Polytheism in medieval europe

[Thorntangle]

Has anybody really thought about the effects of transplanting a pantheon of deities into medieval european culture? There are already models for balanced, civil polytheistic societies, but they had entirely different cultures. It seems to me that a polytheistic europe would be in chaos or would have developed into something almost unrecognizeable compared to our own history's.

One could probably make an argument that Europe was, in a sense, polytheistic. People worshipped God, Christ, the Virgin, and an entire pantheon of intercessor canonized saints, and also non-canonized saints at the local level. However, these all came under the umbrella of judeo-christianity.

Europe was fractured enough without multiple deities. Religions usually evolve and spread until one dominates an area delimited by political, population or geographic boundaries. Would one diety come to be considered the Prime while all others were worshipped on the side or in secret? Or could we easily overlay the template of the Greek/Roman version of a mostly harmonious pantheon?

Has anyone developed a theoretical model of a polytheistic Europe based on sound theories? Or at least juicy plot-laden theories?

 

[Turjan]

In principle you gave the answer yourself. Saints were a very important part of medieval worship, and in southern Europe they are up to the present day. The rites used during the festival of those saints didn't change much during the development of the local deity to a local saint. Only bloody rituals were made less violent, maybe replacing animal sacrifices by plants or human sacrifices by straw puppets.

This said, replacing the christian faith by the Greek variant simply means that your world isn't medieval Europe any more. But then again, what holds you back from such a step?

All polytheistic religions have monotheistic tendencies, and vice versa. Zeus/Jupiter actually developped near monotheistic traits during the classic period. This would work very well in Europe.

Another way would be the Hindu view of things: In principle all single gods are nothing more than one aspect of the one and only god. They don't see a difference between monotheism and polytheism at all.

 

[Buttercup]

Has anyone developed a theoretical model of a polytheistic Europe based on sound theories? Or at least juicy plot-laden theories?

The thing is, deities in D&D are far more obviously real. Their clerics can perform miracles (spells), they manifest from time to time, they fight with tangible collateral damage, and have universally acknowledged spheres of influence. So I don't think one can really compare the situation to medieval europe. It's certainly true that natural phenomena such as eclipses were sometimes considered to be messages from heaven, but they were open to interpretation. In D&D, if a god wants to send a message, there won't be any doubt what is meant.

 

[Agnostic Paladin]

I can't even imagine a polythesiastic Europe. This is a continent of people that spent more than a century fighting long, bloody wars over disagreements about how to go about worshipping a single god. If they'd had more than one god to worship on top of that, they'd have done more damage to themselves than the black plague ever did. Monotheism is too central to what defines medieval Europe for one to alter it and still have a result that feels European.

 

[Kamard]

When I was writing my last campaign setting, I found myself asking the same questions, and coming to the same conclusion.

I made a monotheistic culture, worshipping a god from a polytheistic culture to the west. This god realized early that if he was the only act in town, he would be a lot more powerful. So he had his faithful migrate from the islands to the mainland, and there they set up his worship. While he was a minor god of the sun and science in his home pantheon, he became Hermant, God of Everything, on the continent.

Under him are various of the faithful that were canonized and are now demi-gods in service to him. A character who is worshipping Hermant takes one of his domains from Hermant's five or six, and chooses a Patron Saint that gives him his other domain. For example, St. Oslaus, martyred by burning at the stake, gives the domain of Fire, while St. Espen the Wanderer bestows Travel.

Of course, the surrounding countries (which aren't the focus of the campaign anyway) are polytheistic, and there are a few gods worshipped in the main country, which are considered heretical- a deity of nobility's right to rule, favoured by the Seven Houses, and a deity called Mantosh, a god of the earth and madness. His cultists seek to awaken him from his imprisoned slumber, which would have the effect of bringing his enormous avatar back to life- the continent that the game is set on.

 

[MThibault]

I think that there are a few approaches you could take:

1. Hierarchical Polytheism: There is a King (or Queen) of the Gods that unifies the pantheon and their worshipers. If it is not possible for the Divine Monarch to be usurped (and there is no cyclical death and rebirth of the monarch) then you'll end up with a pretty stable world with a bit of squabbling here and there between those who are especially devoted to say Protection or Slaughter.

2. Profound Polytheism: Everyone worships multiple dieties, so the supremacy of any one deity is politically and socially irrelevant. This works best if the deities themselves understand their place in the cosmos in the same way: The godess of the sea has no interest in subsuming the portfolio of the god of the rivers. It is even more stable if the deities, for whatever reason, cannot take on new portfolios and do not have their power tied directly to quantity of worshipers.

3. Factional Polytheism: There are two or three groups of deities and mortals worship the members of one of the groups exclusively. Some regions hold Group A as their offical religion, some regions hold Group B as their patrons. In this way, you can have relative uniformity of religious practice in large parts of the world, but still have room for holy wars and such if you want them. Actually, if have four or five groups of deities, some might be rather friendly even if they are exclusive. Group B recognizes the right of Group D to exist, as long as they don't try to spread into Group B's region or ally themselves with Group A.

I think that this would loosely (very loosely) analogous to the dynamic amongst Roman Catholicism, Irish Catholicism, Eastern Orthodox and Ukrainian Orthodox Christianities in the second half of the first millenium and first few centuries of the second millenium. The Eastern and Roman churches sort of left each other alone, with sporadic exceptions, even though they considered the other to be a lesser authority. The Irish Church was censured, but not to the point where they were invaded or persecuted -- but might have been, eventually, if the Synod of Whitby was not successful. The Ukrainian Church considered itself to be fully Roman Catholic, but were violently persecuted by Rome nonetheless.

This is the most complicated system, though. You'll need multiple gods of war, healing, love, etc.


Just my 2 cents.

Cheers

 

[Asathas]

I'm running a campaign like this now

I'm actually running a campaign in a polytheistic Europe right now... based in 1514 (during the Spanish Inquisition). For reference, I'm using the deities in The Book of the Righteous as my pantheon. And remarkably enough, it's working beautifully.

Europe in that time period had three primary religions... Christianity, Judaisim, and Islam. To make this work for my campaign, I established Christianity as being equivalent to the Great Church in BotR (which means they observe all the "good" gods). Judaism worships the Unnamed One (the main creator god in BotR) and claims the other deities are his prime servants. Islam reverences all of the deities, good and evil alike (even if only to ward off the attentions of the evil deities).

The variances in their observances of the deities set up the reasons involved for the Crusades. By the way, Jerusalem is still the holy site for all three as it's the location for the Tree of Life and where the deities gathered before leaving their physical presence on the world via the Compact (which occurred at 1AD... After Departure with BC meaning Before Compact).

Of course I've also done a few other tweaks such as the Huns/Mongols/Turks being predominately goblinoid; Henry VIII's first wife, Catherine of Aragon, is elvish and Henry's tie to the elves of England; and dragons being both rare and powerful are major players behind the scenes who's births and deaths are known the world over when they occur (Vesuvius erupted because of the birth of a dragon on the mountain there).

 

[Drawmack]

Here is how I play it in my game world.

There is only one god. However this god has many aspects so as to be unfathomable by the limitations of the humanoid mind. (A blend of hindu and christian)

This being the case people worship aspects of this one single god which creates the pantheon.

Therefor while the world as a whole is polytheistic each individual person is monotheistic.

This allows for some rivalry between the different religions however since in reality there is only one true god that god sees that the feuding does not go to far since they are all his people.

However, philosophy is not understood and is very looked down upon. These people are seen as heretics, since I play with a god of knowledge who leads the philosophers this does set up one nasty place in the pantheon. It is kind of like the spanish inquisition, everywhere except in Freeport which is the god of knowledges one strong hold.

 

[Ysgarran]

I can't even imagine a polythesiastic Europe. This is a continent of people that spent more than a century fighting long, bloody wars over disagreements about how to go about worshipping a single god. If they'd had more than one god to worship on top of that, they'd have done more damage to themselves than the black plague ever did. Monotheism is too central to what defines medieval Europe for one to alter it and still have a result that feels European.

I think you are correct but it kind of begs the question of "What do you mean by 'european feel'. If you go with a fantasy take instead of a 'real world' take you might actually retain some of the european aspects of the society. You also have to decide if you are going to stick with the D&D alignment system and if you do how much 'grey' you will add to the mix. If you went with the default alignment system (i.e. Good and Evil are absolutes that inherent in the nature of the universe) I think you would see a reduction in the amount of conflict. In other words, if you added a 'fantasy' polytheistic overlay to Europe than I doubt that would add to the amount of conflict present. The funny thing is that this is just another way of saying "This is a fantasy game, do what you want with it".

With an alignment system it is hard for good aligned clergy to use their position for greed, personal gain, or to use evil acts to protect the ascendency of the church. There are no grey areas. You mess up in the eyes of your god(dess) they put the smack down on you and take away your powers. With a strong alignment system in place it would be very difficult for the same kinds of heresies to form. (IMHO, many of the heresies that did form in Europe were a reaction to the excesses of the Catholic Church).

As you alude to there was a lot of conflict around religion even with dominance of the Catholic Church. There were a number of heretical groups in europe that caused a great deal of turmoil when the church stamped them out.
There was the Albigensian crusade (~1225) (which I've read is the origin of the phrase "Kill them all and let God sort them out". The actual Latin is: "Neca eos omnes. Deus suos agnoset" or "Kill them all. God will know His own." What I've read sounds aprocryphal but nonetheless plausible )
There were the wars against the Hussites (~1425). I find this one really interesting because one of the generals who fought with the Hussites basically created armoured wagons. The carriages were movable forts pulled by horses. They were not very good in an offensive mode but the Hussite general did manage to entice the Church sponsored troops to attack his preset position on a number of occasions.
There was the framing of the Knights Templar.

Even when there wasn't bloodshed on the scale of the Albigensian Crusade and the Hussite Wars there were plenty of doctranaire disputes. In the 6th century the Pelegian Heresy gained great support in Brittain. I think the Pelegian heresy had plenty of effect on the church in Ireland until the invasion of Ireland by the Normans in 1170.

The best answer to your question is to stick to the dark ages; approximately from the fall of Rome to the early tenth century. There are many pockets of the polytheism throughout europe during this time period. The vikings are still around, you could easily add some celtic gods to the mix. You might even be able to stage a come-back by the greek/roman gods. (Julian the Apostate tried re-establish pagan worship in 361).

later,
Ysgarran.

 

[WizarDru]

You could also take Tolkein's approach, which is quite similar to the medieval Christian church: they're not really gods, just higher beings.

Eru, the One, also known as Illuvatar, is the only real God in Middle-Earth...distant and unknown to any of the races therein. Beings like Manwe, Ulmo and even Melkor act as Gods, but are really angellic beings of vast power. Lesser angellic beings like Sauron, Gandalf, Balrogs and even Tom Bombadil coexist, but are dramatically reduced for 'descending' to Middle Earth.

I would also hasten to point out that to some, even today, there exists proof of miracles and the like. Healing fountains, appearances of the Virgin Mary, and so forth. Medieval Europe had more of this, not less, as the average peasant didnt' travel more than a few miles from his village to begin with. If the cardinal came for a visit every ten years, and tells you that the Virgin Mary appeared in Sicily and showered sparks of fiery butterflys on the crowd, who were they to disbelieve?

I agree a lot would change...but then, so would the addition of Orcs, right?