The Development of the Ecclesiastical Organization
The political centralization that resulted from conversion was furthered through the establishment of an ecclesiastical organization. Christianity in its medieval Catholic form featured an elaborate cult and an equally elaborate doctrine, both of which required the services of a professional priesthood. Whereas pagan cult observances consisted in the main of sacrificial parties, apparently not too unlike ordinary meals presided over by the ordinary leaders of the community, the main Christian cult, the mass, although originally based on a meal, had in the Middle Ages developed into a highly specialized ceremony. It could only be celebrated by a priest and normally took place in a special building. The original meal had been reduced to a thin wafer and a drop of wine (normally consumed only by the priest). In 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council decided that the laity should receive this meal, termed Holy Communion, once a year, and this was normally the only time they did so. At around the same period, it also became the practice that the laity received the sacrament in the form of bread only, not wine. In addition to Holy Communion or the Sacrament of the Eucharist, there were six other sacraments, given at important stages in life, from birth to death, most of which also had to be administered by the priests. The exception was marriage, which the partners gave to each other, and baptism, which any Christian could administer if no priest were available. Thus, priests and churches became essential if people were to conduct a Christian life and reach salvation after death.
In addition, the priests had to teach Christian doctrine to new converts and see to it that they lived according to the rules of the Church. In contrast to modern Protestantism—and largely also to modern Catholicism, where Christian ethics is basically an appeal to the individual conscience—medieval Catholicism consisted of a panoply of detailed rules, whose observance was monitored by priests and other ecclesiastical authorities. Every four days, on average, there was an ecclesiastical holiday when it was forbidden to work. Every Friday was a day of abstinence, when it was forbidden to eat meat or to have sexual intercourse. These prohibitions were also in effect at various other times, the most important of which were the four weeks before Christmas and the seven weeks before Easter. Characteristically, the Icelandic historian Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) summarized the pagans’ objections to Christianity in the statement that people were forbidden to work and to eat. Transgressions of these rules were punished by fines, and the priest or the bishop’s local representative was responsible for bringing the culprit to justice. In addition, the Church introduced new rules governing marriage, defining it as a voluntary agreement between a man and a woman, not, as previously, a contract between two kindred. The church also prohibited divorce and incest, the latter originally defined as marriage between partners related in the seventh degree, but in 1215 reduced to the fourth. Most of these provisions were established by law, and breaches were prosecuted at the local assemblies or, eventually, at separate ecclesiastical courts. The same applied to the use of magic, pagan cult, or doctrines opposed to that of the Church. Thus, there was a sliding transition between cult and doctrine on the one hand and government and the administration of justice on the other. Functions of both kinds necessitated a considerable bureaucracy.
Of the Scandinavian countries, Denmark was the first to have an ecclesiastical organization that conformed to European norms. Its precedence was due partly to the early introduction of Christianity in this country, partly to the greater influence there of the German mission, which was more concerned with organizational issues than was the English mission. Despite the formal division of Denmark into dioceses as early as 948, the Danish diocesan organization with eight dioceses in practice dates from around 1060. Regular dioceses were established in Norway in the late eleventh century, but the organization was not fully developed until the mid-twelfth century, when there were five dioceses. In addition, six dioceses on the Atlantic isles belonged to the Church province of Nidaros. In Sweden, the first diocese, that of Skara, was founded in 1015. The country was later divided into seven. In 1104, Scandinavia became an independent church province with its archbishop’s see at Lund in Denmark (now in Sweden).
The province was further divided in 1152/53, when Norway got its own archbishop in Nidaros, and in 1164 with the establishment of a Swedish archbishopric, centered in Uppsala. Cathedral chapters developed in the three kingdoms around the time of the foundation of the church provinces, but not in Iceland or in some of the smaller dioceses on the Atlantic isles. Beginning in the twelfth and above all in the thirteenth century, diocesan organization was further elaborated, with a growing array of provosts, archdeacons, and other officials engaged in administrative and judicial duties. There were, however, considerable differences between dioceses, commensurate with their relative wealth and size. The first Benedictine monasteries were founded in Denmark in the late eleventh century and in Norway in the early twelfth. The earliest monasteries in Sweden were the Cistercian foundations of Alvastra and Nydala, both dating from 1143. At the same time, Cistercian monasteries were founded in the other countries as well. The clerical orders that became popular in the rest of Europe during the twelfth century, the Augustinians and Premonstratensians, were also introduced to Scandinavia around this time. The mendicants arrived relatively early. The first Dominicans settled in Lund in Denmark under the patronage of Archbishop Anders Sunesen in 1223 and established their Scandinavian province (Dacia) in 1228. The Franciscans came from Germany to Denmark in 1232 and established their province of Dacia in 1239. Twenty of their thirty-one Scandinavian houses were established before 1250.
Figure 4. Lund Cathedral (Denmark), now in Sweden. Built in a German-influenced Romanesque style. The cathedral was consecrated in 1145 and dedicated to St Lawrence. It was restored 1860–80. Photo: Anton Holmquist. Wikimedia Commons.
Parish organization took shape gradually. In Denmark, a period of intense church building began in the eleventh century, mostly under the direction of kings and magnates, and eventually resulted in the division of the country into parishes. The introduction of the tithe from around 1100 was an important factor in this development. In Norway, an organization of churches for large districts is found in the provincial laws from the late eleventh or early twelfth century on, but it is doubtful to what extent this represented actual organization. In any case, the parish organization we meet in the thirteenth century and later is largely based on the numerous churches built by local magnates who wanted to have a church in the vicinity of their estates. As in Denmark, the introduction of the tithe is regarded as an important factor in the development of parish organization. According to the sagas, the tithe was introduced by King Sigurd in the 1120s, but it most likely did not become a regular contribution until the second half of the century. A large number of churches seem to have been built over a short period, although somewhat later than in Denmark, in the late twelfth and early thirteenth century. Swedish parish organization developed in a similar way as in the neighboring countries, but at a somewhat later date.
The development of the Scandinavian churches from modest beginnings to wealthy and powerful institutions can to some extent be traced in the sources. A paragraph in the Norwegian Law of Gulating, probably from the first half of the twelfth century, states that priests should no longer be beaten when they have offended but should instead pay fines, which was the normal punishment for free men. The paragraph adds that they have now become respectable men to whom members of the local communities might marry their daughters—clerical celibacy was still unknown at this date. In Denmark, some papal letters from the 1070s complained that priests were blamed for natural disasters and severely persecuted, which again points to their low status, although we do not know whether this refers to their customary treatment or only to some individual cases. Whereas priests and bishops were in the beginning often foreigners, these offices were gradually taken over by indigenous candidates from the twelfth century onwards. It is particularly significant t
hat members of the high aristocracy became bishops, a sure sign that the office had become a prestigious one, that the Church had become wealthy, and that its most prominent servants played a powerful role in society. Ecclesiastical wealth also increased as the result of gifts from the king and the aristocracy, including the bishops themselves, who often gave a part of their fortunes to their churches.
Figure 5. The Dominican House in Ribe (Denmark). Fifteenth century. The building complex is almost completely preserved. The Dominicans normally settled in towns. They were active as preachers and confessors and were often well educated. Unknown photographer.
Figure 6. Two local churches of the Middle Ages. A. The tiny stave church in the mountain community of Uvdal (Norway). The construction of the church can be dated to 1168 through dendrochronology. It was extended in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Photo: Linn Marie Krogsrud. Middelaldernett. B. The monumental Öja stone church on the wealthy island of Gotland (Sweden). Its oldest parts date from the early thirteenth century. Around a hundred stone churches of the Middle Ages are still preserved on the island, often referred to as “parish cathedrals.” Öja is one of the largest, and in addition is richly decorated. Photo: Therese Foldvik. Middelaldernett.
Compared to the other new countries of Western Christendom, Poland, Hungary, and Bohemia, the organization of dioceses came late to Scandinavia; in the three eastern countries, they were introduced very soon after conversion. The greater emphasis placed on formal ecclesiastical organization by the German Church in contrast to the English was in part responsible, but a strong wish by the rulers of the converted countries to establish their equality to and independence of the strong German Empire was also a factor. The latter also explains why Poland and Hungary became independent church provinces already in the early eleventh century, whereas Bohemia, closer to Germany and more dependent on this country, had to wait until 1344. Scotland had to wait even longer; the Scottish church was under the Archbishop of York until 1472. The Scandinavian church provinces came earlier than this but later than those of Poland and Hungary. They might have been even further postponed were it not for the Investiture Contest and the conflicts that followed it between the pope and the emperor. The province of Lund was erected in 1103, when the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen sided with the emperor against the pope. Nidaros in 1152/53 came at a time when the Archbishop of Hamburg-Bremen tried to reassert his superiority over the Scandinavian churches, and although there was at the time no open conflict between the emperor and the pope, the latter may have judged a division of the province of Lund to be a useful precaution. Finally, the Swedish province came during the papal schism, when the Danish king sided with the anti-pope Victor IV.
Although the medieval Church was far from a Weberian bureaucracy, its introduction to Scandinavia marked a decisive step in the direction of bureaucratization. The Church, particularly the post-Gregorian Church, introduced the ideas of office and hierarchy. The ecclesiastical organization consisted of officers, from the local priest to the pope at top, who were supposed to act not on their own behalf but on behalf of the organization to which they belonged. Through common rules of behavior and of rights and duties, education, and from the eleventh century, celibacy, the Church tried and at least partly succeeded in introducing an esprit de corps among its servants. In its capacity as an organized hierarchy, the Church could insist on obedience from inferiors to superiors in a way that might serve as a model for secular organization as well. Even as late as the mid-thirteenth century, the Norwegian treatise The King’s Mirror uses the ecclesiastical hierarchy as a model when teaching the king’s men the importance of obedience: if the priest disobeys his bishop or the bishop his superior, they are removed from their offices. Comparing Saul’s sin, which led to his deposition, to David’s sin, for which he was punished but forgiven, the author states that the reason behind their different treatments was not that the act Saul had committed was in itself worse than David’s sin. Saul had been ordered by God to kill all the captive Amalekites, whereas David had committed adultery with the wife of one of his officers and then killed the officer in order to cover up the sin. Like most of his readers, the author of the treatise might have found it difficult to deny that David’s was actually the worse of the two acts, but he insists that it was nonetheless outweighed by Saul’s sin because Saul had disobeyed a direct order from God.
The twelfth century has often been viewed as the heroic age of the Scandinavian Churches, even by historians with little sympathy for the Catholic Church. It was the age of great, visionary churchmen with international connections and a program for fundamental reform of the Scandinavian kingdoms in accordance with the ideas of ecclesiastical liberty (libertas ecclesiae). Their program was the familiar one promoted by the contemporary papacy all over Europe. They wanted ecclesiastical control of the appointment of clerics and of ecclesiastical property; independent ecclesiastical jurisdiction, notably in judgments of clerics; and they wanted to secure the economy of the Church through the introduction of the tithe and by abolishing or reducing restrictions against donations to the Church that had been imposed in order to protect the interests of the donor’s heirs.
Evidence from two great reforming archbishops of the twelfth century, Eystein in Norway (1161–88) and Eskil in Denmark (1137–77), both members of aristocratic families, gives some idea of the status of the Scandinavian churches at this time and of the attempts taken to bring their two church provinces into conformity with international standards. Eystein’s efforts in this direction are most easily discernible in the collection usually referred to as the Canones Nidrosienses, which most scholars nowadays attribute to him. The collection, probably issued in 1163/64, shows the clear influence of Gratian’s Decretum, which Eystein may have encountered already on his journey to Rome to receive the symbol of his dignity, the pallium. The collection shows a good grasp of its source and an ability to apply its regulations to Norwegian conditions. In Canon 1, Eystein applies the essence of Gratian’s reasoning and his sources to his ordinance about the rights of the founders of churches (the ius patronatus). In the canons dealing with the most sensitive and controversial issues of the day, ecclesiastical elections and celibacy, Eystein shows an awareness of the limits on what could be achieved under twelfth-century Norwegian conditions. Whereas the contemporary trend was to reserve episcopal elections for the cathedral chapters, Eystein describes an assembly made up of a broader range of clerics, suggesting that the cathedral chapters were probably still weak at the time. He does not exclude some lay influence, although he omits to mention the king. He points to the ideal of purity and sexual abstinence for clerics, but only forbids marriage for canons and for ordinary priests wishing to marry widows or divorced women. Thus, celibacy was not yet the rule in Norway, almost a century after Pope Gregory VII had forbidden priests to marry. As late as 1237, Pope Gregory IX expressed his surprise that Norwegian priests continued to be married and forbade the practice. In the following period, celibacy was introduced in the sense that priests did not contract formal marriages. They continued to live with women, however, as they probably did in most other countries as well. The difference was that it in Norway it was comparatively easier for them to have their children made legitimate and eligible to inherit than in the other countries.
A series of letters from Pope Alexander III (1159–81) to Eystein with answers to questions posed by him show his contacts with the curia and the international Church. In 1169, he asked about the criteria determining the legality of a marriage—a topic hotly discussed by contemporary canonists. He received an answer from Alexander III that settled this issue in canon law: consent was the decisive criterion and not sexual intercourse, which was the alternative point of view. Eystein also asked about concrete issues, such as the proper penance for a man who has committed homicide and the actions that should be taken against a cleric guilty of sexual intercourse with a nun.
The pope’s answer to a question about royal influence on episcopa
l elections shows some pragmatism on the part of both Eystein and Pope Alexander. The pope states the principle of free ecclesiastical elections, but does not forbid the archbishop to consult the king beforehand. Some questions of this kind may also have their origin in Eystein’s work on ecclesiastical legislation and preparing liturgical books. Eystein was thus a conscientious prelate who wanted his church to conform to the international Church. From the point of view of the papacy, the distant north was also of some importance at the time, because of the schism. Eystein was a staunch supporter of Alexander III, whereas King Valdemar I of Denmark in periods belonged in the opposite camp. The foundation of a Norwegian Church province had clearly increased the pope’s influence in the north, and Eystein’s appointment as papal legate (apostolice sedis legatus) may be understood as an appreciation of this fact.
Eystein’s greatest political success came in the form of privileges issued in connection with King Magnus Erlingsson’s coronation in 1163 or 1164 (the first in Scandinavia): the Law of Succession (1163/64), the coronation oath (1163/64), and Magnus Erlingsson’s privilege to the Church (c. 1170). All three documents express the ecclesiastical doctrine of kingship as instituted by God and emphasize the king’s duty to rule justly and in accordance with ecclesiastical doctrine and the guidance given by the Church hierarchy, in addition to his responsibility to defend the rights and privileges of the Church. However, when Magnus was deposed and killed, his successor Sverre refused to recognize these privileges, which led to a major conflict between the monarchy and the Church. Both Eystein and his successor Eirik (1188–1205) had to go into exile for a period, but both eventually returned and agreed to some kind of compromise with the king; Eirik admittedly only after Sverre’s death.
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