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Paganism to Christianity in Anglo-Saxon England

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 August 2011

William A. Chaney
William A. Chaney
Affiliation:
Lawrence College, Appleton, Wisconsin
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Extract

In Anglo-Saxon as in Christian history, many roads lead to Rome. This has been correctly and at times overemphasized in matters ranging from Augustine to Whitby, from numismatics to law, from banners to Bede. Indeed the Roman road has been so broad and so well marked with recorded miliaria that we may have missed the growth-ridden Germanic by-paths which were actually trod by the tribes in England. But surely the impact of culture on cult is as important in history as the reverse, and the terms in which the newly converted Anglo-Saxons interpreted the Christian religion were shaped by the tribal culture, impregnated, as it was, by the heathenism of the old religion. Gregory the Great's famous letter to the Abbot Mellitus, advising that pagan temples in England be used for the worship of the Christian God that the people “ad loca quae consuevit, familiarius concurrat,” and that the sacrificial animals of heathenism be now devoted to Christian festivals, agrees with the responsa of the same pope to Augustine concerning the choosing of local customs best suited to the conditions of the converted. In a way, this study is a scandalous footnote to that wise anthropological advice, with the intention of setting forth some of the similarities of the old and new religion which allowed a syncretic merging. Thus many features of the Conversion period which have been interpreted post eventum as Christian were undoubtedly seen with other—and familiar—overtones by the Woden-sprung rulers and their people.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 53 , Issue 3 , July 1960 , pp. 197 - 217
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1960

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References

1 Ven. Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica, I, 30.

2 Ibid., I, 27; on the genuineness of the responsa, cf. Levison, Wilhelm, England and the Continent in the Eighth Century (Oxford, 1946), p. 17Google Scholar, n. 1; Moore, W. J., The Saxon Pilgrims to Rome and the Schola Saxonum (Fribourg, Switzerland, 1937), p. 9Google Scholar, n. 3. Deanesly, M. and Grosjean, P., “The Canterbury Edition of the Answers of Pope Gregory I to St. Augustine,” The Journal of Ecclesiastical History, X (1959), pp. 1–49CrossRefGoogle Scholar, have recently examined the arguments against the authenticity and have concluded that, within limited distinctions not touching the responsa cited above, “the libellus may be held to be Gregorian.”

3 See, e.g., Christ, 514; Christ and Satan, 93, 219, 309; The Lord's Prayer II, 47–48. Line references to Anglo-Saxon poems throughout this paper are, unless otherwise stated, from Anglo-Saxon Records (ed. Krapp, and Dobbie, ; New York, 1931–1953).Google Scholar Cf. Young, Jean I., “Glaed waes ic gliwum—Ungloomy Aspects of Anglo-Saxon Poetry,” The Early Cultures of North-West Europe (H. M. Chadwick Memorial Studies, ed. by Sir Fox, Cyril and Dickins, Bruce; Cambridge, 1950), p. 276.Google Scholar

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6 Ibid., III, 8.

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9 Ibid., II, 15.

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28 Grinsell, op. cit., p. 79, with examples of long and round barrows associated by tradition with the Devil.

29 Ibid., p. 78; the twelfth century “translation” of skeletons from barrows to monasteries and into saints’ relics is well recorded: ibid., pp. 80, 110.

30 Storms, op. cit., p. 189, with Anglo-Saxon text on p. 188 and discussion of these lines on p. 195. For the parallel of Woden and the Latin Mercurius, who also created letters, cf. B. Dickins, op. cit., p. 154.

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44 H. R. Ellis Davidson, “Gods and Heroes in Stone,” The Early Cultures …, pp. 132–133; this important article, pp. 123–139, has been used as the basis for the following, even though the relationships of Christian Devil, Loki, and smith have not been fully developed in it. For the Gosforth Cross, cf. Berg, Knut, “The Gosforth Cross,” Journal of the Warburg and Courtauld Institutes, XXI (1958), pp. 27–43CrossRefGoogle Scholar, in which the Cross panels are interpreted as scenes of Ragnarok, the twilight of the pagan gods, on three sides and the Christian rebirth and victory of the Cross on the east side; the bottom scene on the west side is interpreted as the bound Loki (p.35).

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48 For the later Norse similarities between Loki and Satan, cf. E. A. Philippson, op. cit., esp. pp. 48, 56, 71, 73.

49 Davidson, op. cit., pp. 127–129, 136–138, where these works are discussed.

50 Halvorson, op. cit., p. 30.

51 Branston, op. cit., pp. 157–162; the use of baldor, “prince,” in Judith relates this god to ruler-cult: Brincker, op. cit., pp. 12–13.

52 Branston, op. cit., p. 137. Cf. Chadwick, Origin …, pp. 243–267, on relation of Frey, Freyja, Gefion, and the possible continuation of the cult in England.

53 Pering, Birger, Heimdall (Lund, 1941), p. 173.Google Scholar

54 Philippson, op. cit., pp. 14–15, 19, 36, 42–52, 67–68, 73, 76.

55 Christ, 1216–1227, Christ and Satan 439–440, Andreas 746–750. In the convenient ed. by Gordon, R. K., Anglo-Saxon Poetry (Everyman's Library; London, 1926), pp. 171Google Scholar, 146, 214, respectively; other examples on pp. 144 (Christ and Satan, 201–204), 160 (Christ, 659–660), 206, 213, 215 (all from Andreas, 324–328, 700–703, 786–787). In the Gnomic Verses of the Cottonian MS., we find “God alone knows it, our Father the Savior”: Cook, A. S. and Tinker, C. B., Select Translations From Old English Poetry (revised ed.; Boston, 1926), p. 68Google Scholar; cf. pp. 80, 82–83, 87, 99, 123. Cook, A. S., “King Oswy and Caedmon's Hymn,” Speculum, II (1927), p. 71Google Scholar, n. 2, on reference in 7th-8th century Voyage of Bran to Christ as Creator.

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66 Cf., e.g., Olrik, Axel, Nordisches Geistesleben in Heidnischer und Frühchristlicher Zeit (Heidelberg, 1908), pp. 41Google Scholar, 96; Pering, op. cit., pp. 116–119.

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68 Jolliffe, op. cit., p. 42.

69 de Boor, Helmut, “Germanische und Christliche Religiosität,” Mitteilungen der Schlesischen Gesellschaft für Volkskunde, XXXIII (1933), pp. 26–51Google Scholar; Buckler, F. W., “Barbarian and Greek—and Church History,” Church History, XI (1942), p. 22.Google Scholar

70 Christ, 941–942; Gordon, ed., op. cit., p. 166. God is often described as a king; cf. p. 316: “Then tie Ruler of heaven radiant as the sun shall sit on the high throne glorified with his crown” (from Doomsday).

71 Quoted in Jolliffe, op. cit., p. 43.

72 Whitelock, op. cit., p. 757.

73 Ibid., p. 853; cf. pp. 783 (letter of Alcuin to Offa of Mercia), 784 (letter of Alcuin to Eardwulf of Northumbria).

74 Eddius Stephanus, Life of Bishop Wilfrid, c. 19 in ibid., p. 694.

75 Naumann, op. cit., pp. 7–9.

76 Bede, Hist. Eccl., III, 7. Later also, when his kingdom lacked a bishop, “he understood that a province forsaken by its prelate was rightfully forsaken also by divine help.”

77 Anglo-Saxon Chronicle sub anno 634 (MS. E); Bede, Hist. Eccl., III, 1, which adds that the British King Cadwallon slew them both without delay iusta ultione. Peter Hunter Blair, “The Moore Memoranda on Northumbrian History,” The Early Cultures …, pp. 248–249, discusses this and suggests Anglo-Saxon familiarity with the Roman custom of damnatio memoriae.

78 Bede, Hist. Eccl., II, 5; A.-S. Chronicle sub anno 616.

79 Bede, Hist. Eccl., III, 30.

80 Ibid., II, 15.

81 Ibid., II, 9.

82 From Judges; Whitelock, op. cit., p. 854.

83 E.g., A.-S. Chronicle sub anno 937 at Brunanburh; at Ashdown in 871 A.D. Aethelred remained praying at Mass—occupying himself with blot—and refusing to leave for the battle until worship was concluded, and “the faith of the Christian king availed him much with God”: Florence of Worcester, Chronicon ex Chronicis (Rolls Series), I, p. 83.

84 Wade-Evans, op. cit., p. 83.

85 Bede, Hist. Eccl., III, 18.

86 Ynglingasaga, c. 18 and 47; H. M. Chadwick, op. cit., pp. 236, 301–302; Rugg-Gunn, Andrew, Osiris and Odin. The Origin of Kingship (London, 1940), pp. 116–117Google Scholar; Vigfusson, and Powell, , eds., Corpus Poeticum Boreale (Oxford, 1883), I, pp. 409–410.Google Scholar

87 Vigfusson and Powell, op. cit., I, pp. 414–415; H. M. Chadwick, op. cit., p. 301.

88 A.-S. Chronicle sub anno 633; Bede, Hist. Eccl., IV, 26; A.-S. Chronicle sub annis 870, 650/651, and 792 (794), respectively. Wilson, H. A., ed., The Calendar of St. Willibrord from MS. Paris. Lat. 10837 (Henry Bradshaw Society, LV; London, 1918)Google Scholar, dating from the first quarter of the eighth century, commemorates Edwin, Egfrid, and Oswini, besides Oswald; cf. introd., p. xxii. Another early eighth century calendar, in Bauerreiss, P. Romuald, “Ein angelsächsisches Kalendarfragment des bayrischen Hauptstaatsarchivs in München,” Studien und Mitteilungen zur Geschichte des Benediktinerordens und Seiner Zweige, LI (1933), p. 179Google Scholar, commemorates Egfrid and King Osric of Deira, the latter remarkable in view of his excision from the king-lists as an apostate, slain by Cadwallon. Whitelock, op. cit., p. 31, believes the early cult of St. Edmund of East Anglia “is understandable only on the assumption that something other than his death in battle took place;” in the light of the evidence concerning Egfrid, Osric, et al. and the entire concept of the “sacrificed” king, I see no difficulty in this cult.

89 Levison, op. cit., p. 36.

90 See above, n. 88.

91 Liebermann, F., Die Heiligen Englands (Hanover, 1889)Google Scholar, passim.

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93 Attenborough, op. cit., p. 37; in the Welsh laws of Hywel Dda, “every freeman between the feast of All Saints and the feast of St. Martin”—i.e., between November 1st and November 11th—“is to pay the lord what he is bound to pay”: Richards, Melville, The Laws of Hywel Dda (Liverpool, 1954), pp. 84Google Scholar, 136.

94 On the three annual great festivals of Scandinavia, cf. H. M. Chadwick, op. cit., pp. 227–228, 248, and on November as sacrificial month in England, p. 228; Jolliffe, op. cit., p. 42: “The three high feasts of English heathendom were Winter's Day (November 7), Midwinter's Day (December 25), and Summer's Day (May 7). …. These, in the pagan North, were the great ceremonial feasts when the king sacrificed for the people, on Winter's Day for a good year, at Midwinter for good crops, and on Summer's Day for victory in battle.” Cf. Vigfusson and Powell, op. cit., I, pp. 404–405, 414. Cf. Storms, op. cit., pp. 9, 90, on the blessing of herbs in Anglo-Saxon England at three Masses on Midwinter's Day.

95 Storms, op. cit., p. 9; one only wishes one could know whether the former custom of visiting Silbury Hill in Wiltshire, the largest artificial mound in Europe, on Palm Sunday and feasting there extended back into Saxon times, if in other forms: Grinsell, op. cit., p. 81.

96 Robertson, op. cit., p. 21.

97 Murray, Margaret, The Divine King in England (London, 1954), pp. 45–46Google Scholar, 218.

98 Storms, op. cit., pp. 50, 142–143, 147; the northern smith also makes his appearance in this charm: pp. 140–141, 146–147 (in which he is related to Weland the Smith). Helm, K., Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte (Heidelberg, 1913), p. 217.Google Scholar

99 Liebermann, F., The National Assembly in the Anglo-Saxon Period (Halle, 1913), p. 17Google Scholar; the charter is Birch 201 B.

100 T. Arnold, ed., History of the English, by Henry, Archdeacon of Huntingdon (Rolls Series, LXXIV), p. 141; Corvoc was king and bishop of Ireland: J. W. Ab Ithel, ed., Brut Y Tywysogion (Rolls Series, XVII), p. 19.

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102 Henssler, Ortwin, Formen des Asylrechts und ihre Verbreitung bei den Germanen (Frankfurt-am-Main, 1954), pp. 54–55.Google Scholar

103 Bede, Hist. Eccl., II, 13; cf. H. M. Chadwick, op. cit., pp. 302–303; Henssler, op. cit., p. 74; Vigfusson and Powell, op. cit., I, p. 407.

104 Whitelock, op. cit., p. 437.

105 Phillpotts, Bertha, “Germanic Heathenism,” Cambridge Mediaeval History (New York, 1913), II, p. 493.Google Scholar

106 H. M. Chadwick, op. cit., pp. 302–303.

107 Henssler, op. cit., pp. 71–73.

108 Attenborough, op. cit., p. 149.

109 Liebermann, Die Gesetze …, I, p. 470.

110 From Pax, dating c. 910–c. 1060 A.D., in Liebermann, Die Gesetze …, I, p. 390 (with Latin text of Quadripartitus, p. 391). For scaeftamunda, the origin of which is unclear but which was apparently a measure of about six inches, cf. Bosworth, J. and Toller, T., An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary (Oxford, 1898), p. 821.Google Scholar

111 This complicated problem, which I plan on treating elsewhere, is also related to the “Nine Herbs Charm,” above, but more largely to the whole problem of the “king's number.” For the ecclesiastical “mile” of asylum at Ripon and Beverley, connected with King Aethelstan, cf. Whitelock, op. cit., p. 42. Edward the Confessor's shrine granted asylum to a thief even before the king was canonized, but then the Confessor was heilerfüllt almost at birth, since he was presented on the altar at Ely by his parents while still in his cradle; cf. Harmer, F. E., Anglo-Saxon Writs (Manchester, 1952), pp. 13Google Scholar, n. 2, 222. Indeed, the holiness of altar and throne is apparently reflected in the word “gifstol,” which has the meaning of both places; cf. Dubois, Arthur E., “Gifstol,” Modern Language Notes, LXIX (1954), pp. 546–549.CrossRefGoogle Scholar