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| Oudrup kirke, Himmerland/gb |
The first Christian churches had no church bells, and since Christianity was considered an enemy of the state, services were performed in private homes or in secret. When Christianity was acknowledged in the year 313, churches were built everywhere, but without bells, since the bell ringing was considered a heathen custom. Paulinus (+431), a bishop in Nola in Campania was said to be the first to ring bells, shaped as bellflowers to call people to prayers. According to legend he was inspired to this because he fell asleep in a meadow where he was awakened by small ringing bells carried by angels. It was also said that Pope Sabinianus (+ 606) introduced bell ringing to call together for communion .
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| Hedeby klokken |
I
in 1526 the Danish king Frederic 1. ordered that if a church owned two
bells the biggest one had to be delivered for making canons - if the
church had three bells the biggest and the smallest had to be delivered.
In the whole country were gathered 1.180 church bells with a collected
weight of 375 tons.
Superstition:
In
folklore the church bells' booming sound could drive away all evil from
the parish. A little scraped rust from the church bell was considered a
help in many diseases. It was said that when Thomas Beckett was
murdered, the bells of the Canterbury cathedral began ringing by
themselves. In France the bells are not ringing on Good Friday. The
story goes that the bells flew to the Vatican. On Easter morning the
children run out into the garden to look for the the bells coming
flying home from Rome.
Scandinavia:There are 2 written sources and 2 archaeological finds about the very first church bells in the North.
1)
From the bell-producing Fulda kloster (built 744) the abbot Hrabanus
Maurus writes to bishop Gauthbert in Birka that he very soon will
send"unnam gloggam et unnum tintinnabulum". This happens around year
831.
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| Sct Patrick's bell |
2)
At Ansgar's visit by the Danish king Haarik in 855/856: "He (Haarik II
king 854-870) even allowed that a bell must ring by the church, a custom
which the heathens (Vikings) considered illegal". (from Vita Ansgarii
chapter 32 by Rimbert who became Ansgar's successor as archbisop in
Hamburg- Bremen archbishopric).
1)
One of the archaeological finds is the rest of a bell from excavations
at Hedeby (Haithabu), an excavation which was led by dr. Hans Dresche, a
famous bell-expert and earlier leader of the Helms-Museum in
Hamburg/Harburg. The find is a melted bell -bronze which has flowed out
upon a piece of charred oak from which is also a piece of a Carolingian
profile. The reconstructed bell's diameter is 23,5 cm, a height of 21,5
cm and wall-thickness 4 mm. Inclusive the trifora the height is 28 cm.
The metal alloy contains much lead, which gives the bell a very dumb and
short after sound.
It is on exhibition in the foyer of Norddeutsche Kirkenamt.
(Deutsche Glockspielvereinigung, Mitteilung 38. The bell has the name " Ansgar's Bell."
2)
The other find is the famous bell-find from the former Hedeby
(Haithabu) at Slien, which was the most important Nordic trading town
and transit harbour between east and west in the Viking Age. The find
was a complete and almost unused bell with armatur that lay by a row of
harbour poles. Hedeby was known for its until 60 meter long wharfs. It
seems that the bell simply was lost down into the muddy water when it
was being transferred to ship-transport. The profile of the bell belongs
to the style from ab. year 950 - and it was supposedly a precursor for
the later, but still very old "beehive- bell". The bell is on exhibition
at the Viking Museum in Hedeby.
Missions
The
first very early missions in the North (Scandinavia) were done by Irish
and English monks who landed with their small skin-boats
(curraghs) at the west coast of Jutland and also often went out to all
corners of the world on a dangerous journey. The monks were travelling
in small groups and one monk probably carried a tintinnabulum. These
early travels in the 600s were missions or exile/pilgrim-journeys with
the mission as a byproduct if they met other people.
The
pilgrim-journeys arose in order to replace the earlier socalled bloody
"red" martyrdom with the "white" martyrdom . The "white" martyrdom was
an idea about the voluntary excile being the highest Ascetism. In
England and Ireland were already at that time thriving culture centres.
Christianity had appeared to be quickly absorbed in the society by the
druids, and their strong connection to the clans gave the hermit-monks
the possibility to go on their pilgrim journeys.
The
population was estimated to only 1-2 millions in Scandinavia in the
600s, most of them lived in easy available areas like Denmark, Scania
(Skaane), Viken (Oslofjord). Additionally lived people on the Baltic
islands like Bornholm, Øland and Gotland and in the area around Mälaren
(near present Stockholm). The rest of the North was probably almost no
man's land, only inhabited by skridfinner
( named like this because they transported themselves by the help of skis.
There
were no inhabitants at Iceland when the Irish/English monks arrived
there. When the first Vikings later came to Iceland they called the
monks papar, the Greek-Roman word for priest ( ref. to the Icelandic
island, papay, where they probably lived. The biggest city at that time
was Byzans with 500.000 inhabitants, and the concept priest was not an
unknown territory to the Vikings who were familiar with travels across
the great rivers to the East.
The
meeting between monks and Vikings were probably often fatal to the
monks, and a procedure was made in order to make the meeting safer. If a
king or a chief ( who was already a Christian) wished to establish a
mission in a socalled heathen country, a delegation was appointed where
the leader was a high level cleric, mostly a bishop. It was important
that the leader of a mission-delegation had a high title, if the title
was low it would seem insulting and not give any protection.
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| Willibrord |
Maybe
there is a clue of some form of retribution for these monks'
desecrations of Scandinavian shrines, when the Vikings then started the
violent attacks and destructions of klosters and the sale of Christian
slaves during the next 200 years' lootings and ravaging. The monastery
at the tidal island Lindisfarne in the northeastern England was one of
the first klosters exposed to a Viking attack on the 6th of June 793.
Several other Irish and English klosters were also exposed to attacks
and ravage in the following period. The year 793 is traditionally
specified as the beginning of the Viking Age.
The monkary, which came a little later, was reigned more directly from the papacy - and they were
competing with the Irish/English monks. One of
these from the new monkary was archbishop Ebo of Reims. He was in the
summer 823 on a mission in the land of the Danes together with bishop
Halitgar of Cambrai and Willerich of Bremen. According to their own
reports they succeeded in baptizing many people during the long summer
stay in 824-827. Ebo did however not succeed in converting any Danish
magnate or any Danish king. The monk Ansgar was more
lucky a few years later. He was named "the Apostel of the North" and he
took over Ebo's missionary work. The first Danish king, who was baptized
was Harald Klak. In 826 he was driven out of the land of the Danes by
the Godfred-sons - and he arrived with his wife and a large entourage of
400 men, and they were all baptized. This happened at the castle
Ingelheim at Mainz. The baptism abroad was a political action from
Harald Klak to secure the help of the emperor Ludwig the Pious. In
return Ludwig demanded Harald's son Godfred to stay as a hostage and a
guarantee. Ansgar had to go with Harald Klak to Denmark. He was
accompanied by his friend, the monk Authbert. They brought both church
things and maybe a tintinnabulum in their luggage.
In 827 Harald Klak had to escape southwards to his vasalry in Rüstringen in east Frisland between the rivers Ems and Weber, a county which was given to HK as a christening gift from the emperor. Ansgar and Authbert had to stay with Harald Klak and to follow him back to the Christian region. Here they bought children and established a Christian school for the boys, but only outside the land of the Danes. Brother Authbert got sick in 827, he went back to the kloster and died. In the same years delegates came from Svitjod (Sweden) to the emperor at the Reichstag in Worms. The delegates mentioned people in the northern part of Scandinavia who longed for a Christian worship.
The monkary, which came a little later, was reigned more directly from the papacy - and they were
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| Ansgar preaching at Harald Klak's yard |
In 827 Harald Klak had to escape southwards to his vasalry in Rüstringen in east Frisland between the rivers Ems and Weber, a county which was given to HK as a christening gift from the emperor. Ansgar and Authbert had to stay with Harald Klak and to follow him back to the Christian region. Here they bought children and established a Christian school for the boys, but only outside the land of the Danes. Brother Authbert got sick in 827, he went back to the kloster and died. In the same years delegates came from Svitjod (Sweden) to the emperor at the Reichstag in Worms. The delegates mentioned people in the northern part of Scandinavia who longed for a Christian worship.
Ansgar
agreed to go to Sweden and was followed by a priest named Vitmar, while
Harald Klak now had a priest called Gislemar. In 830 the travel began
up to Birka in Sweden, but not on the usual and quick transit road
west-east across Slesvig to Hedeby. This route was on the river Eider
(called Fifeldor, later Egifor, Ægirs door, the sea god= the port of the
sea) and up the side river Treene to Hollingsted with a reload to
waggons and then a drive of 2 Danish miles (14 km) across land to the
bottom of the Slien, in Hedeby was reloaded to ships and the sea travel
to the east.
The
Danish king Haarik I was Harald Klak's enemy, therefore Ansgar was not
at all welcome to use the transit route across Slesvig to Hedeby. The
ship had to sail around Jutland where it was attacked by Vikings on the
halfway near the present Gøteborg. Ansgar and several others survived,
they jumped overboard and swam to the coast. 40 books , all the luggage
with the church things and the emperor's gifts were lost. If they had
brought a bell and a tintinnabulum too they disappeared into the sea.
Some of the merchants went back home, since they had lost their stocks,
but Ansgar and Vitmar continued on foot through the land of the Goths,
off and on taken onboard boats - in this way they crossed the big
Swedish lakes. Finally they came to Birka where they were welcomed in a
friendly way by king Björn. Birka was situated to the east on the
birchtree-island Björkö. The trading town was at that time half the size
of Hedeby. The king gave permission to the monks to preach and the
king's friend and advisor, Herigar - who was the chief of Birka - was
baptized and built a small wooden church by his farm.
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| Birka /museum) |
After the emperor's death in 840 the kingdom was divided in three parts, and the situation grew worse for Ansgar. His bishopric was by Ludwig the Pious' death now under king Ludwig the German as a part of east Franken. Ansgar's Turholt was now under Charles the Bald. Charles tried to befriend the very looting-active Regner Lodbrog (Reginar)by giving him Turholt. So Ansgar lost Turholt - and Reginar, who was not a friend of the Christians, closed the boy school and sent the boys out on field work. Ansgar's assisting monks left him and went home to old Corbien. Later Charles the Bald got angry with the uncontrollable Reginar and took back Turholt.
Emperor
Lothar gave in 841 Harald Klak more land: Dorestad, the island Walkeren
and the rest of Frisland as an attempt to stop the lootings which
Harald did together with the Danish Vikings. In those years were many
lootings - many klosters and churches were destroyed or exposed to
ravage and many Christians were taken prisoners and sold as
slaves.Ludwig the German went up to the other side of the Elben by the
Abodrites to incorporate their country into his empire and to make them
his taxpayers. This was too much for the Danish king Haarik I who
considered both the Frisian and the Abodrites his taxpayers. He rearmed
with 600 ships and sailed up the Elb to Hamburg which was plundered in
845. Ansgar's archbisopric was burnt down with the large "handwriting "
library which Ludwig the Pious gave him. The Danes drove out Ansgar from
the town, but a pious lady gave him the farm Ramsola ( about 30 km from
Hamburg). In 847 Ansgar got instead the archbishopric Bremen which was
put together with the rest of the archbishopric in Hamburg. After this
Bremen- Hamburg was archbishopric in the North until 1104. |
| Regnar Lodbrog |
As
the road was now cleared king Haarik sent for Ansgar and allowed him to
build Denmark's first church and a house for the priest in Hedeby in
849. It was the first time in Denmark that Christianity was allowed in
this way. There was however no permission for bell-ringing. In Hedeby
was an active heathen opposition against Christianity, but Ansgar's
church was built, and it was tolerated that the priests did missionary
work, but Jarl Howi in the lead of the leading circles of the town
forbid bell-ringing. Haarik shared in 830 the power with 2 nephews, but
the Viking lootings went on. Ansgar visited often king Haarik in the
king's last years.
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| replica, Viking church, Moesgaard, Aarhus/gb |
A
messenger came in 855 from the new king Haarik II to Ansgar. Jarl Howi
was thrown out of town. Ansgar went back to Hedeby ca. 856 and was
welcomed by king Haarik. Christianity was again allowed, the church
opened and the priest came back. Haarik gave permission to ring one bell
in Hedeby. Ansgar got a piece of land in Ribe for the building of a new
church and a house for a priest. The priest was allowed to do
missionary work, but there was no permission for bell-ringing.
Ribe was founded between 704 and 710.
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| Viking town/museum |
Ansgar
sailed to Birka in 828 and went back to Saxony in 831. After Ansgar and
Vitmar left Birka in 831, bishop Ebo sent a sister's son, bishop
Gauthbert to Sweden together with the priest Nithard. Gauthbert was by
Ebo equipped with everything for his important office, and there might
have been bells in the luggage, according to information from the Fulda
kloster.
In
Sweden bishop Gauthbert was driven out of Birka by an exited crowd of
people ab. 837-842. He might have bothered or purged the great heathen
temple in Uppsala. His priest Nithard was killed. The expulsion of
Gauthbert took place at the same time as king Haarik I's dissatisfaction
with Ludwig the German's tax prints from the Abrodites and the
retributive actions against Hamburg and its bishopric. Gauthbert became
bishop in Osnabrück and did not go back to Sweden again. During the
years 845-851 there was no priest in Sweden. After this pause of 7 years
Ansgar sent in 851 a hermit Ardgar( or Hardegar) to Birka as a priest
and to assist Heringar. When Heringar died in 851 the hermit went back
home.
Ansgar
went to Sweden in 852 together with the priest Frimbert (Erimebert), a
nephew of Gauthbert and brother of the killed priest Nithard. They went
together with a priest of Danish descent, Anfrid. Bishop Gauthbert was
still missionary bishop in Sweden, a title he got from Ebo. This time
the travel went via the transit route Hedeby and took only 20 days. The
new Swedish king Olaf welcomed Ansgar in a friendly way; the king was
baptized, and church and priest were allowed again. Ansgar went back
home. Gauthbert's two delegates went back from Sweden 3-4 years later.
Gauthbert died in 860. The next to be sent to Sweden by Ansgar was
Ragebert, but he was attacked by Danish Viking pirates and died. A
priest Rimbert of Danish descent was then sent to Sweden
In
the northernest mission of Sweden - which probably was not a popular
place of deployment - the mission died out with archbishop Unnes 17
september 936, and the land became heathen again. There was a pause of
at least 100 years - and thereafter came the other competing Christian
mission, the English missionaries and resumed the work. First of all
Sct. Sigfrid who became bishop of Växjö.
The
largest church bell in the world is the Zar bell, cast in 1733-35 in
Moscow. It is now on exhinition at the Ivan Velikij bell tower in
Kreml.It weighs 200 tons, is 14,6 m tall and with a biggest diameter of
6,6 m.
photo wikipedia
photo + text: grethe bachmann
