The conversion of Europe to Christianity

While there can be no denying the importance and influence of Christianity on Europe in the early middle ages, many source documents belie the rapidity and extent of its adoption. Reading the sources from Bede and other contemporaries, one’s initial impression is that the change from paganism to Catholicism was immediate and all-encompassing. It must be noted that many of the sources were composed after the majority of Europe had already been Christianized, and thus present an obviously biassed perspective of the events they describe. This is especially true as the documents were neither firsthand accounts nor officially issued texts. Alternately, they constitute part of the historical “scholarship” of the period, a nearly fictional method of historical writing in the tradition of authors dating back to the Greek historians such as Thucydides and Xenophon. To provide a thematic context, conversations between historical figures are provided in a narrative, as though the author had been present. The excerpts from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History are notable for utilising this narrative device.

Bede provides a fictional framework not in an effort to record a verbatim account of the meeting between the missionary Paulinus and King Edwin of Northumbria, but instead to convey the important themes of such encounters between Christians and pagan leaders. Arguably, the most predominant motif advanced by the author is the rationality of adopting Christianity. Bede emphasizes that the Christian church does not rely on appeals to the senses to influence non-believers, but instead through rational discussion and argument. One can speculate that Christians of this period believed their religion to be infinitely more civilized and logically coherent than the varied and obviously primitive collection of pagan religions that they encountered throughout Europe. Consequently, Bede reflects such a belief in the pro-Christian sympathies of his council of wise men. They present their arguments in a highly reasonable manner, following a logical progression, and indeed, the King is easily persuaded by them. Similarly, in the subsequent document a similar logic is used to convince a later king to accept the central rule of Rome over the isolated traditions of Christian Ireland. Here again the customs of a rural and still somewhat pagan people, the Irish, are overtly mocked by Bede, through the speech by Wilfrid: “And if that Columba of yours...was a holy man and powerful in miracles, yet could he be preferred before the most blessed chief of the Apostles [Peter]” (p. 83). Once again the king cannot disregard the wisdom of his advisors; the sequence seems almost formulaic in its construction.

It is through the council of wisemen in the first document, however, that Bede reveals his biases against pagan religions. The wise men proclaim the uselessness of their pagan tradition, and consequently their dissatisfaction with it; this remains the subtext throughout these two sources. One of their number—Coifi—states that “the religion which we have hitherto professed has no virtue in it and no profit” (p. 81), and similarly that “This long time I have perceived that what we worshipped was naught; because the more diligently I sought after truth in that worship, the less I found it” (p. 82). It seems unlikely that any ancient religion was quite so unsatisfying as here insisted by Edwin’s priests. Similarly, another councillor states of life that “what is to follow or what went before we know nothing at all” (p. 82). For several reasons, it is quite clear from this statement that Bede was writing for a Christian readership. His ignorance of pagan theology is quite evident and shared with many Christians of the time. These pagan tribes almost assuredly had some idea of what “went before”, as all peoples have some degree of mythology surrounding creation and death. Additionally, Bede implies the notion that there is an afterlife which provides a meaning for life and that it is the truth to which all people aspire; this is an explicitly Christian ideology. In both sources the wisemen immediately display a determined enthusiasm to convert to the new religion, in complete disregard for their own ancient traditions. Their conversation implies that conversion would be immediate and painless, as though one set of morals and beliefs could easily be disregarded in favour of another. Coifi states that if Christianity is found to be “better and more efficacious, we hasten to receive them without further delay” (p. 81). To Bede’s Christian readers, such a quick and uncomplicated conversion would be only natural for the uncivilized pagans. His text seems to be a justification and a confirmation toward Christian readers for their beliefs.

Simultaneously however, Bede’s text implies that the pagan peoples of Britain had the inherent intelligence to understand the righteousness of Christianity through such logical means. He was himself of Anglo-Saxon descent, so such a connexion is elementary. A different characterization is provided by Willibald, a biographer of the Roman missionary Boniface, and likely not German himself. The Roman priest faced consistent opposition to his evangelical work in Germany as the various tribes retained their beliefs in their traditional gods. Although reason did manage to convert a number of Germans to Christianity, many others remained pagan. A miracle was required— an appeal to the senses—in order to convince the tribes of the truth in Christianity. Similar to the conversions in Bede’s text, in this instance conversion was instantaneous: “When the pagans who had cursed did see this, they left off cursing and, believing, blessed God” (p. 85). Indeed, this pattern of conversion is obviously shared with Bede’s text, and is perhaps a convention of the literature; it is merely another standard tale among a host of conversion myths. A more likely purpose for the story, however, is suggested by the final line of the selected text: “Then the most holy priest [Boniface]...built from the wood of the tree an oratory, and dedicated it to the holy apostle Peter” (p. 85). This line intimates that the story provided a mythological history for a pre-existing oratory in the region, perhaps an oral tradition in the area, or perhaps invented by Willibald himself. If the latter is in fact the case, then it is likely that the author adapted the literary tradition of the conversion to a chronicle of the German area without any real historical basis for doing so.

An initial study of the source documents selected may convey to the reader the sense of the inevitability of the conversion of Europe to Christianity. Seemingly, it provided a more logical and compassionate religion than did the old pagan traditions. Additionally, the process of conversion itself appears immediate, complete, and uncomplicated by any moral dilemmas. The reverse was more likely to have occurred. The overturning of the ancient traditions of pagan Europe must have occurred over several decades— perhaps even centuries—and not without any moral and ethical complications. It is still more probable that the conversion to Christianity was not a complete one; an amalgamation of Christian and pagan certainly took place. Indeed, one can observe the practise of both cultural traditions throughout the middle ages.

Bibliography

Bede’s Ecclesiastical History. Trans. A.M. Sellar. The Middle Ages. Gen. Ed. Brian Tierney. Vol. 1.
New York: McGraw Hill, 1992. Pp. 81-3.

Willibald’s Life of Boniface. The Middle Ages. Gen. Ed. Brian Tierney. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw Hill, 1992. Pp. 84-5.