Anglo-Saxon Paganism

Anglo-Saxon paganism (Anglo-Saxons of England)

Anglo-Saxon paganism, sometimes termed Anglo-Saxon heathenism, Anglo-Saxon pre-Christian religion, or Anglo-Saxon traditional religion, refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the 5th and 8th centuries CE. A variant of Germanic paganism found across much of north-western Europe, it encompassed a heterogeneous variety of beliefs and cultic practices with much regional variation. Developing from the earlier Iron Age religion of continental northern Europe, it was introduced to Britain following the Anglo-Saxon migration in the mid 5th century and remained the dominant belief system in England until the Christianisation of its kingdoms between the 7th and 8th centuries. Some aspects gradually blended into Anglo-Saxon folklore. The pejorative terms paganism and heathenism were first applied to this religion by Christian Anglo-Saxons. Anglo-Saxon paganism was a polytheistic belief system, focused around belief in deities known as the ése (singular ós). The most prominent of these deities was probably Woden. Other prominent gods included Thunor and Tiw. There was also a belief in a variety of other supernatural entities which inhabited the landscape, including elves, nicors, and dragons. Cultic practice largely revolved around demonstrations of devotion, including the sacrifice of inanimate objects and animals to these deities, particularly during certain religious festivals. There is some evidence for the existence of timber temples, although other cultic spaces might have been open-air and would have included cultic trees and megaliths. Little is known about pagan conceptions of an afterlife. Belief in an afterlife probably influenced funerary practices, wherein the dead were either buried or cremated, typically with a selection of grave goods. The belief system also likely included ideas about magic, witchcraft, and elements that could be classified as a form of shamanism. The deities of this religion provided the basis for the names of the days of the week in the English language. What is known about the religion and its accompanying mythology have since influenced both literature and Modern Paganism. 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. These rulers may have felt themselves to be members of a pagan backwater in contrast to the Christian kingdoms of continental Europe. In the latter decades of the ninth century, Scandinavian settlers arrived in Britain, bringing with them their own pre-Christian belief system. The English church found it necessary to conduct a campaign to Christianise the incoming Scandinavian population, and the migrants were converted within the first few decades of their arrival. Little is known about the cosmological beliefs of Anglo-Saxon paganism.