Is there a difference in the Christianisation process between Sweden and Denmark?
If so, what are the differences?
We attempt to look at data gained from the Master spreadsheet and see if there is any geographical similarities between the the erection of rune stones in Norway and Sweden and the uptake of Christianity. This comparison with the introduction and formation of Christianity as eventually the state imposed religion is shown visually and chronologically.
The two spreadsheets used, Sweeden.xls and Norway.xlsx are both derived from the Arch_master spreadsheet. Due to the large amounts of data and varying formats some manipulation was done to create the imported spreadsheets. No data has been added as an assumption, only removal of immaterial data to this report occurred. Sorting and grouping to allow wrangling in this report has also been performed.
The major assumption held within this report is that rune stones are a sign of the influence of Christianity. While this can be insinuated through the fact that some rune stones have crosses, there are information gaps in the crosses data for both countries. Hence, for this report we are comparing the difference in Christianisation through the geographical dispersion of rune stones.
The second assumption relates to the age of the rune stones. The dating systems have proved hard to work with due to there being differing age groupings for each country. It is therefore an assumption that the age grouping selected to assess each country are the best fit to display the data and the majority of data is within the specified time period. The periods are shown below.
U: ~ <800 AD
V: ~800 - 1100
RAK: 990-1010 AD
FP: 1010-1050 AD
Pr1: 1010-1040 AD
Pr2: 1020-1050 AD
V: ~800 - 1100
Pr3: 1050-1070 AD
Pr4: 1060-1100 AD
Pr5: 1100-1130 AD
M: ~ >1100
All the libraries needed:
library(dplyr)
library(sf)
library(mapview)
library(data.table)
library(readxl)
library(datasets)
library(stringi)
library("writexl")
library(tidyverse)
library(splitstackshape)sweden <- read_excel("Sweden.xls")
sweden <- as.data.frame(sweden)
norway <- read_excel("Norway.xlsx")
norway <- as.data.frame(norway)
head(sweden, 5)## Rune Age Lat Lon
## 1 M FP 6927176 1579884
## 2 Öl M 6241046 1542160
## 3 Öl Pr2 6242620 1543480
## 4 Öl Pr2 6246416 1544878
## 5 Öl RAK 6247000 1545000head(norway, 5)## Rune Age Lat Lon
## 1 N U 58.03755 7.36496
## 2 N RAK 58.09080 7.83970
## 3 N M 58.29610 6.66180
## 4 N U 58.33956 6.29709
## 5 N M 58.52600 8.65180Dealing with the Swedish data to make usable in conjunction with the Norway data in a geo-plot. All Swedish co-ordinates are in the format RT90, which is a GPS datum used only in Sweden.
# Make the coordinates a geometrical object
filtered_data <- st_as_sf(x = sweden,
coords = c("Lon", "Lat"))
# Converting the coordinates from RT90 to WGS84
filtered_data$geometry <- st_transform(st_sfc(filtered_data$geometry, crs=3021), 4326)Making the Norwegian co-ordinates WGS84 geometrical objects for plotting.
# Make the coordinates a geometrical object
filtered_n <- st_as_sf(x = norway,
coords = c("Lon", "Lat"),
crs = "+proj=longlat +datum=WGS84 +ellps=WGS84 +towgs84=0,0,0")During this period, both Sweden and Norway were primarily a Pagan worshiping society worshiping deities from Germanic origins. Any formal Christianity would have been introduced via Norwegians who had traveled and were converted by missionaries on their travels.
This is consistent with the small and dispersed number of rune stones. The coastal locations and trade centers could possibly bolster this premise as most trade routes were maritime in nature. Hence, this is where converted travelers would be located or at least pass through.
# Rejoin the two dataframes for use in one geo-plot
sweway = rbind(filtered_data,filtered_n)
# Filter df for all entries with U for age
sweway_u <- filter(sweway, grepl("U", Age))
# Geo-plot using Age as a selectable data if multiple ages in map
mapview(sweway_u, zcol = "Age", burst = TRUE, easter.egg = TRUE, map.types="Esri.NatGeoWorldMap")This period saw the foundation and installation of Christianity in Norway and Sweden. As trading routes increased so to did influence of religion, namely Christianity. This tumultuous period saw conflict between pagan and Christian followers
In Sweden, Christianity gained traction in the Western areas and South of 59 degrees before spreading North East to Uppland. This is in line with the construction of Churches in the region
For Norway was secondary however, to its unification which was a primary event throughout this period. The events do seem to be in conjunction and the dispersal again is throughout the land. This time featuring not just in the littoral areas but into the countryside as well.
For Sweden, early in this period saw the last ruler to adhere to Norse Paganism. After his rule in 1087 Christianity rose to prominence. Some outlying areas such as Gotland remained Norse with only a small amount of Christian influence.
For Norway, this period saw the greatest rise of power within the Kingdom. Events such as Crusades to far away places like Portugal and the Balearic Islands.
Swedish rule saw Christianity rise to an ideological level, and commencing Christian crusades to Finland. Gotland, the larger island in the Baltic Sea, and one of the last provinces to adopt Christianity makes some pagan rituals punishable by fine. Subsequently, the growth in numbers of rune stones on the island over this period are in line with a late adoption of the trend.
The period saw a bloody civil war in Norway (1130-1240). Interspersed throughout this period was the implementation of Christianity through official adoption as the national religion by royal decree. Following from this, Christian laws were brought in to uphold this decree. The same generally distributed nature of the rune stones seems in line with the growth nationwide of Christianity.