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The Rod of God's Wrath or the People of God' Wrath ? The Carolingian Theology of the Viking Invasions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2009

Simon Coupland
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Extract

The Viking invasions of the ninth and early tenth centuries were referred to in a large number of contemporary Frankish texts, including not only annals and chronicles, but also saints’ lives, miracle texts, capitularies, royal and private charters, letters, sermons, biblical commentaries, hymns, poems and prayers. The great majority of these texts were written by clerics, either religious or secular, and as a result the raids are frequently described in religious terms and set within a religious framework. For example, the Vikings are often denoted as ‘pagani’ and the Franks as’ christiani’; towns are burned ‘divino iuditio’ and battles won ‘adiuvante Domino’,1 and the invasions are represented as a punishment for the Franks’ sins in fulfilment of biblical prophecy.

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The Journal of Ecclesiastical History , Volume 42 , Issue 4 , October 1991 , pp. 535 - 554
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Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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References

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