PART I. CENT. XII, that illustrious prelate received in the execution of his pious enterprise; for, upon his return into Germany, many of those whom he had engaged in the profession of Christianity, apostatized in his absence, and relapsed into their ancient prejudices; this obliged Otho to undertake a second voyage into Pomerania, A. D. 1126, in which, after much opposition and difficulty, his labours were crowned with a happier issue, and contributed much to enlarge the bounds of the rising church, and to establish it upon solid foundations. From this period, the christian religion seemed to acquire daily new degrees of stability among the Pomeranians; who could not be persuaded hitherto to permit the settlement of a bishop among them. They now received Adalbert, or Albert, in that character, who was accordingly the first bishop of Pomerania. The Sclavoniand in gen. II. Of all the northern princes in this century, habitants of none appeared with a more distinguished lustre the isle of Ru- than Waldemar I. king of Denmark, who acquired an immortal name by the glorious battles he fought against the pagan nations, such as the Sclavonians, Venedi, Vandals, and others, who, either by their incursions or this revolt, drew upon them the weight of his victorious arm. He unsheathed his sword not only for the defence and happiness of his people, but also for the propagation and advancement of Christianity; and wherever his arms were successful, there he pulled down the temples and images of the gods, destroyed their altars, laid waste their sacred groves, and substituted in their See Henr. Canisii Lectiones Antique, tom. iii. pars ii. p. 34, where we find the life of Otho, who, A D. 1189, was canonized by Clement III. See the Acta Sanctor. mensis Julii, tom. i. p. 349. Dan. Crameri Chronicon Eccles. Pomeranie, lib i. as also a learned Dissertation concerning the conversion of the Pomeranians by the ministry of Otho, written in the German language by Christopher Schotgen, and published at Stargard, in the year 1724. Add to these Mabillon, Annal. Benedict. tom. vi. p. 123, 146, 323. I. place the christian worship, which deserved to be CENT. XII. propagated by better means than the sword, by the PART I authority of reason, rather than by the despotic voice of power. The island of Rugen, which lies in the neighbourhood of Pomerania, submitted to the victorious arms of Waldemar, A. D. 1168; and its fierce and savage inhabitants, who were in reality no more than a band of robbers and pirates, were obliged, by that prince, to hear the instructions of the pious and learned doctors that followed his army, and to receive the christian worship. This salutary work was brought to perfection by Absalom, archbishop of Lunden, a man of a superior genius, and of a most excellent character in every respect, whose eminent merit raised him to the summit of power, and engaged Waldemar to place him at the head of affairs." ers. III. The Finlanders received the gospel in the The Finlandsame manner in which it had been propagated among the inhabitants of the isle of Rugen. They were also a fierce and savage people who lived by plunder, and infested Sweden in a terrible manner by their perpetual incursions, until after many bloody battles, they were totally defeated by Eric IX. and were, in consequence thereof, reduced under the Saxo Grammaticus, Histor. Danic. lib. xiv. p. 239. Helmoldus, Chron. Sclavorum, lib. ii. cap. xii. p. 234, and Henr. Bangertus, ad h. l. Pontoppidani Annales Ecclesiæ Danicæ, tom. i. p. 404. Beside the historians here mentioned by Dr. Mosheim, we refer the curious reader to an excellent history of Denmark, written in French by M. Mallet, professor at Copenhagen. In the first volume of this history, the ingenious and learned author has given a very interesting account of the progress of Christianity in the northern parts of Europe, and a particular relation of the exploits of Absalom, who was at the same time archbishop, general, admiral, and prime minister, and who led the victorious Danes to battle by sea and land, without neglecting the cure of souls, or diminishing in the least, his pious labours in the propagation of the gospel abroad, and its maintenance and support at home. PART CENT. XIL Swedish yoke. Historians differ about the precise time when this conquest was completed; but they are all unanimous in their accounts of its effects. The Finlanders were commanded to embrace the religion of the conqueror, which the greatest part of them did, though with the utmost reluctance.d The founder and ruler of this new church was Henry, archbishop of Upsal, who accompanied the victorious monarch in that bloody campaign. This prelate, whose zeal was not sufficiently tempered with the mild and gentle spirit of the religion he taught, treated the new converts with great severity, and was assassinated at last in a cruel manner on account of the heavy penance he imposed upon a person of great authority, who had been guilty of manslaughter. This melancholy event procured Henry the honours of saintship and martyrdom, which were solemnly conferred upon him by pope Adrian IV. ans. The Livoni IV. The propagation of the gospel among the Livonians was attended with much difficulty, and also with horrible scenes of cruelty and bloodshed. The first missionary who attempted the conversion of that savage people, was Mainard, a regular canon of St. Augustin, in the monastery of Sigeberg, who, toward the conclusion of this century, travelled to Livonia, with a company of merchants of Bremen, who traded thither, and improved this Most writers, with Baronius, place this event in the year 1151. Different however from this is the chronology of Vastovius and Oernhielmius, the former placing it, A. D. 1150, and the latter, A. D. 1157. d Oernhielmii Histor. Eccles, gentis Suecorum, lib. iv. cap. iv. § 13. Jo. Locenii Histor. Suecica, lib. iii. p. 76, ed. Francof. Erlandi Vita Erici Sancti, cap. vii. Vastovii Vitis Aquilonia, p. 65. e • Vastovii Vitis Aquilon. seu Vite Sanctorum regni Suegothici, p. 62. Eric. Benezlii Monumenta Ecclesiæ Suegothica, pars i. p. $3. f In the year 1186. PART 1. opportunity of spreading the light of the gospel in CENT. XII. that barbarous region of superstition and darkness. The instructions and exhortations of this zealous apostle were little attended to, and produced little or no effect upon that uncivilized nation; whereupon he addressed himself to the Roman pontiff, Urban III. who consecrated him bishop of the Livonians, and at the same time, declared a holy war against that obstinate people. This war, which was at first carried on against the inhabitants of the province of Esthonia, was continued with still greater vigour and rendered more universal by Berthold, abbot of Lucca, who left his monastery to share the labours and laurels of Mainard, whom he, accordingly, succeeded in the see of Livonia. The new bishop marched into that province at the head of a powerful army which he had raised in Saxony, preached the gospel sword in hand, and proved its truth by blows instead of arguments. Albert, canon of Bremen, became the third bishop of Livonia, and followed, with a barbarous enthusiasm, the same military methods of conversion that had been practised by his predecessor. He entered Livonia, A. D. 1198, with a fresh body of troops, drawn out of Saxony, and encamping at Riga, instituted there, by the direction of the Roman pontiff, Innocent III. the military order of the knights sword bearers, who were commissioned to dragoon the Livonians into the profession of Christianity, and to oblige them, by force of arms, to receive the benefits of baptism. New legions were sent from Germany to second the efforts, and add efficacy to the mission of these booted apostles; and they, together with the knights sword bearers, so cruelly oppressed, slaughtered, and tormented this wretched people, that exhausted at length, and & Equestris Ordo Militum Ensiferorum. b See Henr. Leonh, Schurzfleischii Historia Ordinis Ensiferorum Equitum, Witteberg, 1701, 8vo. CENT. XII. we ought to Conversious. vi. It is needless to repeat here the observation we have had so often occasion to make upon such The judgment conversions as these we have been now relating, or form of these to advertise the reader that the savage nations, who were thus dragooned into the church, became the disciples of Christ, not so much in reality, as in outward appearance. [They professed, with an inward reluctance, a religion which was inculcated by violence and bloodshed, which recalled to their remembrance nothing but scenes of desolation and misery, and which, indeed, when considered in the representations that were given of it by the greatest part of the missionaries, was but a few degrees removed from the absurdities of paganism.] The pure and rational religion of the gospel was never presented to these unhappy nations in its native simplicity; they were only taught to appease the Deity, and to render him propitious, by a senseless round of trifling ceremonies and bodily exercises, which, in many circumstances, resembled the superstitions they were obliged to renounce, and might have been easily reconciled with them, had it not been that the name and history of Christ, the sign of the cross, and some diversity between certain rites and ceremonies of the two religions, opposed this coalition. Beside, the missionaries, whose zeal for imposing the name of christians upon this people was so vehement and even furious, were extremely indulgent in all other respects, and opposed their prejudices and vices with much gentleness and forbearance. They permitted them to retain several rites and observances that were in direct opposition to the spirit of Christianity, and to the nature of true piety. The truth of the matter seems to have been this, that the leading views of these christian heralds, and prop de Westphalen, which are published in the second tome, of the Monumenta inedita Cimbrica, p. 2344, and the preface to this tome, p. 33' There is in this work a print of Vicelinus well engraven. |