
Brother Athelstan was an Anglo-Saxon monk who was captured by the Vikings during the 793 Sack of Lindisfarne. He became a servant of Ragnarr Lodbrok, and he gradually assimilated into Norwegian pagan culture, abandoning his Christian faith and befriending his captors.
Biography[]
Athelstan was born in Northumbria to an Anglo-Saxon family, and he became a monk at the Catholic monastery of Lindisfarne during the late 8th century AD. He and the other monks were sent to spread the Christian faith to Scandinavia, and Athelstan learned the Norse language. In 793 AD, during a fierce storm, he went to the prior and told him that he feared that Judgment Day was coming, recounting Jeremiah's prophecy and comparing it to the unfavorable weather conditions. However, the prior dismissed him and told him to pray for forgiveness until the storm was over.
Capture[]

Athelstan as a monk
During the Sack of Lindisfarne the next day, Athelstan was found hiding in the treasure room by Ragnarr Lodbrok, who was surprised that Athelstan spoke Norse, as well as by the fact that, of all the treasures in the room, Athelstan chose to hold the Gospel of John close to him. Ragnarr then prevented his brother Rollo Sigurdsson from killing him, instead choosing to take him as a slave, as he would be worth more. He was then brought back to Kattegat, where, when Earl Haraldson punished the insubordinate Ragnarr and his men by only allowing them to take one item each, Ragnarr chose to take Athelstan as his slave. Athelstan declined Ragnarr and Lagertha's invitation for him to join them in sex, as his religion clashed with their pagan values, and Ragnarr's children were fascinated by his clothing and his tonsuring. He later told Ragnarr more about England and Christianity, telling him of England's four kingdoms, of the loving God of the Bible, and even teaching him some Anglo-Saxon.
Becoming a Pagan[]

Athelstan at Uppsala
Athelstan came to be close to Ragnarr and his family, even confessing that he would never wish to leave Norway even if he was a free man, and he helped to save his family from the Earl's men when they burned down Ragnarr's farm. By June 794, he had lost his Christian faith and identity and had begun to wear Norse clothing and hailed the Norse gods during the family's pilgrimage to Uppsala. He was tricked into eating intoxicating mushrooms, and, while he was dizzily wandering around the festivities, Thyri Jarlsdottir approached him and kissed him before leading him away with her. She proceeded to wash him, and he realized that he was being prepared as a sacrificial offering to the gods.