[341] Grosseteste, in 1236, quotes ‘Isidorus’ as to the pagan origin of ‘ludi, in quo decertatur de bravio.’ The reference is to Isidore of Seville (560-636), Etymologiarum, xviii. 27, De ludis circensibus (P. L. lxxxii. 653). This, of course, refers directly to the religious associations of Roman rather than Celto-Teutonic ludi.
[342] Haddan-Stubbs, iii. 30 ‘idolorum cultus insequere, fanorum aedificia everate.’
[343] Bede, Hist. Eccl. i. 30; Haddan-Stubbs, iii. 37 ‘Dicite [Augustino], quid diu mecum de causa Anglorum cogitans tractavi: videlicet quia fana idolorum destrui in eadem gente minime debeant; sed ipsa quae in illis sunt idola destruantur, aqua benedicta fiat, in eisdem fanis aspergatur, altaria construantur, reliquiae ponantur: quia si fana eadem bene constructa sunt, necesse est ut a cultu daemonum in obsequium veri Dei debeant commutari, ut dum gens ipsa eadem fana sua non videt destrui, de corde errorem deponat, et Deum verum cognoscens ac adorans, ad loca, quae consuevit, familiarius concurrat. Et quia boves solent in sacrificio daemonum multos occidere, debet eis etiam hac de re aliqua solemnitas immutari: ut die dedicationis, vel natalitii sanctorum martyrum quorum illic reliquiae ponuntur, tabernacula sibi circa easdem ecclesias quae ex fanis commutatae sunt, de ramis arborum faciant, et religiosis conviviis sollemnitatem celebrent; nec diabolo iam animalia immolent, sed ad laudem Dei in esum suum animalia occidant, et donatori omnium de satietate sua gratias referant: ut dum eis aliqua exterius gaudia reservantur, ad interiora gaudia consentire facilius valeant. Nam duris mentibus simul omnia abscindere impossibile esse non dubium est, quia et is qui summum locum ascendere nititur gradibus vel passibus non autem saltibus elevatur’....
[344] Stanley, Memorials of Canterbury, 37.
[345] H. B. Wheatley, London, Past and Present, iii. 39; Donne, Poems (Muses’ Library), ii. 23.
[346] Bede, ii. 13 ‘iussit sociis destruere ac succendere fanum cum omnibus septis suis.’ In Essex in a time of plague and famine (664), Sigheri and his people ‘coeperunt fana, quae derelicta sunt, restaurare, et adorare simulacra.’ Bp. Jaruman induced them to reopen the churches, ‘relictis sive destructis fanis arisque’ (Bede, iii. 30).
[347] Bede, ii. 15. So too in eighth-century Germany there were priests who were equally ready to sacrifice to Wuotan and to administer the sacrament of baptism (Gummere, 342). See also Grimm, i. 7, and the letter of Gregory the Great to queen Brunichildis in M. G. H. Epist. ii. 1. 7 ‘pervenit ad nos, quod multi Christianorum et ad ecclesias occurrant, et a culturis daemonum non abscedant.’
[348] Willibald (Gesch.-Schreiber der deutschen Vorzeit, 27) relates that in Germany, when Boniface felled the sacred oak of Thor (robur Iovis) he built the wood into a church.
[349] A Saxon formula abrenuntiationis of the ninth century (Müllenhoff-Scherer, Denkmäler deutscher Poesie und Prosa aus dem 8.-12. Jahrhundert, 1892, No. li) specifically renounces ‘Thuner ende Uuôden ende Saxnôte ende allum thêm unholdum thê hira genôtas sint.’ Anglo-Saxon laws and council decrees contain frequent references to sacrifices and other lingering remnants of heathenism. Cf. Councils of Pincanhale and Cealcythe (787), c. 19 (Haddan-Stubbs, iii. 458) ‘si quid ex ritu paganorum remansit, avellatur, contemnatur, abiiciatur.’ Council of Gratlea (928), c. 3 (Wilkins, i. 205) ‘diximus ... de sacrificiis barbaris ... si quis aliquem occiderit ... ut vitam suam perdat.’ Council of London (1075) (Wilkins, i. 363) ‘ne offa mortuorum animalium, quasi pro vitanda animalium peste, alicubi suspendantur; nec sortes, vel aruspicia, seu divinationes, vel aliqua huiusmodi opera diaboli ab aliquo exerceantur.’ Also Leges of Wihtred of Kent (696), c. 12 (Haddan-Stubbs, iii. 235), and other A.-S. laws quoted by Kemble, i. 523.
[350] Penitential of Theodore (Haddan-Stubbs, iii. 189), i. 15, de Cultura Idolorum; Penitential of Egbert (H.-S. iii. 424), 8, de Auguriis vel Divinationibus.