h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

"In 1030 AD, the Vikings were converted to Christianity, and the worship of the Nordic gods soon died out."

Where does this year come from? A lot of vikings including some kings were converted earlier, quite a few were not converted yet. Can't find any references for 1030.

The most important thing I can find, that happened this year was that the christian king Olav of Norway lost in a battle against a peasant army at Stiklestad. He was killed together with most of his army. Doesn't sound like a victory for christianity.

The Danish king Harald was christened already about 960, and he ordered christianity introduced in Denmark, and though his son Svend (see Bluebottles Uniproject about vikings at Isle of Wight) wasn't as good a christian as he could be, he wasn't against christianity either. I'm not sure about Sweden, but most Danish and Norwegian kings were christian from about 1000AD.

Hiya!

You've got the other sister here, since CP's ISP is being less than alive... more on the dearly departed side...

As I'm on the phone to CP at the mo, I'll let her dictate...

'I got this date from a book which I use quite often for such stuff, but if there are any other variations, I'd be happy to hear them I'm quite interested in mythology, so any conversations along this line would be great, especially as I got LofR for my birthday, so... yeah '

Hope that helps

Stay ,
WD (the other sister)

around 1000bc the population of Iceland was converted to christianity (either that or face a long and bloody war with a nation 20 times larger), and so breaking the last stronghold of the Ásatru religion. That´s probably where he got the date.

The linking of the conversion of the Vikings to christianity and the year 1030 is indeed due to the battle at Stiklestad where Olav Haraldson lost his life while trying to retake Norway. Olav had made himself very unpopular as a ruler, partly due to his methods when converting the population.
He tore down old places of worship, chopped limbs off people refusing to convert, and confiscated properties of those killed. Many people had already been converted while trading and/or pillaging the rest of Europe. (They would usually stop pillaging after being converted. ) Why is Olav's death linked with the end of the old norse beliefs in Scandinavia?
Its simply that after his death word of miracles started to spread, and his coffin was placed in a shrine at Nidaros (present day Trondheim) and people started making pilgrimages there. Whether the legends of St. Olav gave Christianity a final boost or whether he just happened to die right when the old beliefs were about to give up I don't know.

Good point!

(Though I still don't like the wording. )

Does anyone know who Thiazi is supposed to be? Þjassi?
HmmmCheers Ismarah

Thiazi is a giant. This is a summary, as I have said several times. If you feel that this entry lacks detail, why don't you do a University Project on it? In that way, I'll be sure that it'll have considerably more detail in it than a simple summary.

Thank you for those constructive comments I have seen in this thread. If you want things to be altered or changed, I'm sure the Editors will only be too happy to deal with such requests.

--
For those who are still unsure, here is the story behind this Entry.

As a new Researcher to the Guide, I was quite inexperienced but eager to push as many Entries as I could into Peer Review. My first Entry on the classic game 'Lemmings' had gone down well, and my 'Badminton' Entry had good feedback.

On 25 July 2001, I submitted this Entry: A600021, titled 'Norse Mythology - A Summary' to Peer Review, and it had this thread:

F73105?thread=130201

I had written it with full knowledge that it was nowhere near as detailed to comply with all aspects and bits of Mythology, and so reiterated in my first post on submission that it was indeed 'a summary' as previously seen.

The first comment from Taliesin was extremely encouraging. I added links to Entries mentioning his suggestions and waited for more comments.

Unfortunately, the second comment from Gnomon was very realistic. Someone else had put a selection of Entries on the same topic into Peer Review before I had, and I had failed to check this prior to submission. On the other hand, the Researcher who got there before me had plans to do a University Project with their information, and I offered to collaborate Entries and do a joint Project.

But woe me(!) R, who was planning the Project, disappeared offsite, and I had no idea on whether the Project was going ahead. My Entry was still floating around Peer Review, and a few more people had commented, for example, Tube saying that it was a 'nice overview'.

And then, on 3 September 2001, the Entry had been recommended! This meant that it would not be able to be put in a Project, and as R had not returned, I decided to let it be and see what the Sub-Editor thought of it. After recommendation, the Entry was completely out of my hands for first-hand editing.

There were a few niggles, especially over the spelling of 'Role', but other than that, the Entry reached the Front Page on 10 December 2001 as Editor's Choice, to coincide with the release of the film, 'The Lord of the Rings - The Fellowship of the Ring'.

However, it had lost the part of the title that referred to it as 'A Summary'.

Now, I know there are some details missing. There are also several variations on the tales in question. It is impossible for me to establish an Entry that covers all the points in question without some kind of debate.

This Entry had been in Peer Review for a good two months before recommendation. Any points raised here should have been raised in that Peer Review thread. And as they weren't, they were not added in. If you want *more* detail, then either write a detailed Entry entitled 'Norse Mythology - In Detail' or go the full stretch and write a University Project on it.

Just some advice: don't title it 'Norse Mythology - A Summary', as it'll probably be lost in the final Edit.

Thank you very much for your kind comments. I'll just go and impale myself on the studs of some football boots now.

Erm...

Usually we're allowed to discuss h2g2 entries, right?
I hope it's okay to add information?

I *like* the entry! Otherwise I wouldn't bother to comment!




Thiazi. Tjazi. Tjasse.
Lots of way to spell names, so probably Þjassi, yes.

Just in case CP hasn't actually unsubscribed I'm going to throw in an AOL to Ottox post.
It's a terrific entry.