Historical Setting: The Great Skellig, 924 C.E.
One would suppose that the conversation of Abbot Mactyre would have been about the monastic rule on this rock, or about the saints that make this place holy, or about the mystical nature of Christ who wanders freely among us all here. But he is telling me the tales of Vikings and English kings.
He goes on with the story but with a most interesting Christian turn to it.
He says, “Alfred was called ‘the Great’ because he oversaw the baptism of the Danish leader, Gunthrum, as a gesture to pronounce Viking settlers Christian. So, it could be said that all of England was Christian. Even though a good part of England was under the Danelaw. What I hear in his story is the pattern of the God love, on earth as it is in heaven.”
I ask, “Do you think you see a sign of Christ in this story you tell?”
“You mean the gesture? (He makes the sign of the cross) The genuflect?
“No. I mean the whole of the story of Jesus Peace. When facing a rising earthly power of lawless plunderers, murderers and rapists, steeling wider borders by subduing the people of the land, driving them from their homes, the true king holds onto his power by becoming a commoner and sharing with the people their common lot. As God sent his Son to dwell among us…”
“Yes, I see what you mean, ‘on earth as it is in heaven’ and yet there is always that debate — was the king a winner staying with his people, or a looser, by hiding? Yet, Alfred returned as king, and England was complete accepting the Norse people to live among them.”
“So, was the argument settled? Was Alfred a winner or a looser as a king?”
“Looking at England from Éire, still trembling with fear of the Danish invasion, obviously, Alfred yielded, but he let them build their cities and live peacefully under the Danelaw, so he was a looser.”
“And so, Jesus was murdered on the cross, as a looser on this contrived spectrum of power as violence. But what was shattered by the crucifixion and the resurrection, on earth as it is in heaven, is the whole notion of winners and losers.
It isn’t a story about winning and losing, it is a story about all the people of Creation being beloved by God.”
“So be it.”
“Amen.”
Historical postscript from The Chronicles and Asser — Alfred’s grandson, Athelstan, became the first true King of England. He led an English victory over the Vikings at the Battle of Brunaburh in 937, and his kingdom for the first time included the Danelaw. In 954, Eirik Bloodaxe, the last Viking king of York, was killed and his kingdom was taken over by English earls.
(Continues tomorrow)
# Christianizing a nation, #Danelaw, #Baptism of Nordic King Gunthram, #Jesus peace,
