Hilde Inntjore

Project: The Christianization of Norway- A case study of Agder

Agder is the southern part of Norway, consisting of the two counties East and West Agder, having a long coastline to the North Sea. The region is seen as a rather remote one in the medieval times. It had no towns, no main church or monastery, and when it comes to holding land only a small percentage was held by the central church, king or aristocracy and as much as about 76 percent by the local farmers themselves. Yet there are several traces of trade, contact and influence from overseas, mainly shown by archaeological findings and similarity in details of the stone churches. In this project the question of Christianization of Agder has two main focuses. The first one is towards establishing the early change from the old to the new religion. For the second one the aim is at the organizational development of the church and thereby the further Christianization. The way of presenting the problem is when we can spot the first sight of a change in religion, what influenced it, and how did the Christianization affect the region on a long term bases? As for sources I will use written and archaeological ones, as well as looking into toponyms and the localization of churches. This will be discussed in regards to cites of significance of the old religion, and centres of local power. Because of the closeness and contact with Denmark, a comparison to Jylland will be made. The final goal is to establish a pattern of how Christianization came about and affected Agder, and bring the conclusion attached to this locality up towards the discussion of the situation for Norway in general.

Main publications

”Scandinavian history in the Middle Ages and the extension of Nordic: Cultural and historical preconditions of language.” I Oskar Bandle (hovedred.): The Nordic Languages. An international handbook of the history of the North Germanic languages. Volume 1, Zürich. Utgiver: Walter de Gruyter. 2002

”Kirke og tro i middelalderen.” I Hilde Inntjore (red.): Agderkirken, Skriftserien nr. 83, Høgskolen i Agder, Kristiansand. 2002

”Nonneseter – et middelalderkloster i Norge” Forskningsserien nr. 24. Høgskolen i Agder, Kristiansand 2000. Publisering av hovedfagsoppgaven fra 1998.