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Wood stated, using the term "pagan" when discussing the Anglo-Saxons forces the scholar to adopt "the cultural constructs and value judgements of the early medieval [Christian] missionaries" and thus obscures scholarly understandings of the so-called pagans' own perspectives. The pre-Christian society of Anglo-Saxon England was illiterate. Far fewer textual records discuss Anglo-Saxon paganism than the pre-Christian belief systems found in nearby Ireland, Francia, or Scandinavia.
Old English place-names also provide some insight into the pre-Christian beliefs and practices of Anglo-Saxon England. Shaw has however warned that many of these sites might not have been named by pagans but by later Christian Anglo-Saxons, reflecting spaces that were perceived to be heathen from a Christian perspective. According to Wilson, the archaeological evidence is "prolific and hence is potentially the most useful in the study of paganism" in Anglo-Saxon England.
Based on the evidence available, the historian John Blair stated that the pre-Christian religion of Anglo-Saxon England largely resembled "that of the pagan Britons under Roman rule During most of the fourth century, the majority of Britain had been part of the Roman Empire , which had Christianity as its official religion. Britons who found themselves in the areas now dominated by Anglo-Saxon elites possibly embraced the Anglo-Saxons' pagan religion in order to aid their own self-advancement, just as they adopted other trappings of Anglo-Saxon culture.
Prior scholarship tended to view Anglo-Saxon paganism as a development from an older Germanic paganism. The scholar Michael Bintley cautioned against this approach, noting that this "'Germanic' paganism" had "never had a single ur -form" from which later variants developed. Anglo-Saxon paganism only existed for a relatively short time-span, from the fifth to the eighth centuries.
As with other areas of Europe, the conversion to Christianity was facilitated by the aristocracy. It remains difficult to determine the extent to which pre-Christian beliefs retained their popularity among the Anglo-Saxon populace from the seventh century onward. In the latter decades of the ninth century, during the Late Anglo-Saxon period, Scandinavian settlers arrived in Britain, bringing with them their own pre-Christian beliefs.
Archaeologically, the introduction of Norse paganism to Britain in this period is mostly visited in the mortuary evidence. Whether these represent clear pagan identity or not is however debated among archaeologists. The English church found itself in need of conducting a new conversion process to Christianise this incoming population. The historian Judith Jesch suggested that these beliefs survived throughout Late Anglo-Saxon England not in the form of an active non-Christian religion, but as "cultural paganism", the acceptance of references to pre-Christian myths in particular cultural contexts within an officially Christian society.
Although Christianity had been adopted across Anglo-Saxon England by the late seventh century, many pre-Christian customs continued to be practiced. Both secular and church authorities issued condemnations of alleged non-Christian pagan practices, such as the veneration of wells, trees, and stones, right through to the eleventh century and into the High Middle Ages. Various elements of English folklore from the Medieval period onwards have been interpreted as being survivals from Anglo-Saxon paganism. For instance, writing in the s, Henry Bourne stated his belief that the winter custom of the Yule log was a leftover from Anglo-Saxon paganism, however this is an idea that has been disputed by some subsequent research by the likes of historian Ronald Hutton , who believe that it was only introduced into England in the seventeenth century by immigrants arriving from Flanders.
The antlers used in the dance belonged to reindeer and have been carbon dated to the eleventh century, and it is therefore believed that they originated in Norway and were brought to England some time in the late Mediaeval period, as by that time reindeer were extinct in Britain. Little is known about the cosmological beliefs of Anglo-Saxon paganism.
Although we have no evidence directly testifying to the existence of such a belief, the possibility that the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons believed in a cosmological world tree has also been considered. Anglo-Saxon paganism was a polytheistic belief system, with its practitioners believing in many deities.
The deity for which we have most evidence is Woden , as "traces of his cult are scattered more widely over the rolling English countryside than those of any other heathen deity".
The second most widespread deity from Anglo-Saxon England appears to be the god Thunor. It has been suggested that the hammer and the swastika were the god's symbols, representing thunderbolts, and both of these symbols have been found in Anglo-Saxon graves, the latter being common on cremation urns. The Nine Herbs Charm. Perhaps the most prominent female deity in Anglo-Saxon paganism was Frig , however there is still very little evidence for her worship, although it has been speculated that she was "a goddess of love or festivity".
References to idols can be found in Anglo-Saxon texts. Many Anglo-Saxonists have also assumed that Anglo-Saxon paganism was animistic in basis, believing in a landscape populated by different spirits and other non-human entities, such as elfs, dwarfs, and dragons. In pre-Christian Anglo-Saxon England, legends and other stories were transmitted orally instead of being written down; it is for this reason that very few survive today.
In both Beowulf and Deor's Lament there are references to the mythological smith Weyland , and this figure also makes an appearance on the Franks Casket. The only surviving Anglo-Saxon epic poem is the story of Beowulf , known only from a surviving manuscript that was written down by the Christian monk Sepa sometime between the eighth and eleventh centuries AD. The story it tells is set not in England but in Scandinavia , and revolves around a Geatish warrior named Beowulf who travels to Denmark to defeat a monster known as Grendel , who is terrorising the kingdom of Hrothgar , and later, Grendel's Mother as well.
Following this, he later becomes the king of Geatland before finally dying in battle with a dragon. In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, it was commonly believed that Beowulf was not an Anglo-Saxon pagan tale, but a Scandinavian Christian one; it was not until the influential critical essay Beowulf: The Monsters and the Critics by J. Tolkien , delivered in , that Beowulf was established as a quintessentially English poem that, while Christian, looked back on a living memory of paganism. Nonetheless, some academics still hold reservations about accepting it as containing information pertaining to Anglo-Saxon paganism, with Patrick Wormald noting that "vast reserves of intellectual energy have been devoted to threshing this poem for grains of authentic pagan belief, but it must be admitted that the harvest has been meagre.
The poet may have known that his heroes were pagans, but he did not know much about paganism. As archaeologist Sarah Semple noted, "the rituals [of the early Anglo-Saxons] involved the full pre-Christian repertoire: Place-name evidence may indicate some locations which were used as places of worship by the pre-Christian Anglo-Saxons.
It is possible that some of these names had pagan religious origins, perhaps referring to a sacrificed animal's head that was erected on a pole, or a carved representation of one; equally some or all of these place-names may have been descriptive metaphors for local landscape features. No cultic building has survived from the early Anglo-Saxon period, and nor do we have a contemporary illustration or even a clear description of such a structure. Summarising the archaeological evidence, C. Arnold concluded that "the existence and nature of possible shrines remain intangible at present".
Other possible temples or shrine buildings have been identified by archaeological investigation as existing within such Anglo-Saxon cemeteries as Lyminge in Kent and Bishopstone in Sussex. Blair highlighted evidence for the existence of square enclosures dating from the early Anglo-Saxon period which often included standing posts and which were often superimposed on earlier prehistoric monuments, most notably Bronze Age barrows.
Blair suggested that the scant archaeological evidence for built cultic structures may be because many cultic spaces in early Anglo-Saxon England did not involve buildings.
Signals of Belief in Early England: Circassian Georgian Vainakh Indo-European: Tribal kingship came to an end in the 9th century with the hegemony of Wessex culminating in a unified kingdom of England by the 10th century. Rulers and Religion in Ancient Svea Society. Christianization and the Rise of Christian Monarchy: Myths, Legends, and Heroes: It has been suggested that the hammer and the swastika were the god's symbols, representing thunderbolts, and both of these symbols have been found in Anglo-Saxon graves, the latter being common on cremation urns.
Although there are virtually no references to pre-Christian sacred trees in Old English literature, [] there are condemnations of tree veneration as well as the veneration of stones and wells in several later Anglo-Saxon penitentials. It remains difficult to determine the location of any pre-Christian holy trees. Christian sources regularly complained that the pagans of Anglo-Saxon England practiced animal sacrifice.
There are several cases where animal remains were buried in what appears to be ritualistic conditions, for instance at Frilford, Berkshire, a pig or boar's head was buried with six flat stones and two Roman-era tiles then placed on top, while at an Anglo-Saxon cemetery in Soham, Cambridgeshire, an ox's head was buried with the muzzle facing down. Archaeologist David Wilson stated that these may be "evidence of sacrifices to a pagan god".
Unlike some other areas of Germanic Europe, there is no written evidence for human sacrifice being practiced in Anglo-Saxon England. Weapons, among them spears, swords, seaxes, and shield fittings have been found from English rivers, such as the River Thames , although no large-scale weapon deposits have been discovered that are akin to those found elsewhere in Europe.
Wilson stated that "virtually nothing" was known of the pre-Christian priesthood in Anglo-Saxon England, [] although there are two references to Anglo-Saxon pagan priests in the surviving textual sources. One of the inhumation burials excavated at Yeavering, classified as Grave AX, has been interpreted as being that of a pre-Christian priest; although the body was not able to be sexed or aged by osteoarchaeologists, it was found with a goat's skull buried by its feet and a long wooden staff with metal fittings beside it.
Campbell suggested that it might have been priestly authorities who organised the imposition of physical penalties in early Anglo-Saxon England, with secular authorities only taking on this role during the conversion to Christianity. Germanic pagan society was structured hierarchically, under a tribal chieftain or cyning "king" who at the same time acted as military leader, high judge and high priest.
The aristocratic society arrayed below the king included the ranks of ealdorman , thegn , heah-gerefa and gerefa. Offices at the court included that of the thyle and the scop. The title of hlaford " lord " denoted the head of any household in origin and expressed the relation to allegiance between a follower and his leader.
Early Anglo-Saxon warfare had many aspects of endemic warfare typical of tribal warrior societies. It was based on retainers bound by oath to fight for their lords who in turn were obliged to show generosity to their followers. The pagan Anglo-Saxons inherited the common Germanic institution of sacral kingship. The person elected was usually the son of the last king. Tribal kingship came to an end in the 9th century with the hegemony of Wessex culminating in a unified kingdom of England by the 10th century. The cult of kingship was central to pagan Anglo-Saxon society.
The king was equivalent to the position of high priest. By his divine descent he represented or indeed was the "luck" of the people. The title of Bretwalda appears to have conveyed the status of some sort of formal or ceremonial overlordship over Britain, but it is uncertain whether it predates the 9th century, and if it does, what, if any, prerogatives it carried.
Patrick Wormald interprets it as "less an objectively realised office than a subjectively perceived status" and emphasises the partiality of its usage in favour of Southumbrian kings. Cemeteries are the most widely excavated aspect of Anglo-Saxon archaeology and thus much information about the funerary aspects of Anglo-Saxon pagan religion has been obtained.
One of the aspects of Anglo-Saxon paganism that we know most about is their burial customs, which we have discovered from archaeological excavations at various sites, including Sutton Hoo , Spong Hill , Prittlewell , Snape and Walkington Wold , and we today know of the existence of around Anglo-Saxon pagan cemeteries. There was no set form of burial among the pagan Anglo-Saxons, with cremation being preferred among the Angles in the north and burial among the Saxons in the south, although both forms were found throughout England, sometimes in the same cemeteries. When cremation did take place, the ashes were usually placed within an urn and then buried, sometimes along with grave goods.
What do we believe? And how can we possibly believe it? I need to emphasise straight away that modern paganism — at least in the UK — has no direct links with whatever it was that ancient pagans, whoever they were, believed in. The term comes from the late Latin "paganus", which simply means "country dweller" or, less flatteringly to the modern mind, "peasant".
Most country dwellers today obviously are not worshippers of Hera or Horus, and the name has emerged over the last years or so as an umbrella term to cover a multitude of practices and beliefs — plus many believers who are waking up to the fact that they have very little in common with one another — and certainly not with any ancient practice.
We don't know what the original druids did, except through Roman writing of questionable accuracy, and although the presence of cunning men and women is by contrast relatively well documented from medieval times onwards, the set of folk magic practices, and more sophisticated grimoire-based magic, remains firmly rooted within the Christian tradition and is unlikely to reflect any earlier worship except in a very tenuous form. Modern paganism's roots are in part embedded in the late 19th century, with the rise of organisations such as the Golden Dawn — a society which involved a set of highly theatrical, and more than somewhat turgid, magical practices, and which was heavily patronised by luminaries like George Bernard Shaw and WB Yeats.
Its more sensational proponents were people like McGregor Mathers, who fancied himself as a Scottish count, and a young Alistair Crowley.
Predictably, the Order disagreed with Crowley and, no doubt fanning itself furiously, booted him out, whereupon he set up his own society, now known as the Ordo Templi Orientis. The pattern of rows, flouncing, schism and petty ideological disagreement — common to all religious orders the world over — has been repeated ever since. Whatever flavour of practice you care to name, however — wicca, druidry, heathenism, or ceremonial magic — there are some common themes: Conversion Among the Germanic Peoples.
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Norse gods Norse giants Mythological Norse people, items and places Germanic paganism Heathenry new religious movement. Paganism historical and modern. Circassian Georgian Vainakh Indo-European: Chinese Tibetic Sub-Saharan African: Christianization of saints and feasts Christianity and Paganism Constantinian shift Hellenistic religion Iconoclasm Neoplatonism Religio licita Virtuous pagan.