to the nature of Christianity, it remained an effective method of bringing a large number of otherwise hostile pagans into Christianity.(25)
     According to some ecclesiastical sources, an alternate effective method of conversion involved the use of divine intervention and direct use of miracles power in persuading pagans to accept the validity and superiority of the Christian God. Miracles seemed to be commonplace in the early middle ages, to the point that Saint Augustine suggested in his Retractions that "Christians should not over-emphasize visual wonders and grow contemptuous through familiarity with them," and Alcuin, a member of the court of Charlemagne, wrote that the ministry of preaching is to be preferred to the working of miracles and the showing of signs."(26)   In fifth century Britain, Germanus gave sight to a blind child, and the pagans who witnessed it "eagerly accepted the teaching of the bishops,"(27)  and in the eighth century, Boniface is said to have converted many by "sound doctrine and miracles."(28)  Some sources give different accounts of Catholic and pagan priests being pitted against one another in a competition to discover which of them was capable of performing a specific miracle. In Sweden, Herigar caused several to convert by challenging a pagan to see who could call upon his god to keep him dry while it rained.(29)  No secular sources confirm these miracles, although the scarcity of secular texts in particular from the early middle ages makes proper analysis impossible. Alternate explanations are unavailable, but regardless, people in those areas at those times did convert, suggesting that miracles still had a profound effect on individuals at a psychological level, if nothing else.
     Pagan culture in Western Europe was typically one that accepted the presence of the divine in everyday life, and judged a god's power by the way he interacted with the world. To an observer with this mindset, the types and quantity of miracles associated with the Christian God would be impressive indeed.(30)  Comparatively, Christian clergymen stressed the lack of direct intervention on the part of the pagan gods as a sign of their weakness. In one letter, Bishop Daniel of Winchester wrote to his disciple, Boniface, telling him to "Talk to the pagans like this: if your gods are all powerful they ought to reward those who worship them, and punish those who scorn them. But in this case why is it that they do not harm the Christians who destroy the idols?"(31)  This is seconded in Bede's Ecclesiastical History, where he attributes a high priest of King Edwin to admitting his own deities' inaction, saying: "If the gods had any power they would surely have favored myself, who have been more zealous in their service."
     Comparing one religion to another was also an important method of conversion, and the church took great pains to ensure that some traces of the familiar remained in a convert's new religious practices. Divine intervention helped persuade the pagan, who had no need for a God who would not help his crops grow or protect him from harm. By portraying the Christian God as more powerful than pagan gods and yet otherwise fairly similar to them, the individual had a much easier time accepting the new faith without having to completely rearrange his entire philosophy. The church eased transitions in more tangible ways as well. When Christians converted a region, they would often use the site of the old pagan temple, or even the building itself, as a church, a practice also seen in Greece and Egypt in the sixth and seventh centuries.(32)  In a letter to Abbot Mellitus in 601, Pope Gregory describes this technique alongside several others:
     "The temples among the people should on no account be destroyed… In this way, we hope that the people, seeing that their temples are not destroyed, may abandon their error and, flocking more readily to their accustomed resorts, may come to know and adore the true God. And since they have a custom of sacrificing many oxen to demons, let some other solemnity be substituted in its place."(33)
     When worship occurred at the same place, customs proceed in a similar manner, and even festivals were celebrated on the same days, many had little trouble switching the particular deities involved. Not unlike the old practice of Romanization, once the new Catholic had grown accustomed to worshipping Christ over Wodan, customs could slowly be brought back in line with orthodox practices.
     The transformation of Europe from a continent of countless faiths to one which was almost exclusively orthodox catholic was a gradual process; one that would take most of the middle ages. However, the conversion of the West was fairly steady and, more impressively, long-lasting. Catholicism did have some inherent advantages over the tribes outside of Rome's boundaries that allowed it to all but eradicate polytheism in the west, but it was the techniques in particular that gave missionaries an edge in their attempts to spread their beliefs. The manner by which they preached to so many different cultures, and their actions if and when the populace did listen was the result of an organized objective from an independent and structured ecclesiastical institution, and it was these concise and deliberate methods that helped lead to Christianity's ultimate conquest over the medieval world.
From Paganism to Orthodoxy: Conversion Techniques in the Early Middle Ages
For my "Europe in the Early Middle Ages" class. I am mostly satisfied, but the range of my topic unfortunately required me to treat "paganism" as a catch-all term, not aknowledging the differences between the many polytheistic religions of early medieval Europe. Were I to do it over I would have focused more on a specific geographic region, but as it stands it provides a solid overview, in my opinion.

Endnotes:
1) Daniel-Rops, Henri. The Church in the Dark Ages. (London: Phoenix, 2001.) 258.
2) Latourette, Kenneth S. The First Five Centuries: A History of the Expansion of Christianity. 1st ed. Vol. 1. (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937.) 171-172
3) Matt. 28:19-20
4) Ribert, The Life of Anskar. From Dutton, Paul E., ed. Carolingian Civilization: a reader. Peterborough, Ont: Broadview, 2004. 417.
5) Latourette, Kenneth S. A Thousand Years of Incertainty: A history of the expansion of christianity. 1st ed. Vol. 2. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1937. 13.
6) Latourette, 19.
7) Latourette, 174.
8) Latourette, 179, 182.
9) Latourette, 56.
10) Daniel-Rops, 261.
11) Gregory of Tours. History of the Franks. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1974. 102, 141.
12) Daniel-Rops, 254.
13) Bede. Ecclesiastical History of the English People. Trans. Ronald E. Latham. New York: Penguin Classics, 1991. 112.
14) Bede, 74, 94.
15) Latourette, 185.
16) Latourette, 186.
17) Collins, Roger. Early Medieval Europe 300-1000. Palgrave Macmillan; 2nd ed., 1999. 62.
18) Bede, 129.
19) Daniel-Rops, 267
20) Chrysostom, I Epistle to Timothy, Homily X, line 3. Trans. Quinn Wilson.
21) Latourette, “Incertainty,” 12.
22) Ribert, ch 13. From Dutton, 414.
23) Daniel-Rops, 263.
24) Einhard, Life of Charlemagne, ch 7. From Dutton, 32.
25) Latourette, “Incertainty,” 16.
26) Augustine, Retractions, M Bogan, Washington, 1968. 55, 61-2.
27) Bede, 67.
28) Life of Germanus in Hoare. From Finucane, Ronald C. Miracles and Pilgrims: popular beliefs in medieval England. New York: St. Martin's, 1995. 21.
29) Ribert. From Dutton, 418.
30) Daniel-Rops, 259.
31) From Daniel-Rops, 260.
32) Latourette, 195.
33) From Bede, 92.
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