Basically, we assume, in a scholarly way, that Christianity and the Northmen's faith, now called Asatru, were in close contact with one another.
As a result of this proximity, the Northmen were aware of Christ, and I am sure the Christians knew about Odin and Thor.
Regardless of the spread of Christianity in other lands, it encountered a strange mix of derision and validation from Northmen.
In one case, the Northmen did not really understand a god who would willingly stand aside when action was required. The concept of turning the other cheek was decidedly unknown among them.
They did not understand, I suspect, Christians willingly dying without fighting back at all. Not only was it bewildering, I am certain they might have found it a little unsettling.
Northmen knew about Christ, they knew that he gave over to the authorities and let himself be hung on a cross. This they had no qualms with. Odin hung himself with his spear from Yggdrasil (the World Tree) for nine days and nine nights.
It seems reasonable that they would have been impressed or even amazed by the similarities.
Still, all evidence points to an unwillingness to give over to Christ and his followers.
I would suggest we cannot know how the Northmen really felt about any of it. They were, in my opinion, indifferent to Christianity.
It makes sense that they were, because those missionaries to northern lands that survived, worked very hard to assimilate the faith to the Northmen's beliefs.
We still retain evidence of this to this day. The Christian celebration of the resurrection we call Easter, but Eöster, was a Germanic goddess of fertility. Why do we call it that? Because the monks tried to make their faith accessible to the peoples of those lands. We know that the early church celebrated Christmas in the spring, but now we celebrate it at the winter solstice. We know that this was to unite the two faiths similarities to be utilized for winning souls.
Understandable, seeing that the Vikings had worked hard to loot the monasteries, and leave the monks and nuns dead or wishing they were.
Placating them, seems to be the only way they could save themselves. Martyrdom, after all is defeated by religiocide.
I don't mean that the Northmen were obsessed with destroying Christianity. That would not have been at all practical. The Chritians posed no threat, and the effort to do so would have required vast planning and man power. We know that the Northmen's clans had a lot of infighting. Decimating the Christians would not even have been a dream.
Archeological evidence, however, may show just how much the Christians persistence and patience paid off. A Mjölnir pendant found in Fossi Iceland is a combination of a cross and a hammer.
I am rather fond of the idea that the Christians began to assimilate their beliefs into the Northmen's by simple persistence and perseverance. The instant a loyal Thor worshiper thought it might be a good idea to include a prayer or sacrifice to Christ as well as the Thunderer, and as a result found they had a safe sea crossing, the word would spread. I think, then that these new believers would have continued to ply for more help. Over long years, this would have created a sense among them, that this Christian god was worthy too, and would have worshipped him out of regard for his apparent intercession.
Whether or not this accurate, is irrelevant. Speculation can be supported regardless by the very existence of such relics.
However, no one knows exactly how the Northmen may have felt.
I tend to think they would have identified with the Old Testament God. He was far to vindictive, violent and vengeful to ignore. And far too much like Odin that way. A god of wisdom, writing, and prophecy, war and battle.
But in the end, we must assume, or in my case, hope that the Northmen, and the Christians among them found some sort of common ground to live and worship on.
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