When and how did the Normans become Christianized?

Question

I've read about the Normans and their relations to the Catholic Pope in Italy and it seems that the Normans were ambivalent about their religion. I wonder how they came to be identified as Christians and what they retained of their pre-Christian religion after becoming Christains.

Answer 1

As far as I know, the Nordic faith they brought with them was very easily changed to Christianity. The Vikings had a similar mytholoy to the Christian Jesus' death and resurrection, complete with a Heaven and Hell, a Virgin birth, and a male Supreme Deity, so they adopted it, like they did in the rest of Europe. It was pretty fast, like within 100 yrs of settling in northern France. Their Christianity had a pretty profound warrior ethos, as their Viking ancestors had, which was combined with their Christian faith. Hence, the ideas of knightly virtues and chaste love first developed in this region, along with the stories of Sir Launcelot and other powerful legends.