CONSTRUCTING IDEAS OF BEING PAGAN IN EASTERN SAXONY IN RELATION TO REBELLION AND APOSTASY BEYOND THE ELBE (10TH – 11TH CENTURIES)

This article argues that the making of a pagan identity in eastern Saxony during the Ottonian era and even after it relied on biblical concepts such as rebellion and apostasy, which were connected in the minds of medieval Christian clerics. It shows that disobedience, considered a sin, and thus an evil thing, was their source, and not necessarily or exclusively pre-Christian beliefs. Paganism during the Early Middle Ages should not be associated with modern paganism, which originates in the nineteenth-century ethno-romanticism. This approach does not exclude the existence of archaic beliefs and rituals, but rather diminishes their importance in the definition of paganism. Medieval paganism should be understood rather as a literary construction, strongly influenced by theology. Furthermore, the connection between disobedience, rebellion, and apostasy functioned as a literary device for the purpose of justifying the punitive campaigns against a wide range of rebels, who rejected everything that involved ecclesiastical authority. Technically moral theology does not allow military conquest. However punitive actions were considered legitimate and were legally and morally justified, especially by the clerics, when a wide range of rebels committed crimes. In the primary sources these were described as defensive campaigns aiming to protect the Christians and to bring back the apostates to the Church. The promoters of this type of speech were the clergy, who used certain biblical passages to affirm their authority and emphasize ecclesiastical hierarchy.