ABSTRACT
Christianity in Northern Europe By the end of the first millennium in northern Europe, all thought was controlled by
faith. The Christian religion was supercharged with potentials for change. Despite
conflict and plague, the High Middle Ages saw periods of prosperity and economic
expansion, sufficient to support strong efforts to put the social order on sound
theological footings. While church and state competed for power, the internal
inconsistencies of the Christian faith, seemingly irreconcilable, kept ideas fermenting.
Scholasticism, an attempt to use precedent and church authority in a rational way,
