sub-Roman Britain, the Romano-British, and the Welsh

[Valmy]

Onanism, maybe. 

It is not a universal religion but it should be

[viper37]

Bede is actually the reason why I am interested in this period of history in the first place, though I haven't read his book since college... but that's when I first was introduced to it.  It's one of the most fascinating histories I ever read.  It was amazing to me how you would have petty kingdoms where a king was a Christian, and then his son was like "fuck that, I love WOTAN" and then his son converted back, etc.  Before I read that book I didn't realize how much of a struggle the Christianization of Europe was.  I guess I imagined it all happened at once all nice and peaceful-like.

Yeah it was a very slow process. Christianity was structured around city life and had a hard time transitioning out into the countryside. Remember one thousand years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire the last pagan nation (much less person) had only been converted for a few decades.

funny how it seems the opposite nowadays, with Christian life being stronger in the country-side than in the cities.

[Valmy]

funny how it seems the opposite nowadays, with Christian life being stronger in the country-side than in the cities.

Not a coincidence. The conservatism of the countryside has always been very strong. The hopelessness of being a farmer in the face of the tyranny of the elements tends to provoke a certain mentality.

[The Brain]

Odin was a real man.

You learned that from the documentary Valhalla Rising. 

Actually from EUOT. And someone suggested that the poster who presented this info liked real men.

[Caliga]

I always wonder if there's some isolated hamlet someplace in Scandinavia where people still secretly worship Thor.

[Valmy]

Your chances for that kind of thing are probably better in Iceland. But maybe Norgy will comment and set me straight 

[The Brain]

Iceland became Christian fairly early IIRC. As late as the 12th century parts of Sweden were pagan, and local traditions may have lasted longer. IIRC there's a medieval folk tale where someone comes to an isolated settlement where they tell him that they still worship the old gods. Of course much of the traditions blended into the general elves/trolls/Satan part of folklore.

[Malthus]

I always wonder if there's some isolated hamlet someplace in Scandinavia where people still secretly worship Thor.

Hey, it isn't any secret - just listen to some Black Metal. 

[Caliga]

I remember reading about some thing called the "Troll Kirk" in rural Norway or Sweden that may have been used for pagan ceremonies as late as the 18th century?

[The Brain]

Sounds like speculation. Of course some traditions even today are of pagan origin, but I haven't heard of any kind of "real" pagan worship surviving that long.

[The Brain]

I always wonder if there's some isolated hamlet someplace in Scandinavia where people still secretly worship Thor.

Hey, it isn't any secret - just listen to some Black Metal. 

If I ever front a black metal band I'm gonna go by the name Growl Wallenberg.

[Caliga]

 

[The Minsky Moment]

Yeah it was a very slow process. Christianity was structured around city life and had a hard time transitioning out into the countryside. Remember one thousand years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire the last pagan nation (much less person) had only been converted for a few decades.

Hence the etymology of "pagan"

One could argue that process of interaction and conflict with traditional practices never really ended.

[dps]

I thought Gaulish had survived in France until even after the Frankish conquest?

Gaulish was supplanted by Vulgar Latin[7] and various Germanic languages from around the 5th century AD onwards.
From Wikipedia.

Yeah, but other sources say other things.  There's a lot we don't know about the linguistic history of Europe from Classical times up to about 1500 (or even later, in some cases).  Heck, according to most sources I've seen, we don't really even know when spoken Latin morphed into proto-French, -Spanish, etc.

[Razgovory]

Yeah it was a very slow process. Christianity was structured around city life and had a hard time transitioning out into the countryside. Remember one thousand years after the fall of the Western Roman Empire the last pagan nation (much less person) had only been converted for a few decades.

Hence the etymology of "pagan"

One could argue that process of interaction and conflict with traditional practices never really ended.

I wonder if people in the hinterland of Russia still cling to traditional Marxism.