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Anglo-Saxon paganism refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Anglo-Saxons between the fifth and eighth centuries AD, during the initial period of Early Medieval England. A variant of the Germanic paganism found across much of north-western Europe, it encompassed a heterogeneous variety of disparate beliefs and cultic practices.〔Carver, Sanmark and Semple 2010. p. ix.〕 Developing from the earlier Iron Age religion of continental northern Europe, it was introduced to Britain following the Anglo-Saxon migration in the mid fifth century, and remained the dominant religion in England until the Christianization of its kingdoms between the seventh and eighth centuries, with some aspects gradually blending into folklore. Much of what is supposedly known about Anglo-Saxon paganism is the result of the efforts of literary antiquarians in the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; in particular, the notion that Old English poetry contains vestiges of an actual, historical pre-Christian paganism has been queried by Anglo-Saxonists.〔E. G. Stanley, ''The Search for Anglo-Saxon Paganism'' (Cambridge, 1975), passim.〕 Anglo-Saxon paganism was a polytheistic belief system, focused around the worship of deities known as the ''ése'' (singular ''ós''). The most prominent of these deities was probably Woden, for which reason the religion has also been called Wodenism,〔Atkinson 1891.〕 although other prominent gods included Thunor and Tiw. There was also a belief in a variety of other supernatural entities who inhabited the landscape, including elves, nicor, and dragons.〔Semple 2010. pp. 24–25.〕 Cultic practice largely revolved around demonstrations of devotion, including sacrifice of inanimate objects and animals, to these deities, particularly at certain religious festivals during the year. Pagan beliefs also influenced funerary practices, where the dead were either inhumed or cremated, typically with a selection of grave goods. There was also a magical component to the early Anglo-Saxon religion, and some scholars have also theorised that there may have been shamanic aspects as well. These religious beliefs also had a bearing on the structure of Anglo-Saxon society, which was hierarchical, with kings often claiming a direct ancestral lineage from a god, particularly Woden. As such, it also had an influence on law codes during this period. The deities of this religion provided the basis for the names of the days of the week in the English language. Despite this, there is much that is not known about this religion, and what is currently known about it comes mainly from the available archaeological evidence. What is known about the religion and its accompanying mythology have since influenced both literature and Modern Paganism. ==History== The Anglo-Saxon tribes were not united before the 7th century, with seven main kingdoms, known collectively as the Anglo-Saxon Heptarchy. Certain deities and religious practices were specific to certain localities. The literary sources on Anglo-Saxon England set in with Christianization only, leaving the pre-Christian 6th century in the "Dark" of Sub-Roman Britain. The best sources of information on the pre-Christian period are 7th to 8th-century testimonies, such as ''Beowulf''〔''Beowulf'' is dated to the 8th century by some scholars, notably J. R. R. Tolkien (), but as late as the 11th by others〕 and the Franks Casket, which had already seen Christian redaction but nevertheless reflects a living memory of original traditions. The transition of the Anglo-Saxons from the original religion to Christianity took place gradually, over the course of the 7th century, influenced on one side by Celtic Christianity and the Irish mission, and on the other by Roman Catholicism introduced to England by Augustine of Canterbury in 597. The Anglo-Saxon nobility were nearly all converted within a century, but the original religion among the rural population, as in other Germanic lands, didn't so much die out as gradually blend into folklore. As elsewhere, Christianization involved the co-opting of original folk culture into a Christian context, including the conversion of pagan sacred sites and feast days into Christian ones. Pope Gregory the Great instructed Abbot Mellitus that:
The question of religious allegiance of the individual kings was not a political one, and there is no evidence of any military struggle of a native vs. a Christian faction as in that between Blot-Sweyn and Inge the Elder during the 1080s in the Christianization of Sweden, and no military "crusade" as in the 8th-century Saxon Wars of Charlemagne's. Each king was free to convert to Christianity as he pleased, due to the sacral nature of kingship in Germanic society automatically entailing the conversion of his subjects. The only exception may be found in the war of Penda of Mercia against Northumbria. Penda exceptionally allied himself with the Welsh Kingdom of Gwynedd against his Anglo-Saxon neighbours. In the Battle of Hatfield Chase, Penda fought together with Cadwallon ap Cadfan (who was a Christian but according to Bede given to barbarous cruelty〔"so barbarous in his disposition and behaviour, that he neither spared the female sex, nor the innocent age of children, but with savage cruelty put them to tormenting deaths, ravaging all their country for a long time, and resolving to cut off all the race of the English within the borders of Britain." Bede, ''H. E.'', Book II, chapter 20.〕); the battle resulted in the death of Edwin of Northumbria (who had been baptized in 627). As a result, Northumbria fell into chaos and was divided between Eanfrith and Osric, who both reverted to paganism as they rose to power. Both Eanfrith and Osric were killed in battle against Cadwallon within the year. Cadwallon was in turn defeated by Oswald of Northumbria in the Battle of Heavenfield shortly after. Penda again defeated Oswald at the Battle of Maserfield in 641, which ended in Oswald's death and dismemberment. The outcome of the battle ended "Northumbrian imperialism south of the Humber" and established Penda as the most powerful Mercian ruler so far to have emerged in the midlands and "the most formidable king in England",〔F. M. Stenton, ''Anglo-Saxon England'' (1943), third edition (1971), Oxford University Press, p. 83〕 a position he maintained until his death in the Battle of Winwaed in 655. Charles Plummer, writing in 1896, describes the defeat of Penda as "decisive as to the religious destiny of the English".〔''Venerabilis Baedae Historiam ecclesiasticam gentis Anglorum'', ed. Charles Plummer (1896), Oxonii, page 184.〕 Bede makes clear, however, that the war between Mercia and Northumbria was not religiously motivated: Penda tolerated the preaching of Christianity in Mercia, even including the baptism of his own heir, and despised those reverting to paganism after receiving baptism for their faithlessness.〔Bede c.731. III: XXI.〕 This testament of Penda's religious tolerance is particularly credible, as Bede tends to exaggerate Mercian barbarism in his account of Oswald as a saintly defender of the Christian faith. After Penda's death, Mercia was converted, and all the kings who ruled thereafter were Christian, including Penda's son Peada, who had already been baptized with his father's permission, as the condition set by king Oswiu of Northumbria for the marriage of his daughter Alchflaed to Peada, to the husband's misfortune, according to Bede, who informs that Peada was "very wickedly killed" through his wife's treachery "during the very time of celebrating Easter" in 656.〔Bede c.731. III: 24.〕 Penda's death in 655 may be taken as marking the decisive decline of paganism in England. Some smaller kingdoms continued to crown openly pagan kings, but newly Christian Mercia became instrumental in their conversion. In 660 Essex crowned the pagan king Swithhelm. Swithhelm accepted baptism in 662 but his successor Sighere of Essex encouraged a pagan rebellion in 665 that was only suppressed when Wulfhere of Mercia intervened and established himself as overlord of Essex. It is not recorded if Sighere ever accepted baptism but he was forced to marry Wulfhere's Christian niece, whom he later divorced. Æthelwealh of Sussex accepted baptism at the behest of Wulfhere of Mercia, although the year is unrecorded. In 681, the Bishop Wilfrid arrived in Sussex to begin preaching to the general population. Bede records that the king had converted "not long previously", but Wulfhere had died in 675. Therefore, Æthelwealh's baptism can only be assigned with certainty to Wulfhere's reign of 658–675, although it was probably at the very end of this period. This left the Isle of Wight as the last openly pagan kingdom. Wulfhere had invaded in 661 and forced the islanders to convert, but as soon as he left they had reverted to paganism. They remained pagan until 686 when they were invaded by Cædwalla of Wessex. The last openly pagan king, Arwald, was killed in battle defending his kingdom, which was incorporated into the Kingdom of Wessex. His heirs were baptised and then executed. Cædwalla himself was unbaptised when he invaded the Isle of Wight. But throughout his reign he acted in cooperation with the church and gave the church a quarter of the Isle of Wight. He abdicated in 688 and traveled to Rome to be baptised in 689. Wilfrid was still converting the pagan population of Sussex in 686. In 695, Wessex issued a law code proscribing fines for failing to baptise one's children and for failing to tithe. By the 8th century, Anglo-Saxon England was at least nominally Christian, the Anglo-Saxon mission contributing significantly to the Christianisation of the continental Frankish Empire.〔''Catholic Encyclopedia'':("The Anglo-Saxon Church" )〕 Germanic paganism again briefly returned to England in the form of Norse paganism, which Norse Vikings from Scandinavia brought to the country in the 9th to 10th century—but it again succumbed to Christianisation. Thus, mention of the Norse "Thor, lord of ogres" is found in a runic charm discovered inserted in the margin of an Anglo-Saxon manuscript from 1073.〔Macleod. Mees (2006:120).〕 Polemics against lingering pagan customs continued into the 9th and 10th centuries, e.g. in the ''Laws of Ælfred'' (ca. 890), but England was a predominantly Christian kingdom by the High Medieval period. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Anglo-Saxon paganism」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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