Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and Uses — John Shaqi
Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and UsesFergusson, James
History
Rude Stone Monuments in All Countries: Their Age and Uses
Fergusson, James
Megalithic monuments
The fair inference from this paragraph seems to be that there was so
little difference between the temples of the Pagans and the churches
of the Christians that a little holy water and a few relics--as much
esteemed in the West as in the East in those days--were all that was
required to convert the one into the other.
We gather the same impression from another transaction which took
place at Canterbury about the same time. After taking possession of
the Cathedral, built of old by the Romans,[26] St. Augustine obtained
from the recently converted King Ethelbert the cession of the temple in
which he had been accustomed to worship his idols, and without more ado
dedicated it to St. Pancras, and appropriated it as a burying place for
himself and his successors from the circumstance of its being outside
the walls.[27] We further learn from Gervaise[28] that it was so used
till Cuthbert, the second archbishop, got permission to allow burials
within the walls, and then erected the baptistry of St. John for this
purpose, where apparently Becket's crown now stands. Afterwards the
monastery of SS. Peter and Paul, now St. Augustine's, was erected "in
fundo Templi"--whatever that may mean--but at that time St. Augustine
seems to have accepted the Pagan temples as perfectly appropriate to
Christian rites.
In like manner when King Redwald, after his conversion to Christianity
was persuaded by his wife not rashly to forsake the faith of his
forefathers, he set up two altars side by side in his temple (in fano),
and dedicated the one to Christ, the other to the "victims of the
dæmons."[29] The temple, apparently, was equally appropriate to either.
A still more instructive example is the description of the destruction
of the church at Godmundingham by Coifi--the heathen priest--on his
conversion to Christianity. He first desecrated it by throwing a spear
into it--whether by the door or window we are not told--and then
ordered his people to burn it to the ground with all its enclosures.
These, therefore, must all have been in wood or some equally
combustible material.[30]
All this is not much nor very distinct, but by these passages, and
every hint we have on the subject, it would appear that the temples
of the Pagans, between the departure of the Romans and the time of
Alfred, were at least very similar to those of the Christians. Both
were derived from the same model, which was the temple or basilica of
the Romans, and both were apparently very rude, and generally, we may
infer, constructed of wood. The word circular does not occur in any
description of any Pagan temple yet brought to light, nor the word
stone; nothing, in fact, that would in the remotest degree lead us to
suppose that Bede, or any one else, was speaking or thinking of the
megalithic monuments with which we are now concerned.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account