hen describing the transition from Old Norse religion to Christianity in recent studies, the concept of "Christianization" is often applied. To a large extent this historiography focuses on the outcome of the encounter, namely the description of early Medieval Christianity and the new Christian society. The purpose of the present study is to concentrate more exclusively on the Old Norse religion during this period of change and to analyze the processes behind its disappearance on an official level of the society. More specifically this study concentrates on the role of Viking kings and indigenous agency in the winding up of the old religion. An actor-oriented perspective will thus be established, which focuses on the actions, methods and strategies applied by the early Christian Viking kings when dismantling the religious tradition that had previously formed their lives. In addition, the resistance that some pagan chieftains offered against these Christian kings is discussed as well as the question why they defended the old religious tradition.

There are no sources which explicitly describe the complete initiation ritual of a pre-Christian king in ancient Scandinavia. However, there are sources from Scandinavia and Europe more broadly describing medieval royal inaugurations that may be based on older ceremonies related to the initiations of pre-Christian rulers. Whether or not elements in the medieval royal inauguration at Mora, south of presentday Uppsala (Sweden), are based on pre-Christian traditions is an old research problem. This royal initiation ritual is visible in the medieval provincial laws of Sweden and other sources. This study argues that there are traces of older traditions behind the medieval versions of the ritual sequence called “king taking” (OSw taka konong) performed at the Mora Stone. Focus is on the location of the ritual site, the terminology used in the preserved textual sources, and the ritual actions and paraphernalia applied when performing this ceremony. A comparative method is applied, which includes archaeological finds and written sources related not only to ancient Sweden and Scandinavia, but also to the Germanic, Slavic, and Celtic areas of Europe. Finally, the question of the mythical dimensions of inaugurations are discussed and the study’s results are related to theories about cultic continuation during the transition to Christianity and theories about religious legitimation of rulership.