Pomerania During The High Middle Ages - Fate of The Pagan Priesthood

Fate of The Pagan Priesthood

The priests of the numerous gods worshiped before the conversion were one of the most powerful class in the early medieval society. Their reaction to the Christianization of Pomerania was ambiguous: In 1122, they saved missionary Bernhard's life by declaring him insane, otherwise he would have been killed in Wolin. On the other hand, Otto of Bamberg's mission was a far larger threat to the established pagan tradition, and eventually it succeeded in Christianization of the region. There are reports of unsuccessful assassination attempts made against Otto of Bamberg by the pagan priesthood. Following Otto's success, some of the pagan priests were crucified, while it is unknown what happened to the others. It has been speculated that they adapted to the new reality.

Read more about this topic:  Pomerania During The High Middle Ages

Famous quotes containing the words fate of the, fate, pagan and/or priesthood:

    The fate of the poor shepherd, who, blinded and lost in the snow-storm, perishes in a drift within a few feet of his cottage door, is an emblem of the state of man. On the brink of the waters of life and truth, we are miserably dying.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    I am no Poet here; my pen ‘s the spout,
    Where the rain water of my eyes run out,
    In pity of that name, whose fate wee see
    Thus copied out in griefs Hydrography:
    The Muses are not Mer-maids, though upon
    His death the Ocean might turn Helicon
    John Cleveland (1613–1658)

    The great pagan world of which Egypt and Greece were the last living terms ... once had a vast and perhaps perfect science of its own, a science in terms of life. In our era this science crumbled into magic and charlatanry. But even wisdom crumbles.
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    The priesthood is a marriage. People often start by falling in love, and they go on for years without realizing that that love must change into some other love which is so unlike it that it can hardly be recognised as love at all.
    Iris Murdoch (b. 1919)