Shaping Religious Identity on the Northern Edge of the Christianitas: Portraits of Pagans and Idolaters in the Twelfth Century Pomerania

Abstract

This study analyses the image of pagans and paganism in Pomerania during the first half of the twelfth century. It also analyses the relationship with idolatry known since early Christianity. The conversion of Pomeranians to Christianity took place by giving up the worship of idols and submission to the Christian faith. It was the obedience to the German ecclesiastical authorities and the Polish duke that caused the Pomeranians to be regarded as real Christians. This study shows that Pomeranian paganism appears as a Christian construct of a socio-religious identity, created to be an antithesis to Christianity.

Keywords

• pomerania
• paganism
• idolatry
• christianization
• apostasy
• crusading