Poul Anderson's Mother Of Kings, like Poul and Karen Anderson's The King Of Ys, is historical fiction with elements of fantasy. Thus, in both, witchcraft works and so does a Christian miracle. It is acknowledged that Christ is a god. By remaining unharmed while holding a white-hot iron bar, a Bishop demonstrates that Christ is also a powerful god.
King Haakon commands all to be baptized. A spokesman replies:
"'If...you mean to drive this undertaking of yours through with might and threat, then we yeomen have agreed we'll be done with you, and find another lord, who'll allow us freedom to keep whatever faith we ourselves want.'"
-Poul Anderson, Mother Of Kings (New York, 2003), Book Four, Chapter VI, p.313.
I am bound to agree with the spokesman.
The King's close adviser asks:
"'...is not the world of the gods a wonderful world?'" (p. 314)
He lists "Green Yggdrasil...," Odin winning wisdom and Thor repelling trolls until the last winter. His final point is that these are ours, not anything from Romaborg or the Empire, and he asks how long we can remain ourselves without them. The answer is that we still have them, alongside every other worldview, and they are well expressed through modern media like Poul Anderson's novels.
2 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
Of course King Haakon, in misplaced ardor, was wrong to try to persuade his people to become Christian by threatening to use force to coerce them to convert. Fortunately, unlike some of his other relatives, Haakon was wise enough to back down and use gentler means of persuasion.
Sean
King Olaf Tryggvason was particularly noted for torturing to death those who refused to accept Jesus Christ as their personal Savior. Raud the Strong, who had a venomous snake forced down his throat, is a well-known example. (And where's the sympathy for the poor snake, too?)
It was fairly standard for quite some time that conversion of the ruler required that all his subjects convert as well. The *1632* or *Ring of Fire* series points this out several times, with mention of how 17th-century people born Catholic would be ordered to become Lutheran or Calvinist, or *vice versa*, if the local prince changed his beliefs or was succeeded by a relative of a different faith. Not converting to match your ruler was seen as treason, or very nearly. So much for "personal conscience." It's a bit surprising that more of the commoners didn't become jaded and sarcastic about "What version of Christian are we THIS year?"
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