Pagans in the Early Modern Baltic: Sixteenth-Century Ethnographic Accounts of Baltic Paganism
Edited and translated by Francis Young
Arc Humanities Press
ISBN:9781802700220
A collection of ten texts, in Latin with English translation, from the 15th and 16th centuries, which relate pre-Christian religious practices in the Baltics.
Excerpt:
The Latin writings of humanist writers about Baltic religion constitute one of the most detailed collections of records of a non-literate ancestral religion in northern Europe. While there is no shortage of evidence from many European countries of “pagan” beliefs and practices deemed unacceptable by the church, the evidence for Baltic paganism stands apart because it was recorded by historians and ethnographers whose curiosity about paganism often went beyond the desire to condemn it. While attempts to suppress paganism were well underway in fifteenth-century Lithuania, there was also a new climate of secular scholarly curiosity in and about the Baltic region. The arrival of humanist learning in Poland and Prussia, along with the newly Christianized Lithuanian nobility’s desire for a distinguished pedigree, produced intense curiosity about the origin of the Baltic peoples and their religion. As Lithuania took its place not only as one of the nations of Christendom, but also as a major Catholic power, Lithuania’s history became a matter of European importance.
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Who is this book for?
This collection of primary sources will be of interest to those who study the medieval Baltics as well as those looking for details about non-Christian / pagan religions in Europe. It could serve as a useful textbook for courses on medieval religion.
The editor
Francis Young is a British historian and folklorist specializing in the history of religion and belief. He is the author, editor or co-author of over 20 books. You can learn more about Francis on his website or follow him on X/Twitter @DrFrancisYoung
The cover for my next book, which is a translation of 3 Latin epic poems from the 16th- and 17th-century Grand Duchy of Lithuania 🇱🇹⚪️🔴⚪️🖊️ pic.twitter.com/jL2cW3INoz
Pagans in the Early Modern Baltic: Sixteenth-Century Ethnographic Accounts of Baltic Paganism
Edited and translated by Francis Young
Arc Humanities Press
ISBN:9781802700220
A collection of ten texts, in Latin with English translation, from the 15th and 16th centuries, which relate pre-Christian religious practices in the Baltics.
Excerpt:
The Latin writings of humanist writers about Baltic religion constitute one of the most detailed collections of records of a non-literate ancestral religion in northern Europe. While there is no shortage of evidence from many European countries of “pagan” beliefs and practices deemed unacceptable by the church, the evidence for Baltic paganism stands apart because it was recorded by historians and ethnographers whose curiosity about paganism often went beyond the desire to condemn it. While attempts to suppress paganism were well underway in fifteenth-century Lithuania, there was also a new climate of secular scholarly curiosity in and about the Baltic region. The arrival of humanist learning in Poland and Prussia, along with the newly Christianized Lithuanian nobility’s desire for a distinguished pedigree, produced intense curiosity about the origin of the Baltic peoples and their religion. As Lithuania took its place not only as one of the nations of Christendom, but also as a major Catholic power, Lithuania’s history became a matter of European importance.
Who is this book for?
This collection of primary sources will be of interest to those who study the medieval Baltics as well as those looking for details about non-Christian / pagan religions in Europe. It could serve as a useful textbook for courses on medieval religion.
The editor
Francis Young is a British historian and folklorist specializing in the history of religion and belief. He is the author, editor or co-author of over 20 books. You can learn more about Francis on his website or follow him on X/Twitter @DrFrancisYoung
You can learn more about this book from the publisher’s website
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