Christianization

1 Interpretatio Christiana
Main article: Interpretatio Christiana
Reformatting native religious and cultural activities and
beliefs into a Christianized form was ocially sanctioned; preserved in the Venerable Bede's Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum is a letter from Pope Gregory I
to Mellitus, arguing that conversions were easier if people
were allowed to retain the outward forms of their traditions, while claiming that the traditions were in honor of
the Christian God, to the end that, whilst some gratications are outwardly permitted them, they may the more
easily consent to the inward consolations of the grace of
God. In essence, it was intended that the traditions and
practices still existed, but that the reasoning behind them
was altered. The existence of syncretism in Christian tradition has long been recognized by scholars, and in recent
times many of the instances of syncretism have also been
acknowledged by the Roman Catholic church. Since 16th
century and to modern days signicant scholarship was
devoted to deconstruction of interpretatio christiana, i.e.,
tracing the roots of some Christian practices and tradiSt. Francis Xavier converting the Paravas seeking protection of tions to paganism. Early works of this type have tended to
Portuguese explorers from Arab eets oshore: a 19th-century be downplayed and even dismissed as a form of Protestant
representation of the docile heathen.
apologetics aimed at purication of Christianity.

2 Early Christianity (pre-Nicaean)

Main articles: Early Christianity and Acts of the Apostles
The Council of Jerusalem ( around 50 AD ), according to Acts 15, determined that circumcision was not required of Gentile converts, only avoidance of pollution
of idols, fornication, things strangled, and blood (KJV,
Acts 15:20), establishing nascent Christianity as an alternative to Judaism for prospective Proselytes. The Twelve
Apostles and the Apostolic Fathers initiated the process
of transforming the originally Jewish sect into a religion
of gentiles.

Christianization (or Christianisation) is the

conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire groups at once. It may also refer to
the forced imposition of a Christian society. Various
strategies and techniques were employed in Christianization campaigns from Late Antiquity and throughout
the Middle Ages: evangelization by monks or priests,
organic growth within an already partly Christianized
society, or by campaigns against paganism such as the
conversion of pagan temples into Christian churches
or the condemnation of pagan gods and practices.[1] A
notable strategy for Christianization was interpretatio
christiana the practice of converting native pagan
practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan
sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses, due to the
Christian eorts at proselytism (evangelism) based on
the Great Commission.

The Armenian and Ethiopian churches are the only instances of imposition of Christianity by sovereign rulers
predating the council of Nicaea. The initial conversion of
the Roman Empire occurred mostly in urban areas of Europe, where the rst conversions were sometimes among
members of the Jewish population. Later conversions
happened among the Grecian-Roman-Celtic populations
1

3 LATE ANTIQUITY (4TH-6TH CENTURIES)

Constantines conversion, by Rubens.

James the Just, whose judgment was adopted in the Apostolic

Decree of Acts 15:19-29, c. 50 AD: "...we should write to them
[Gentiles] to abstain only from things polluted by idols and from
fornication and from whatever has been strangled and from
blood... (NRSV)

over centuries, often initially among its urban population,

with rural conversions taking place some time later. The
term pagan is from Latin, it means villager, rustic, civilian and is derived from this historical transition. The
root of that word is present in todays word paisan or
paisano.

Late antiquity (4th-6th centuries)

Main article: Decline of Greco-Roman polytheism

Further information: Constantine I and Christianity
The Christianization of the Roman Empire is typically divided into two phases, before and after the year
312 which marked the momentous quasi-conversion of
Constantine. By this date Christianity had already converted a signicant but unknown proportion of at least
the urban population of the Empire, including a number of the elite classes. Constantine ended the intermittent persecution of Christianity with the Edict of Milan, which granted tolerance to all religions, specically
mentioning Christianity. Under Constantines successors,
Christianization of Roman society proceeded by ts and
starts, as John Curran recently documented in detail.[2]

Statue depicting the baptism of Clovis by Saint Remigius.

Constantines sons, for example, banned pagan State religious sacrices in 341, but did not close the temples.
Although all State temples in all cities were ordered shut
in 356, there is evidence that traditional sacrices continued. Under Julian, the temples were reopened and
State religious sacrices performed once more. When
Gratian declined the position and title of Pontifex Maximus, his act eectively brought an end to the state religion due to the positions authority and ties within the Imperial administration. Again however, this process ended

3
State ocial practices but not private religious devotion.
As Christianity spread, many of the ancient pagan temples were deled, sacked, destroyed, or converted into
Christian sites by such gures as Martin of Tours, and in
the East often by militant monks. However, many temples remained open until Theodosius I's edict of Thessalonica in 381 banned haruspices and other pagan religious
practices. From 389-393 he issued a series of decrees
which put an end ancient religious toleration by banning
pagan religious rites and by conscating their property
and endowments. Further laws were passed against remaining pagan practices over the course of the following years. The eectiveness of these laws empire-wide
is debatable. Christianization of central Balkans is documented at the end of the 4th century, where Nicetas the
Bishop of Remesiana brought the gospel to those mountain wolves, the Bessi.[3] Reportedly his mission was successful, and the worship of Dionysus and other Thracian
gods was eventually replaced by Christianity.

The early Christianization of the various Germanic peoples was achieved by various means, and was partly facilitated by the prestige of the Christian Roman Empire amongst European pagans. The early rise of Germanic Christianity was, thus, mainly due to voluntary
conversion on a small scale. In the 4th century some
Eastern Germanic tribes, notably the Goths, an East
Germanic tribe, adopted Arianism. From the 6th century, Germanic tribes were converted (and re-converted)
by catholic missionaries, rstly among the Franks, after
Clovis I's conversion to Catholicism in 496. Christianity
at this time then constituted of a mix of Arian Christianity, catholic Christianity, and Christianized Germanic paganism. The Lombards adopted Catholicism as they entered Italy, also during the 6th century. Conversion of
the West and East Germanic tribes sometimes took place
top to bottom, in the sense that missionaries sometimes
aimed at converting Germanic nobility rst, after which
time their societies would began a gradual process of
Christianization that would generally take a matter of centuries, with some traces of earlier beliefs remaining. The
Franks were converted in the 5th century, after Clovis I's
conversion to catholic Christianity. In 498 (497 or 499
are also possible) he let himself be baptized in Rheims.[4]
With this act, the Frankish Kingdom became Christian,
although it would take until the 7th century for the population to abandon some of their pagan customs.[5] This
was typical of the Christianization of Europe. Christian
and pagan practices would eectively exist in parallel.

4 Christianization of Europe (7th15th centuries)

Representation of Saint Clement ghting the Graoully dragon in
the Roman amphitheater of Metz. Authors tend to present such
legend as a symbol of Christianitys victory over paganism, represented by a harmful dragon.

A turning point came after the Battle of the Frigidus of

395, ending the last serious attempt to restore general
toleration. After the defeat of Eugenius, the conservative pagan families of Rome gave up their resistance to
Christianity and began to re-invent themselves to maintain their social leadership. By this time the Christian
hierarchy had adopted classical education and culture as
the marks of the civilized person, thus bringing the two
social groups into alliance. Under the regency of Stilicho
(395-408), some paganism was still tolerated, but later in
the 5th century, legislation against pagan possessions, and
other pagan practices, became increasingly strict. There
appear to have been later attempts at a pagan revival, in
456 in circles surrounding the general Marcellinus and
under Anthemius (r. 467-472), but these came to nothing. Marcian in 451 put the death penalty on the practice on pagan rites, and Leo I in 472 reinforced this by
penalizing anyone who was aware that pagan rites were
performed on his property.

4.1 British Isles

See also: Anglo-Saxon Christianity and Hiberno-Scottish
mission
The native Britons were already partly Christianized by
the time of the Anglo-Saxon settlement of Britain; it is
not clear how thorough this process had been. RomanoBritish Christians, led by Saint Patrick had converted Ireland and some in Scotland, but ecclesiastics of the time
such as the British Gildas and later Anglo-Saxon Bede
criticized them for generally refusing to work at all for
the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons, in fact many were
absorbed into the religion and culture of the new settlers.
The conversion of the Anglo-Saxons was begun at about
the same time at the far north and south of the AngloSaxon kingdoms in two unconnected initiatives. Irish
missionaries led by Saint Columba based in Iona (from
563) and elsewhere converted many Picts and the court of
Anglo-Saxon Northumbria, and the Gregorian mission,
who landed in 596, did the same to the Kingdom of Kent.
They had been sent by Pope Gregory I and were led by

CHRISTIANIZATION OF EUROPE (7TH-15TH CENTURIES)

Augustine of Canterbury with a mission team from Italy. and England. During the Saxon Wars, Charlemagne,
In both cases, and in other kingdoms, the conversion was King of the Franks, Christianized the Saxons by way of
generally top down, with the royal family and nobility warfare and law upon conquest.[8][9]
adopting the new religion rst.
The Viking invasions of Britain destroyed many monasteries and new Viking settlers restored paganismthough
of a dierent variety to the Saxon or classical religions
to areas such as Northumbria and Dublin for a time before
their own conversion.

4.2

Frankish Empire

Main article: Germanic Christianity

The Germanic peoples underwent gradual Christianiza-

The Sachsenhain memorial in Verden, Germany

4.3 Great Moravia

Main article: Christianization of Moravia

9th century depiction of Christ as a heroic warrior (Stuttgart

Psalter, fol. 23)

tion in the course of the Early Middle Ages, resulting in

a unique form of Christianity known as Germanic Christianity that was frequently some blend of Arian Christianity and Germanic paganism. The Eastern and Western tribes were the rst to convert through various means.
However, it would not be until the 12th century that the
North Germanic Tribes had Christianized.
In the polytheistic Germanic tradition it was possible to
worship Jesus next to the native gods like Woden and
Thor. Before a battle, a pagan military leader might pray
to Jesus for victory, instead of Odin, if he expected more
help from the Christian God. According to legend, Clovis had done that before a battle against one of the kings
of the Alemanni, and had thus attributed his victory to
Jesus.[6] The Christianization of the Franks laid the foundation for the further Christianization of the Germanic
peoples.
The next impulse came from the edge of Europe. Although Ireland had never been part of the Roman Empire,
Christianity had come there and developed, largely independently, into Celtic Christianity. The Irish monks had
developed a concept of peregrinatio.[7] This essentially
meant that a monk would leave the monastery and his
Christian country to proselytize among the heathens, as
self-chosen punishment for his sins. From 590 onwards
Irish missionaries were active in Gaul, Scotland, Wales

What modern historians designate as Great Moravia was

a Slavic state that existed in Central Europe from around
830 to the early 10th century. The territory of Great
Moravia was originally evangelized by missionaries coming from the Frankish Empire or Byzantine enclaves in
Italy and Dalmatia since the early 8th century and sporadically earlier.[10][11] The rst Christian church of the
Western and Eastern Slavs known to the written sources
was built in 828 by Pribina, the ruler and Prince of
the Principality of Nitra, although probably still a pagan himself, in his possession called Nitrava (today Nitra,
Slovakia).[12][13] The rst Moravian ruler known by name,
Mojmr I, was baptized in 831 by Reginhar, Bishop of
Passau.[14] Despite the formal endorsement by the elites,
the Great Moravian Christianity was described as containing many pagan elements as late as in 852.[15]
The Church organization in Great Moravia was supervised by the Bavarian clergy until the arrival of the
Byzantine missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius in
863, upon Prince Rastislav's request.[16] Cyril developed
the rst Slavic alphabet and translated the Gospel into
the Old Church Slavonic language.[16] Foundation of the
rst Slavic bishopric (870), archbishopric (880), and
monastery was the politically relevant outcome of the
Byzantine mission. In 880, Pope John VIII issued the
bull Industriae Tuae, by which he set up an independent
ecclesiastical province in Great Moravia with Archbishop
Methodius as its head. He also named the German cleric
Wiching the Bishop of Nitra, and Old Church Slavonic
was recognized as the fourth liturgical language, along
with Latin, Greek and Hebrew.

4.7

4.4

Hungary

Bulgaria

Main article: Christianization of Bulgaria

After its establishment under Khan Asparukh in

Introduction of Christianity in Poland, by Jan Matejko, 1888

89, National Museum, Warsaw

Baptism of the Preslav Court by Nikolai Pavlovich (date of completion unknown)

The Baptism of Poland (Polish: Chrzest Polski) in 966

refers to the baptism of Mieszko I, the rst ruler of a
united Polish state. His baptism was followed by the
building of churches and the establishment of an ecclesiastical hierarchy. Mieszko saw baptism as a way of
strengthening his hold on power, with the active support
he could expect from the bishops, as well as a unifying force for the Polish people. Mieszkos action proved
highly successful; by the 13th century, Roman Catholicism had become the dominant religion in Poland.

681, Bulgaria retained the traditional Bulgar religion

Tengriism and the pagan beliefs of the local Slavic population. In the mid 9th century Boris I decided to establish Christianity as a state religion in Bulgaria. In 864 he
was baptized in the capital Pliska by Byzantine priests
and after prolonged negotiations with both Rome and
Constantinople he managed to create an autocephalous
Bulgarian Orthodox Church and used the newly created 4.7
Cyrillic script to make the Bulgarian language the language of the Church.

Hungary

Christianity was challenged during the rule of his rstborn son Vladimir-Rasate (889-893) who decided to return to the old Bulgarian religion. Boris I who had previously retired to a monastery led a rebellion against his son
and defeated him. At the counsel of Preslav in 893 his
third son Simeon I, born after the Christianization was
installed on the throne and the capital was moved from
Pliska to Preslav as a symbol of the abolition of the old religion. Simeon I led series of wars against the Byzantines
to gain ocial recognition of his Imperial title and the
full independence of the Bulgarian Church. As a result
of his victories in 927 the Byzantines nally recognized
the Bulgarian Patriarchate.

4.5

Balkans

By the 870s the Serbs were baptized and had established

the Eparchy of Ras, on the order of Emperor Basil I.

4.6

Poland

Main article: Christianization of Poland

See also: Pagan reaction in Poland

Image of the King Saint Stephen I of Hungary, from the medieval

codex Chronicon Pictum from the 14th century.

CHRISTIANIZATION OF EUROPE (7TH-15TH CENTURIES)

In the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Hungary (which was

larger than modern day Hungary) was Christianized initially by Greek monks sent from Constantinople to convert the pagan Hungarians. In 950 the tribal chief Gyula
II of Transylvania visited Constantinople and was baptized. Gyula also had his ocers and family baptized
under the orthodox (Roman Catholic) confession. The
conversion of the Hungarian people was not completed
until the reign of Gyulas grandson, King Stephen I of
Hungary. Stephen was the son of Grand Prince Gza of
Hungary and Sarolt, the daughter of Gyula II. His authority as leader of the Hungarian tribal federation was recognized with a crown from Pope Sylvester II. King Stephen
converted the nomadic barbarian tribes of the Hungarians
and induced them to sedentary culture. The conversion
of Hungary is said to have been completed by the time of
Stephens death in 1038.
Soon the Hungarian Kingdom counted with two archbishops and 8 bishops, a dened state structure with province
governors that answered to the King. In the other hand,
Saint Stephen opened the frontiers of his Kingdom in
1016 to the pilgrims that traveled by land to the Holy
Land, and soon this route became extremely popular, being used later in the Crusades. Saint Stephen was the
rst monarch that was elevated to the sanctity for his
Christian characteristics and not because suered a martyr death.[17]

According to Heimskringla, During the Christianization of Norway, King Olaf Trygvasson had male vlvas (shamans) tied up
and left on a skerry at ebb (woodcut by Halfdan Egedius (1877
1899).

so forth.[18] Archaeological excavations of burial sites on

the island of Lovn near modern-day Stockholm have
shown that the actual Christianization of the people was
very slow and took at least 150200 years,[19] and this was
a very central location in the Swedish kingdom. 13th century runic inscriptions from the bustling merchant town
of Bergen in Norway show little Christian inuence, and
one of them appeals to a Valkyrie.[20] At this time, enough
knowledge of Norse mythology remained to be preserved
in sources such as the Eddas in Iceland.

4.10 Baltic
4.8

Kievan Rus

Main article: Christianization of Kievan Rus

Between the 8th and the 13th century the area of what
now is European Russia, Belarus and Ukraine was settled by the Kievan Rus. An attempt to Christianize
them had already been made in the 9th century, with the
Christianization of the Rus Khaganate. The eorts were
nally successful in the 10th century, when about 980
Vladimir the Great was baptized at Chersonesos.

4.9

Scandinavia

Main article: Christianization of Scandinavia

The Christianization of Scandinavia started in the 8th
century with the arrival of missionaries in Denmark and
it was at least nominally complete by the 12th century,
although the Samis remained unconverted until the 18th
century. In fact, although the Scandinavians became
nominally Christian, it would take considerably longer
for actual Christian beliefs to establish themselves among
the people.[18] The old indigenous traditions that had
provided security and structure since time immemorial
were challenged by ideas that were unfamiliar, such as
original sin, the Immaculate Conception, the Trinity and

Danish Bishop Absalon destroys the idol of Slavic god Svantevit

at Arkona in a painting by Laurits Tuxen

Main article: Northern Crusades

The Northern Crusades[21] (or Baltic Crusades)[22]
were crusades undertaken by the Catholic kings of Denmark and Sweden, the German Livonian and Teutonic
military orders, and their allies against the pagan peoples of Northern Europe around the southern and eastern shores of the Baltic Sea. Swedish and German
campaigns against Russian Eastern Orthodox Christians
are also sometimes considered part of the Northern
Crusades.[21][23] Some of these wars were called crusades

5.1

Colonies in the Americas, Africa, Asia and Pacic

during the Middle Ages, but others, including most of the

Swedish ones, were rst dubbed crusades by 19th century
romantic nationalist historians. Lithuania and Samogitia
were ultimately Christianized from 1386 until 1417 by
the initiative of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Jogaila and
his cousin Vytautas.

4.11 Reconquista
Main article: Reconquista
Between 711718 the Iberian peninsula had been conEvangelization of Mexico

5.1 Colonies in the Americas, Africa, Asia

and Pacic
The expansion of the Catholic Portuguese Empire and
Spanish Empire with a signicant role played by Catholic
missionaries led to the Christianization of the indigenous
populations of the Americas such as the Aztecs and Incas.
Large number of churches were built.[24][25]
Later waves of colonial expansion such as the Scramble
for Africa or the struggle for India, by the Netherlands,
Britain, France, Germany and Russia led to Christianization of other native populations across the globe such
as the Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Filipinos, Indians and Africans led to the expansion of Christianity
eclipsing that of the Roman period and making it a truly
global religion.[26]

Forces of Muhammed IX, Nasrid Sultan of Granada, at the Battle

of La Higueruela, 1431

5.2 United States

Main article: History of immigration to the United States

quered by Muslims in the Umayyad conquest of Hispania.

Between 722 (see: Battle of Covadonga) and 1492 (see:
the Conquest of Granada) the Christian Kingdoms that
later would become Spain and Portugal reconquered it
from the Moorish states of Al-ndalus. The notorious
Spanish Inquisition and Portuguese Inquisition were not
installed until 1478 and 1536 when the Reconquista was
already (mostly) completed.

Colonial era (16th19th centuries)

Further information: Civilizing mission

See also: Christianization of Goa

The colonies which later became the United States

were largely colonized by England, and therefore their
colonists were predominantly Protestant. Even colonists
with non-English backgroundsScots, Scotch Irish, Germans, Dutch, French, and Swedeswere mostly from
Protestant countries in Northern Europe. Thus Protestantism as a religious force shaped the mind of preindependence colonial America.
By the 1790 Census, the total immigration over the approximately 130-year span of colonial existence of the
U.S. colonies was summarized as: 3.9 million total,
comprising 2.56 million British, 0.76 million African,
and 0.58 million other who probably included a
large proportion of people with poorly recorded English
ancestry.[27] It wasn't until the nineteenth century that Roman Catholics became a numerically signicant segment
of American life, mainly due to large-scale immigration
from Ireland (driven by the Great Famine from 1845

8 MYTHS AND IMAGERY

onward[28] ) and countries in Southern Europe (partly due

to farming improvements which created surplus labor),
and absorption of territories originally colonized or inuenced by Catholic countries such as Spain.

6
6.1

20th century
America

Main article: Christianity in America

In 1908 Pope Pius X declared that the United States was
no longer a missionary territory for Roman Catholicism.
By this time the Roman Catholic church was well established enough to stake a place for itself in the American
religious landscape. It was about 15 million strong by the
open of the century. Thus, the church adopted a mission to Christianalize other cultures. On November 16,
1908, a missionary conference was held in Chicago to
mark the transition from becoming a church that received
missionary help to a church that sends it. Attendees included Bostons Archbishop William H. O'Connell and
Chicagos Archbishop James Edward Quigley, who called Physical Christianization: the choir of San Salvatore, Spoleto,
attention to the new era into which the church in Amer- occupies the cella of a Roman temple.
ica now entered.
served the symbolic function of possession that a ag
would occupy today. At the siege of Lisbon in 1147,
7 Sacred sites
when a mixed group of Christians took the city, What
great joy and what a great abundance there was of pious
Main article: Christianized sites
tears when, to the praise and honor of God and of the
Many Christian churches were built upon sites already most Holy Virgin Mary the saving cross was placed atop
consecrated as pagan temples or mithraea, the church of the highest tower to be seen by all as a symbol of the citys
Santa Maria sopra Minerva (literally Saint Mary above subjection.[30]
Minerva) in Rome being simply the most obvious example, though a period of about 350 years of abandonment intervened between temple and church in this case.
8 Myths and imagery
Sulpicius Severus, in his Vita of Martin of Tours, a dedicated destroyer of temples and sacred trees, remarks
wherever he destroyed heathen temples, there he used Main article: Christianized myths and imagery
immediately to build either churches or monasteries,[29] The historicity of several saints has often been treated
and when Benedict took possession of the site at Monte sceptically by most academics, either because there is a
Cassino, he began by smashing the sculpture of Apollo paucity of historical evidence for them, or due to striking
resemblances that they have to pre-Christian deities. In
and the altar that crowned the height.
1969 the Roman Catholic Church ocially decanonized
The British Isles and other areas of northern Europe that some Christian Saints, demoted others, and pronounced
were formerly druidic are still densely punctuated by holy the historicity of others to be dubious. Though highly
wells and holy springs that are now attributed to some popular in the Middle Ages, many of these such saints
saint, often a highly local saint unknown elsewhere; in have since been largely forgotten, and their names may
earlier times many of these were seen as guarded by su- now seem quite unfamiliar. The most prominent amongst
pernatural forces such as the melusina, and many such these is Saint Eustace, who was extremely popular in earpre-Christian holy wells appear to survive as baptistries. lier times, but whom Laura Hibberd sees as a chimera
Not all pre-Christian holy places were respected enough composed from details of several other Saints. Many of
for them to survive, however, as most ancient European these gures of dubious historicity appear to be based on
sacred groves, such as the pillar Irminsul, were destroyed gures from pre-Christian myth and legend, Saint Sarah,
by Christianizing forces.
for example, also known as Sarah-la-Kali, is thought by
During the Reconquista and the Crusades, the cross Ronald Lee to be a Christianization of Kali, a Hindu de-

The Baptism of Kievans, a fresco by Viktor Vasnetsov

chose the labarum because he had a vision that led him

to convert to Christianity, Constantines conversion is disputed by some historians, who see Constantines motive
for choosing the labarum as political, with him deliberately making his banner one which could be interpreted
as supporting either of the two major religions of the Roman Empire at the time.

Ivory diptych of a priestess of Ceres, defaced and damaged by

Christians

ity.

Symbolism

Although the cross is currently the most common symbol

of Christianity, and has been for many centuries, it only
came to prominence during the 4th century.
The predecessor of the cross as the main Christian symbol was the labarum, a symbol formed by overlaying the
rst two letters of the Greek word for Christ in the Greek
alphabet. Constantine I is widely considered to have introduced the symbol into Christianity, but the symbol itself predates this.
Although Christian tradition argues that Constantine

Prior to the labarum, the main Christian symbol, and

the earliest, was a sh-like symbol now known as Ichthys
(the Greek word for sh); the Greek word is an
acronym for the phrase transliterated as Iesou Christos
Theou Yios Sotiras, that is, Jesus Christ, Gods Son, the
Savior. There are several other connections with Christian tradition relating to this choice of symbol: that it was
a reference to the feeding of the multitude; that it referred
to some of the apostles having previously been shermen; or that the word Christ was pronounced by Jews in
a similar way to the Hebrew word for sh (though Nuna
is the normal Aramaic word for sh, making this seem
unlikely).

10 See also
Forcible conversion to Christianity
Christian debate on persecution and toleration
Conquistador
Crusades

10
European colonization of the Americas
Goa Inquisition

11 NOTES

11 Notes

Inculturation

[1] Sanmark, Alexandra (2003), Power and Conversion: A

Comparative Study of Christianization in Scandinavia
(PDF), Occasional Papers in Archaeology 34

Missions

[2] Curran 2000.

Missionaries in India

[3] Gottfried Schramm: A New Approach to Albanian History 1994

Taiping Rebellion
Christianization of Anglo-Saxon England

[4] Padberg, Lutz v. (1998), p.45-48, p.53

Christianization of England

[5] Grave goods, which of course are not a Christian practice, have been found until that time; see: Padberg, Lutz
v. (1998), p.59

Christianization of Ireland

[6] Padberg, Lutz v. (1998), p.48

Christianization of the Celtic peoples

[7] Padberg, Lutz v. (1998), p.67

Christianization of Roman (Southern) France

Christianization of Bavaria
Christianization of the Netherlands
Christianization of the Swiss
Christianization of Lithuania
Christianization of the Faroe Islands
Christianization of the Basque people
Christianization of Iceland
Christianization of Scandinavia
Christianization of Finland
Christianization of Kievan Rus
Christianization of the Rus Khaganate
Christianization of Poland
Christianization of Bulgaria
Christianization of Armenia
Christianization of Goa
Christianization of Tonga
In other religions
Islamization
Judaization

[8] Examples include the Massacre of Verden in 782, during which Charlemagne reportedly had 4,500 captive Saxons massacred upon rebelling against conversion, and the
Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, a law imposed on conquered Saxons in 785 which prescribes death to those that
refuse to convert to Christianity.
[9] For the Massacre of Verden, see Barbero, Alessandro
(2004). Charlemagne: Father of a Continent, page 46.
University of California Press. For the Capitulatio de partibus Saxoniae, see Rich, Pierre (1993). The Carolingians. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN 978-08122-1342-3.
[10] Poulik, Josef (1978). The Origins of Christianity
in Slavonic Countries North of the Middle Danube
Basin.
World Archaeology 10 (2):
158171.
doi:10.1080/00438243.1978.9979728.
[11] Stanislav, Jn (1934). ivoty slovanskch apotolov Cyrila
a Metoda. Panonsko-moravsk legendy. Bratislava, Praha:
Vydan spolone nakladatestvom Slovenskej ligy a L.
Maza. Retrieved 2009-10-09.
[12] Bartokov Dagmar et al., eds. (1969). Libellus de conversione Bagoariorum et Carantanorum (i.e. Conversio)".
Magnae Moraviae fontes historici III. Praha: Statni pedagogicke nakl.
[13] Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum: Adalramus
archepiscopus ultra Danubium in sua proprietate loco vocato Nitrava consecravit ecclesiam. (Archbishop Adalram consecrated a church for him over the Danube on his
possession called Nitra.)
[14] Sommer, Petr; Trestik, Dusan; Zemlicka, Josef (2007),
Bohemia and Moravia, in Berend, Nora, Christianization and the rise of Christian monarchy : Scandinavia, Central Europe and Rus c. 900-1200, Cambridge, UK ; New
York: Cambridge University Press, pp. 214262
[15] Barford, P. M. (2001). The early Slavs : culture and society in early medieval Eastern Europe. Ithaca, NY: Cornell
University Press.

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[16] Philip Scha. History of the Christian Church, Volume

IV: Mediaeval Christianity. A.D. 590-1073. CCEL. pp.
161162. ISBN 978-1-61025-043-6. Retrieved 15 June
2013.
[17] Sisa, Stephen. (1995). The Spirit of Hungary : A
Panorama of Hungarian History and Culture. Vista Court
Books. Millington, NJ: United States
[18] Schn 2004, 170
[19] Schn 2004, 172
[20] Schn 2004, 173
[21] Christiansen, Erik (1997). The Northern Crusades. London: Penguin Books. p. 287. ISBN 0-14-026653-4.
[22] Hunyadi, Zsolt; Jzsef Laszlovszky (2001). The Crusades
and the Military Orders: Expanding the Frontiers of Medieval Latin Christianity. Budapest: Central European
University Press. p. 606. ISBN 963-9241-42-3.
[23] An Historical Overview of the Crusade to Livonia by
William Urban
[24] Kenneth Scott Latourette, A History of the Expansion of
Christianity Volume 3 Three Centuries Of Advance A.D.
1500-A.D. 1800 (1939)
[25] Guy Stresser-Pean, The Sun God and the Savior: The
Christianization of the Nahua and Totonac in the Sierra
Norte De Puebla, Mexico (2009)
[26] Stuart B. Schwartz, All Can Be Saved: Religious Tolerance
and Salvation in the Iberian Atlantic World (2009)
[27] Data From Ann Arbor, Michigan: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPS).
[28] Jay P. Dolan, The Irish Americans: A History (2010) pp
67-83
[29] Vita, ch xiii
[30] De expugnatione Lyxbonensi

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Balmer, Randall (2001). Religion in Twentieth Century America. ISBN 0-19-511295-4.

Curran, John 2000. Pagan City and Christian Capital. (Oxford) ISBN 0-19-815278-7. Reviewed by
Fred S. Kleiner in Bryn Mawr Classical Review 20
Fletcher, Richard, The Conversion of Europe. From
Paganism to Christianity 371-1386 AD. London
1997.
Gaustad, Edwin Scott; Noll, Mark (2003). A Documentary History of Religion in America Since 1877.
ISBN 0-80-282230-4.

Kaplan, Steven 1984 Monastic Holy Man and the

Christianization of Early Solomonic Ethiopia (in series Studien zur Kulturkunde) ISBN 3-515-03934-1
Kerenyi, Karl, Dionysus: Archetypal Image of Indestructible Life 1976.
MacMullen, Ramsay, Christianizing the Roman Empire, AD 100 400 Yale University Press (paperback, 1986 ISBN 0-300-03642-6 )
Padberg, Lutz v., (1998): Die Christianisierung Europas im Mittelalter, Stuttgart, Reclam (German)
Trombley, Frank R., 1995. Hellenic Religion and
Christianization c. 370-529 (in series Religions in the
Graeco-Roman World) (Brill) ISBN 90-04-09691-4
Vesteinsson, Orri, 2000. The Christianization of
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Senaka Weeraratna, Repression of Buddhism
in Sri Lanka by the Portuguese (1505 1658)(http://vgweb.org/unethicalconversion/
port_rep.htm)2005]

13 External links
Jorge Quiroga and Monica R. Lovelle, Ciudades
atlnticas en transicin: La ciudad tardo-antigua y
alto-medieval en el noroeste de la Pennsula Ibrica
(s.V-XI)" from Archeologia Medievale vol xxvii
(1999), pp 257268 Christianizing Late Antique
Roman sites from the 6th century onwards.
Unilineal Descent Groups and Deep Christianization: A Cross-Cultural Comparison

12

14

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