So I'm wondering about a couple of things concerning the Vikings and Christianity. I want to compare the life of the 'Viking' during their time without Christianity and with it. With Viking I mean a Scandinavian who lived in Scandinavia, not a traveler, plunderer etc.
Other than what they believed, how did the rest of the 'Viking's life' change. Did they lose their version of the court, 'The Thing'? Did they stop plundering the rest of Europe? Did they lose other political parts like having 'Jarls'? Was slavery outlawed? Did they change their way of building houses, did they eat differently and did they start wearing different kinds of clothing? Were their views on alcohol changed?
If you have any extra information I would be extremely happy to hear it. I know I'm asking for quite a lot of things but I hope I'm not too demanding. Answering these questions would really help me out.
Sorry about my English, I'm Dutch.
Speaking from a background in Viking Age archaeology, the biggest change with the adoption of Christianity in the Scandinavian homelands (which is generally considered to be around the conversion of King Harald of Denmark by Bishop Poppo in 963 AD) was in terms of the beginning of literacy. Of course, many Scandinavians had adopted Christianity wholly, or in part, through their travels throughout Europe, and there was almost certainly Christians living in the proto-urban towns in Viking Age Scandinavia.
The process of Christianisation was not an immediate one either, and the new religion took quite a long time to dominate beliefs in Scandinavia. Moulds for Thor's hammers (pagan pendant symbol) and Christian crosses have been found on the same mould-stone, showing pendant-makers were hedging their bets in a society of mixed beliefs!
One of the most obvious changes was the orientation of the graves - they changed from N-S alignment to E-W alignment. Along with this, there is a drop off in the use of grave goods. They also changed the style of their runic inscriptions, incorporating Christian beliefs into the epitaphs that these stones often entail.
As for your query about their 'plundering'....this was largely finished before the Scandinavians converted. Most 'plundering'/raiding finished up around the decades 850s-870s, so this wasn't an issue.
I'm not too confident in my knowledge of Things, but my impression is that they continue, although with less and less power into the medieval period.
The other questions, perhaps someone else might have more knowledge on, but as far as I know, slavery continued (it's in the Icelandic sagas) to some extent, house types were not affected by Christianity, but rather normal engineering changes and trends through the centuries, as with clothing. Alcohol probably increased in consumption, as it was needed for communion wine, if that's what you're getting at?
Hi! I'm really hoping that some of the viking specialists in this sub will jump in with lots of information for you, but meanwhile, there have been several previous posts asking about the effect of Christianity on the Norse people. See these for the previous discussions
What was the importance of christianity reaching the vikings?
Why did Christianity win over the Nordic and Germanic religions?
How did Norsemen transition from Vikings to an extremely progressive welfare state?