You might assume that medieval Europe was united under Christianity with the pope as its leader and the Templars as the respected and widely recognised warriors of Christ. But think again. Incredibly, there were pockets of pagan resistance – especially in the Baltics. People who worshipped many-faced gods and rejected the bible with contempt. They were not going down without a fight!
On the island of Rügen, off the Germany coast, the Rani people (or Rujani), a Slavic tribe, built a thriving civilisation centred on the worship of a many-faced god variously translated as Svetovit, Sventovit, Svantovit, Swietowit, Świętowit etc. Nobody can agree on the spelling! At a sacred place – Arkona – a large temple was dedicated to Svetovit with a large wooden representation of this fearsome pagan deity.
In 1912, the Czech Art Nouveau painter Alphonse Mucha imagined what worship of this pagan god would have looked like. This was his painting below: The Celebration of Svetovid on Rügen.
Across the sea in Denmark, King Valdemar I was not amused. He resolved to crush this pagan insolence and bring the Rani into the Catholic fold. His military commander also happened to be the king’s best friend, top adviser, and the Bishop of Roskilde. Step forward, the ruthless defender of Christendom against all pagans: Absalon.
In 1168, he and the king led an army over to the island of Rügen where, after a short siege, they broke into Arkona and chopped up the wooden statue of the pagan god, Svetovit. Other pagan temples were levelled and replaced with monasteries run by Danish monks. From now on, the writ of the pope would run at Rügen.
In Copenhagen, capital of Denmark, there is a statue of Absalon, which I encountered in 2018 (blog post continues below to the pagan crusades!).
DISCOVER: How to find your Knight Templar ancestors
What did pagan Europeans in the Middle Ages believe?
All of this bloodshed and destruction at Arkona was gleefully chronicled by a monastic chronicler with a name you won’t forget: Saxo Grammaticus. In his Gesta Danorum (Deeds of the Danes), he described some of the disturbing practices of the pagans, which reminded me of some of the more mystical elements of the hugely successful TV series, Game of Thrones. What’s very clear from his writing is that knowledge and belief in the Viking gods – let alone other Slavic deities – was still very strong.
So, let’s list some of the things Saxo discovered among the pagans – and also lingering magic beliefs among the Christians of his day as well. And to be clear, he was writing in the late 12th and early 13th centuries:
- Witches could “skin change” and he knew of an example where a sorcerer became a walrus
- Mist is conjured up to hide people from view
- Rain is conjured up in battles but if you know the right spells, it can also be banished
- Impale a dead horse’s head on a pole and you can use a resulting spell to induce terror
- The battle dead can be brought back to life by writing a spell on wood and placing it on their tongue
- Porridge laced with venom from “tortured” snakes gives the eater magic strength
- Drinking the blood of a bear or lion has the same effect
- A severed head has been known to bite the ground in a rage
- Witches and wizards can bring corpses back to life to prophesy the future
Folk beliefs were rampant throughout Europe at this time. Fortune telling, dowsing, use of charms, scrying, and spells to make crops grow were a feature of village life throughout Christendom – as well as the remaining strongholds of the pagans. As would be seen in the centuries that followed, the belief in witchcraft never dimmed, along with the role of “cunning people” who could cure disease.
Some (mainly Christian) historians dislike the idea of a conscious pagan resistance to Christianity – after all, who could resist the lure of papal rule and bejewelled bishops in your midst? Don’t we all want to burn a heretic? Yet, paganism was very resistant to missionary efforts. So much so that Rome embarked on the use of military force to snuff it out.
Crusades against the medieval pagans
Dealing with Rügen was only the start. There were plenty of other pagans still practising their pre-Christian rites. How dare they! Pope Celestine III and Pope Innocent III – two of the most powerful pontiffs in history – called for crusades against paganism. These were popes who divided their time between combatting all kinds of perceived heresy while also excommunicating Christian monarchs who had defied their authority.
It was time, in their view, to unleash the military power of the new orders of sword-wielding holy warriors to drown these pagans in their own blood. The Teutonic Knights, Templars, and Hospitallers were put on notice to destroy the remaining pockets of pagan activity. In the east, the Russian and Byzantine orthodox churches watched this with trepidation.
In truth, they had relied on these pagans to be a kind of buffer between them and western Roman Catholicism. The fear (entirely justified) was that once the pope had mopped up the pagans, he would be seeking to exert his control over the eastern Christians.
Catholic Sweden took upon itself the task of dealing with Finnish pagans. This led to wars against the Finns, Tavastians, and Karelians. The Danes also piled in against the Finns sending an army led by another bishop, Anders Sunesen – Archbishop of Lund. Scandinavian clerics certainly had no qualms about holding their church crozier in one hand and a steel sword in the other.
The Livonian crusades saw the modern Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania attacked by Catholic Swedes and Danes from the west and orthodox Christian Russians from the east. Yet they held out bravely against this dual onslaught. But the Teutonic knights pressed on relentlessly alongside a new military brotherhood sanctioned by the pope: the Livonian Brothers of the Sword.
Christianity triumphed but it would take decades for the military orders to impose total control.
If you would like to know more about the Knights Templar, then get your hands on a copy of my book: The Knights Templar – History & Mystery. Published by Pen & Sword and available on Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes & Noble, and WHSmith. Don’t miss out on your copy!
One thought on “Pagans versus Templars in medieval Europe!”