Theocratic Rule, Native Agency and Transformation: Post-Crusade Sacred Landscapes in the Eastern Baltic

Abstract

ABSTRACT The crusades against eastern Baltic societies from the end of the twelfth century saw the reorganisation of the conquered territories into new Christian polities, a reconfiguration of land ownership and an intensification in resource exploitation to sustain the new regime and growing urban and rural populations. An ecclesiastical administration was imposed on the conquered territories, alongside the construction of churches and monasteries, confronting native religions which attached sacred importance to natural places and cemeteries. This paper compares the transformation of sacred landscapes in Livonia and Prussia and provides an interpretation of variability in relation to theocratic authority, native and migrant populations. Encompassing the role of settlements, cemeteries and the tempo of change, the paper is situated within a new archaeological framework contextualising medieval religious transformation; it also provides the first detailed, comparative perspective for the two regions. The landscape was not uniformly transformed and its variability, particularly the post-crusade endurance and even proliferation of native sacred sites, reflects the limits of theocratic authority and the pragmatic necessities of ruling conquered populations. This strong variability in the nature and process of Christianisation even in superficially similar areas should serve as a warning to resist generalising across limited data sets. Abbreviations: GQK: Geschichte der Quellen des katholischen Kirchenrechts der Provinzen Preussen und Posen (Jacobson ed. 1837); LUB: Liv-, Est- und Kurländisches Urkundenbuch nebst Regesten (Bunge ed. 1853–1857); PUB 1/1: Preussisches Urkundenbuch (Philippi ed. 1882); PUB 3/1: Preussisches Urkundenbuch (Hein ed. 1944). GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT