In recent decades research has focused intensively on the Christanisation of Scandinavia. The point of departure has mainly been the change of religion, i.e. the issue of which forces in society triggered the changes, which missionary elements generated the process of Christanisation and, finally, what happened to pagan elements of cult after the conversion. We realize today that it was not only the nobility which backed up the process of Christanisation, that German and English missionaries were probably much more confrontational than earlier believed, and that the question of continuity of cult still needs to be assessed. But there are two questions in particular which remain to be solved. The first one deals with the issue of when Christanisation actually started according to archaeology. Early medieval archaeology is often very closely connected with history and the dates offered by that discipline, so it is often difficult for archaeologists to develop independent models of interpretation. Dates like AD 965 for the conversion of the Danish King Harald Bluetooth, around AD 1000 for the Swedish King Olaf Skötkonung and around AD 995 for the Norwegian King Olav Tryggvason are like monoliths. But we have to consider whether Christanisation had its starting point with the conversion of the king and his retinue, or whether the introduction of Christanisation was a long process stretching over centuries preceding the official breakthrough.

The second question is concerned with the issue of who had the principal role in a conversion. As E.-M. Göransson (1999, 247ff.) has recently pointed out, research on Scandinavia's Christanisation quite often describes the actors as males or as genderless individuals. This is linked to the discussion about social status, where for example the Swedish term storman (noble man) implies a male person. But the supernumerary role of women is far from certain. As research by A.-S. Gräslund (1996) for the Viking Age and by J. Wienberg (1997) for the twelfth century has demonstrated, certain women within the nobility had a leading role in the conversion of Scandinavia.

Early Insular Influence

According to the written sources there is hardly any evidence for an early insular mission to Scandinavia. In the seventh and eighth centuries, the mission to the Frisian and Germanic areas was substantially initiated by Anglo-Saxon monks, educated in Northumbrian monasteries.