Silence of the Gods

The Untold History of Europe's Last Pagan Peoples

Inbunden, Engelska, 2025

Av Francis Young, Francis (independent scholar) Young

389 kr

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The formal conversion to Christianity in 1387 of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania seemingly marked the end of Europe's last 'pagan' peoples. But the reality was different. At the margins, often under the radar, around the dusky edgelands, pre-Christian religions endured and indeed continued to flourish for an astonishing five centuries. Silence of the Gods tells, for the first time, the remarkable story of these forgotten peoples: belated adopters of Christian belief on the outer periphery of Christendom, from the Sámi of the frozen north to the Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians around the Baltic, as well as the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia's Volga-Ural Plain. These communities, Dr Young reveals, responded creatively to Christianity's challenge, but for centuries stopped short of embracing it. His book addresses why this was so, uncovering stories of fierce resistance, unlikely survival and considerable ingenuity. He revolutionises understandings of the lost religions of the last pagans.

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum2025-06-19
Mått149 x 223 x 30 mm
Vikt720 g
FormatInbunden
SpråkEngelska
Antal sidor456
FörlagCambridge University Press
ISBN9781009586573

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Francis Young grew up in Bury St Edmunds, England, and holds a doctorate in history from the University of Cambridge. He has written over twenty books in the fields of folklore and the history of religion and supernatural belief, including Pagans in the Early Modern Baltic (2022), Magic in Merlin's Realm (Cambridge University Press, 2022) and Twilight of the Godlings (Cambridge University Press, 2023). His work has also appeared in History Today, BBC History Magazine and The Catholic Herald, as well as other periodicals. A regular podcaster, and broadcaster on BBC Radio, he is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a lay canon of St Edmundsbury Cathedral, and teaches courses in religious history and folklore for the Department for Continuing Education in the University of Oxford.

Introduction; 1. Europe's unchristianised edge: who were the 'Pagans'?; 2. Mere Christianisation: curiosity and ethnography in the fifteenth century; 3. (Counter-)reformation in unchristianised Europe: the sixteenth century; 4. Antiquarians and witch-hunters: the seventeenth century; 5. Darkness in light: pre-Christian religion in enlightenment Europe; 6. Folklore and fantasy: the nineteenth-century reinvention of paganism; Epilogue: pre-Christian, post-Christian?

'Francis Young has carved out a justified reputation for accessible, scholarly research in areas such as the history of exorcism, fairies, and ecclesiastical history, as well as pagan studies. He wears his erudition with a light touch and has an excellent command of early-modern Latin manuscripts and texts. With his knowledge of Lithuania and Lithuanian, he is the ideal scholar to be writing on Baltic paganism. His book convincingly argues for the continuance of non-Christian religions in the Baltic and far North and supersedes previous work on the topic in its breadth and scholarship. There is a scholarly and general readership ready and waiting for new, innovative work on European paganisms. This is a welcome, up-to-date, and refreshing history of a thoroughly tantalizing subject.' Owen Davies, Professor of Social History, University of Hertfordshire, author of Art of the Grimoire: An Illustrated History of Magic Books and Spells (2023)