23. Religions, Magic, Rituals and power – Within the Beliefs of Early Medieval Central Europe
The introduction of Christianity in Polish lands and in Central European territories took various forms, which, beyond their social dimension, also concerned the emerging power relations. The Church often took over pagan sacred sites, incorporating them into the new sacred topography. At the stage of forming early feudal systems in Central Europe, ecclesiastical power was largely independent of territorial context and primarily pertained to the religious and social dimensions, as well as the establishment of new patterns of ritual behavior, evident in changes to burial practices. The session is intended to present the religions and beliefs of the early medieval inhabitants of Polish lands and their neighbors, their connections to power relations, and their influence on culturally significant territories. We believe this is possible through the use of interdisciplinary analyses and interpretations from both local and transregional perspectives.
In recent years, the hypothesis put forward by Artur Kowalik, concerning the mythical island of Bujan, had a real influence on the development by Wojciech Chudziak and his students of an interpretative model of such sites, according to which they were to be places implementing the idea of „axis mundi". A detailed analysis of several sites, based also on data from written sources, allows us to argue for the view that at least in the 11th and 12th centuries, on some lake islands in the area of North-Western Slavdom, there were places of pagan worship with shrines. A detailed interpretation of some deposits placed in the water at the shores, an analysis of sociotopographic indicators within the islands or information provided by chroniclers, allows us to propose a model of such sanctuaries. Moreover, it can be proven that such places were a kind of anchorage for the rulers.
The lecture touches on the issue of the functioning of stones with carvings in folk religiosity and the formation of so-called miraculous places. In Poland, we can find several dozen stones with carvings in the shape of feet, less often hands or other body elements - so-called petrosomatoglyphs. In folk beliefs, they are a testimony to the presence of saints, the Mother of God or Jesus on earth. They are shrouded in a number of legends and tales and are the subject of local cult. They have been mentioned in written sources since the Middle Ages. Stones carved in the shape of a foot are known in Eastern and Western Europe, where they are interpreted differently as an expression of pre-Christian beliefs or representations related to the medieval pilgrimage movement.
Uniwersytet Kardynała Stefana Wyszyńskiego w Warszawie
The symbolism of fire and its cult results from its connection with the sun, the similarity of energy, and the use of both the element and star. Fire and sun are important elements in Slavic mythology and are central figures in myths. They could be symbols and components of a rituals. In traditional communities, they formed the basis for constructing an understanding of the world, particularly the magical world, where daily and sacred life revolves around certain constants and unchanging values. Fire and sun can be examples of such archetypes, which, when utilized "in practice," acquire the status of ritual actions. Despite changes in age, ideology and religion, fire and sun are still present in rituals and magical practices. In this presentation, I wanted to raise the issue of perceiving fire and sun through their use as attributes of deities and in ritual and magical activities in the ancient Slavic lands based on written, archaeological and linguistic sources.
The stone structure discovered at the end of the last century, located at the foot of St. Lawrence Mountain, is well known to researchers of early medieval sacred spaces. It is a unique object not only in terms of its form but, above all, in terms of its role in valorising the holy site and its biography. The original natural sacrificial site, in the form of a spring, was transformed into a sacrificial site in the form of a stone altar, on which an annexe of the Romanesque basilica was subsequently built. The final stage was the return to the pre-Christian sacrificial function of the space, the remnant of which is the so-called layer with bones. The paper will show the need to return to the analysis of this unique space with particular emphasis on the phase associated with the functioning of the stone altar. The paper will also show similar constructions from the Western Slavic area and further examples, which can be treated as analogies regarding meaning and functions.
The subject of the author's considerations is the content of religious beliefs and ideas about the world in the early Piast state until the adoption of Christianity, hypothetically reconstructed on the basis of analyses from the field of contrastive and corpus folkloristics. The author focuses on the process of transition from the pagan mythological image of the world to the Christian religious image of the world and attempts to answer the question: how could the bearers of traditional beliefs react to the content proclaimed by the clergy of the new religion and what changes did they force in their axiology, image of the world and worldview. The analysis is based on selected types of folkloristic mofifs (reconstructed Slavic mythology and the Bible were compared). The presentation refers to the term ultrahistory (formulated by G. Dumezil).
The lecture concerns the issue of the presence of animal remains in Slavic early medieval cremation burials from the area of present-day Poland. This issue is poorly researched, but it seems important for research on Slavic funeral customs and eschatological ideas. This phenomenon is recorded in Slavic cremation burials from the 6th/7th to the 13th century. Most graves with animal remains date from the 8th to the 10th century. The finds are dominated by the remains of breeding animals: mainly horses and cattle. In addition, the remains of pigs, sheep or goats, birds, dogs and cats have been recorded. The lecture will present a number of hypotheses concerning the interpretation of the phenomenon of the presence of animal bone remains in early medieval cremation graves, their symbolism and meaning.
Early medieval archaeology in the Sudetes has often been limited to the issue of strongholds, the presence of communication routes and extraction of raw materials. In this zone, inhabited by the Ślężanie, Trzebowianie, Chorwaci, Bieżuńczanie or Milczanie, known from the written sources, little attention has been paid so far to the religious aspects accompanying the functioning of these communities. For years, the ongoing discussion on the cult role of Mount Ślęża has basically dominated this topic, omitting a number of side threads related to magical, funeral practices in the 8th-10th centuries in the area of the mountains, which in the 9th century constituted a buffer between Great Moravia and the population inhabiting the area of today's Silesia and Lusatia. Among the threads considered here, one should distinguish archaeological sites located in the Sudetes associated with funeral and magical practices (foundation offerings) and related to the phenomenology of the landscape.
In the beliefs of the Slavs, there were deities that protected households and families. An interesting problem is the presence of deities or demons patronizing a given region or the immediate area. The paper will refer to medieval and linguistic records regarding this category of beings, mainly among the Western Slavs. Information about them is not certain and raises many doubts. During the presentation, an attempt will be made to answer the question whether such creatures were known to pre-Christian Slavs, or whether beliefs about them were borrowed from other traditions. The issue discussed in the paper is related to the issue of the development of the competences of various divine beings in the religions of ancient Slavs, discussed among Slavicists.
One of the more neglected testimonies about the beliefs and worship of the Slavs is the passage in William of Malmesbury's Gesta Regum Anglorum. Previous literature on the subject (L. Słupecki, R. Zaroff, M. Łuczyński) has neglected the aspects of source-criticism, focusing instead on the interpretation of the text before them. The availability of a new edition and digitized manuscripts has made it possible to revisit this issue. This analysis for the first time places William’s story not only in the context of his other works (Polyhistor, Vita Wulfstani), but also in the context of the sources he used. Special attention will be paid to William's information about Emperor Henry III and his wife Gunhild, thanks to which it will be noted that the chronicler mixed up different narrative threads. The speaker will also take up the question of possible dependencies between the Gesta Regum Anglorum and the Gesta Danorum of Saxo Grammaticus.
Over the past twenty years, a number of intriguing metal artifacts have been discovered in Scandinavia, particularly in Denmark and Sweden, which differ significantly in form and decoration from the products typical of the Northern world. Closer examination of these objects suggests that they were made in the Western Slavic area (most likely in the Piast realm) and represent features of the so-called "animal style." Among these artifacts are, for example, elements of zoomorphic spurs, decorative strap distributors, and other goods associated with the milieu of militarised Slavic elite. The aim of this paper is to introduce this material to the Polish academic community, to present possible pathways and reasons for the influx of such items into Scandinavia, to analyse their symbolic significance, and to highlight the diverse and previously underestimated roles that Slavs might have played in the Northern world.
Trullhalsar is a large cemetery located on the Swedish island of Gotland in the parish of Anga. It is famous for its characteristic grave structures in the form of mounds of heaped stones with surrounding curbs. In addition to these, there are other stone settings in the cemetery area, including circles. Trullhalsar was partially excavated in 1888 and in 1915-1916. Based on the analysis of grave finds, the time of use of the cemetery was dated to the Vendel Period (ca. 550-800 AD). The artifacts from Trullhalsar indicate the high status of the people buried there, especially women. The cemetery was probably located near a harbor, and trade and crafts activities may have been the main source of income for the local community. A more detailed analysis of the finds from Trullhalsar allows for a better understanding of the character of the cemetery in the context of Gotland and the Baltic Sea basin.
