Medieval Scandinavia and Jews

1 Introduction

Christianization and the establishment of Western Christian culture in the North

The Vikings - Scandinavian sea-faring warriors and traders - are renowned for their voyages across enormous distances and their settlement in vastly different parts of the world: from North America in the west to Novgorod in the east. Abroad, these travellers came across many different peoples belonging to various religions - other pagans, Christians, Muslims, and Jews - and some of these Norse men and women incorporated elements of these religions into their own beliefs or they even converted. This is particularly true in the British Isles, Normandy, and Ireland where archaeological evidence from burial sites shows that that the Viking settlers there adopted Christianity relatively quickly.1 However, situated at the far edge of Europe, the peripheral location of Scandinavia proper meant that the region was one of the last parts of the continent to be drawn into the Christian cultural-political sphere to the south.

The Christianization of Denmark and Sweden was a prolonged process that began in the eighth century and lasted over four hundred years.2 Initiated by missionaries from the archbishopric of Hamburg-Bremen, the conversion of the Danes and Swedes - intermittent, sporadic, and opportunistic in nature - gradually resulted in a great expansion northwards for Western Christendom as well as a profound and enduring cultural, political, and economic influence on Scandinavia from the German lands. Christianization in Denmark and Sweden was a top-down process: kings and chieftains recognized the political and economic advantages of embracing Christianity and converted, often to secure trade, while their subjects followed their lead - at least in word, if not in deed. So, for example, despite the bold claim of the larger of the two Jelling runestones that "King Harald (Bluetooth, d. 985/86) [.] made the Danes Christian,"3 we know that the Danes did not convert en masse and, indeed, Christianization only had limited success during his reign.4 The situation in Sweden was similar and Christianization here was accompanied by much violence for over a century before paganism was finally abolished.5 Indeed, even after the establishment of an episcopal polity in most of Denmark and Sweden in the eleventh century, Christian practices took considerable time to establish themselves among the population, and paganism and Christianity continued to coexist or merge, especially in parts of Sweden. Some pagan practices may have continued for more than a century: for example, the composers of the early thirteenth-century Law of Gotland (Gutalagen) apparently found it necessary to include a prohibition against pagan sacrifice (blot) and other heathen practices.6 However, by the mid-thirteenth century, we can consider the Danes and Swedes as thoroughly Christianized and fully integrated into Western Christendom through ecclesiastical networks, canon law, and the adoption of a rich and developed Christian culture.7 Bishoprics and their episcopal sees had been created, monasteries and ecclesiastical foundations had been established, regular preaching to the laity was being introduced, and Latin written culture had been embraced. It is through this process of Christianization that most Scandinavians became aware of and learnt about Jews for the first time.

Jews in medieval Christian thought

Relations between Christianity and Judaism have never been easy and straightforward. At the core of this problematic relationship is the Jews' rejection of Jesus as the Messiah: Christianity attributes the fulfilment of the Old Testament (Jewish) prophecies to Jesus; Jews, however, do not. Although Jesus as messiah is not an issue in Judaism where he is simply considered one of a litany of false claimants, it is a difficult point for Christianity: why did Jesus' own people dismiss the claim that he fulfilled the messianic prophecies in the Hebrew Bible and reject him? And by extension, what then are the reasons that Christians should accept him? In short, who had got it wrong and why? Solutions to this conundrum would be offered through the next two millennia by showing that Jews did not understand their own Scriptures properly, that they were blind and stubborn, that they had been forsaken by God and replaced by Christians as the "New Israel" in his plan for humanity, and that, as anyone could see, homeless and scattered throughout the world, Jews were being punished by God for their disobedience.8 Moreover, Jews would be charged with having killed Christ rather than just rejecting him and as posing an ongoing spiritual and physical threat to Christians: they were not just a failed people, they were downright dangerous. Inevitably, these arguments and beliefs - stemming from an entirely internal, hermeneutic Christian debate - resulted in denigration, segregation, and violence towards Jewish communities and individuals across Europe. From the twelfth century, this anti-Judaism intensified and morphed into demonization, and fantasies of ritual murder, host desecration, and well poisoning began to flourish. Jews living under Christian rule were subject to social, political, and economic restrictions, such as ghettoization and mandatory dress codes, as well as periods of persecution, forced conversion, mass expulsions, pogroms, and massacres.

During the early centuries of the Common Era as Christianity drew, bolstered, and defended its boundaries, cemented its beliefs, and looked to distinguish itself from the Jewish tradition (while simultaneously appropriating many elements from it),9 the Church Fathers, such as Tertullian, John Chrysostom, Justin Martyr, and Pseudo-Cyprian, wrote numerous anti-Jewish tractates under titles such as Against Jews.10 In Romans 11:17-24, Paul used the image of the olive tree to show that the Gentiles had been grafted into God's covenant with the Patriarchs, while the Jews had been "broken off": a powerful image of Paul's understanding of the relationship between God, Christians, and Jews.11 Augustine (354-430), bishop of Hippo, developed Paul's line of thought further and constructed a "Jew" that better met the needs of Christian theology and exegesis. Picking up on the typology of the New Testament and early Christians, such as Ambrose, that everything from the advent of Jesus as the Messiah to the blindness of the Jews was prophesied in the Old Testament and fulfilled in the New Testament, he found a part that Jews could play in the contemporary world without having to compromise the truth of Christian doctrine. He assigned them the role of testimonium veritatis:

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  Jews were living testimony to the truth of the Old Testament that prefigures Christ.

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  As a dispersed people after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE, Jews bore witness to God's judgement and their own iniquity.

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  They bore the "mark of Cain" (Genesis 4:11-16): under the protection of God, they were forced to wander the earth.

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  They demonstrated that Jesus was the Messiah for Gentile Christians.

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  They proved that Christianity was true, and that God had elected Christians as the New Israel.12

As the original "bearers of the books,"13 who had received the messianic prophecies and witnessed Jesus' miracles while rejecting, tormenting, and murdering him, Jews and their continued presence - "protected" by the Church but kept in a lowly state, constantly vilified, and unable to pose any sort of real threat to Christianity - provided a living example of the Gospel teachings.14 Indeed, it was the Jews themselves who had called for their own condemnation: "his blood be upon us and our children."15 Thus, Augustine created a purpose and an essential place for Jews as witnesses to the truth: they corroborated Christianity. Again, following Paul (Romans 9:27, 11:26; cf. Isaiah 10:22), he argued that Jews would convert to Christ during the End of Days and all people would be united in a belief in one God. In this way, Augustine developed a role for Jews in the future and as this concept became an important part of Christian eschatology, he succeeded - whether it was his intention or not - in securing their survival.16 Jews drew value from the past (as the original recipients of the law and witnesses of the truth of Christianity) and from the future (in their as yet unfulfilled eschatological role). The importance of Augustine's writings about Jews lies in their widespread dissemination in the monastic and university libraries throughout Europe, and although frequently challenged,17 his view of Jews was adopted by most theologians...