Church and society.

During the eleventh century Christianity was accepted as the public religion in most of Scandinavia (see Chapter 7). By the end of that century the Christian faith had superseded pagan beliefs in Denmark, Norway and the Norse island communities of the Atlantic, but this happened more slowly in eastern Scandinavia. In Sweden, pagan attitudes persisted even in regions where many people had been converted. The situation there was described in about 1130 by the Anglo-Danish monk Ailnoth: “The Svear and Götar, however, seem to honour the Christian faith only when things go according to their wishes and luck is on their side; but if storm winds are against them, if the soil turns barren during drought or is flooded by heavy rainfall, if an enemy threatens to attack with harrying and burning, then they persecute the Christian faith that they claim to honour, and with threats and injustice against the faithful they seek to chase them out of the land.” In some areas pagan burial customs continued to be practised long after churches were built. For example, on the island of Öland off the coast of south-east Sweden a community that had a stone church by the early twelfth century continued to cremate some of their dead even in the second half of that century. In the sparsely populated northern provinces of Hälsingland, Medelpad and Ångermanland on the west coast of the Gulf of Bothnia it was not until the first half of the thirteenth century that the settled agrarian population completely abandoned paganism for Christianity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]