Research Group for Medieval Philology: Helen Leslie-Jacobsen, LLE
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The Evidence for the Existence and Function of Sacred Groves in Germanic Pre-Christian Belief
Helen F. Leslie-Jacobsen
This paper surveys the evidence for the existence and function of sacred groves across the Germanic regions in pre-Christian times. The veneration of both trees and groves in Northern European paganism is well-known and usually unspecified in both primary and secondary sources. Factors of time, geography and tribal diversity make it impossible that paganism was a homogenous, hierarchal belief system across the Germanic areas. This is reflected in the fragmentary archaeological and literary evidence left behind, which we must nevertheless employ to attempt to reconstruct a conception of the supernatural world, however fluid and incomplete the picture must remain. The paper will explore the concept of the sacred grove, the mythological background of sacred trees and groves, sacred groves in literature and archaeology, and the sacred grove from a Christian perspective.
The paper will be pre-circulated.
