Pagan Customs in Christian Burial Grounds? Written Sources from the 12th to the 16th Century and their Possible Interpretation

The article analyses the question how to understand the definition of ritus paganorum/superstition which we can find in written sources from the 12th to the 16th centuries. In historiography it is generally assumed that the definition of ritus paganorum/superstition is understood as pagan rituals and practices. But in sources such as the sermons of Bishop Herman of Prague (12th century), in the Church edicts of Siegfried von Regenstein, Bishop of Sambia (14th century), in the sinodical statutes of the Diocese of Poznan (15th century), and other sources, nothing is mentioned about paganism. In contrast, other sources mention diabolical songs over the bodies of dead persons at night, long Prussian drinking bouts in cemeteries or during funerals, and erecting inappropriate crosses at the graves of the dead and demanding their removal and other things. The question naturally arises whether in the case of all these obscure rituals, commemorations of the dead, marking of graves, etc, we can talk about pagan customs that still existed in Christian communities of West and East Slavs or Balts? In the written sources from the 12th to the 16th centuries discussed in the article, under the pagan expressions ritus paganorum/superstition, we see images relating to Christianity, the content of which already has a Christian, but not pagan, meaning.