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The pagan sacrifice in the “Lex Salica”
В наиболее радикальной форме они находили выражение в заявлениях о необходимости превращения государства из «рабоче-крестьянского» в «крестьянско-рабочее» путем наделения законодательными функциями беспартийных селянских конференций [4, 20].
Подвергался критике и активно пропагандируемый коммунистической партией тезис о «советской демократии». Местами на отчетных собраниях участники дискуссий отмечали безальтернативность избирательного процесса и засилье партийцев во всех государственных учреждениях. Например, в Конотопе один служащий заявил, что «Выборы проводятся только для виду, потому что на все ответственные должности уже назначены коммунисты. Разговоры о демократии — одни красивые слова, а на деле в СССР еще хуже, чем в буржуазных государствах» [7, 21].
Количество критических выступлений возросло в конце 1920-х годов. Свертывание новой экономической политики, провозглашение курса на индустриализацию, борьба с любыми проявлениями инакомыслия находили свое отображение на отчетных собраниях. Усиления внимания к развитию промышленности расценивалось крестьянством, как отказ государства решать насущные проблемы сельского населения: «Строят за 300 млрд. Днепрогэс и 19 этажные дома в Харькове, а у нас ничего нет, хоть берут все». Недовольство новым экономическим курсом местами проявлялось и в среде пролетариата, что
было связано с отсутствием существенного прогресса в улучшение бытовых условий жизни при одновременном выделение значительных средств на строительство новых предприятий. Так, при обсуждение доклада горсовета в Днепропетровске на заводе им. Дзержинского один рабочий заявил, что «надо сначала дать хорошую квартиру, одежду и сытную пищу, а потом говорить по поводу индустриализации» [7, 20].
В некоторых случаях даже звучали слова о поддержке «правого уклона» в партии, с представителями которого ассоциировалось продолжение новой экономической политики. Так, в одном из сел Яблуновского района При-луцкого округа в 1928 г. крестьяне выступили с заявлением, что «будем иметь возможность жить и хозяйствовать тогда, когда успех одержит правый уклон» [11, 36].
Но, несмотря на довольно значительное количество критических замечаний, выступления против власти большевистской партии были единичными, а популярный еще в начале 1920-х годов лозунг «советы без коммунистов», начиная с середины десятилетия, фактически уже не поднимался. В основном населением выдвигались требования экономического характера и улучшения бытовых условий жизни. При этом сам факт докладов органов власти о своей работе и возможность их критической оценки создавали иллюзию подотчетности государственных структур простым гражданам.
Список литературы:
1. ЦДАВОУ - Ф. 2. - Оп. 3. - Д. 175.
2. ЦДАВОУ. - Ф. 1. - Оп. 2. - Д. 1754.
3. ЦДАГОУ - Ф.1. - Оп. 20. - Д. 2222.
4. ЦДАВОУ. - Ф. 1. - Оп. 3. - Д. 2382.
5. ЦДАГОУ. - Ф. 1 - Оп. 20. - Д. 3018.
6. ЦДАГОУ. - Ф. 1. - Оп. 20. - Д. 2543.
7. ЦДАВОУ. - Ф.1. - Оп. 4. - Д. 1111.
8. Гонтар А. В. Городские Советы Украины./А. В. Гонтар. - К.-Одесса, 1990.
9. ЗУ УСРР. - 1926. - №. 79. - С. 1389-1395.
10. ЦДАВОУ. - Ф. 1. - Оп. 3. - Д. 522.
11. ЦДАГОУ. - Ф. 1. - Оп. 20. - Д. 3011.
Dryakhlov Vladimir Nikolaevich, Volgo-Vyatsky Institute (Branch) of Moscow State Law University named after O. E. Kutafin, Associate Professor, the Department of Theory and History of State and Law
E-mail: vdryakhloff@mail.ru
The pagan sacrifice in the “Lex Salica”
Abstract: Information from the “Lex Salica" is analyzed as an evidence of the existence of the pagan cult. It shows us some stages in the disintegration of the pagan rituals among the Salian Franks.
Keywords: “Lex Salica”, paganism, sacrificial cattle, pagan sacrifice.
The Salian Franks were defeated by the Roman Emperor dependent population in the north of Gaul. This place was Julianus (355-363) and were settled as the conquered and named “Toxandria” and was situated somewhere on the left
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Section 3. History
bank ofthe Lower Rhine [1, XVII, 8.3]. At the end ofthe IV - the beginning of the V centuries A. D. the Salians became Roman allies (foederati). They kept their previous tribal pagan beliefs and rituals, which had not got under the Christian influence.
The King of the Salian Franks Chlodowech (481-511) adopted Christianity, which is dating approximately between 496-508 A. D. [12, 30]. In the last years of his ruling the “Lex Salica” was set up [3, 29]. It was the record of juridical norms of the Salians. The original text of the “Lex Salica”, which reflected everyday Frankish life of earlier times just before the conversion of Chlodowech, was lost. But the later text kept some fragmentary evidence about the pagan rituals. This information became available and was included into the reader on the history ofthe Early German religion [4, 18-20].
It is obvious that the conversion of the Salian Franks into Christianity during the reign of Chlodowech was very limited in number. The majority of the Franks remained pagans [7, 192, 112; 10, 64-65].
One of the most perfect examples of the existence of pagan rituals among the Salians at the beginning of the VI century A. D. is the reference to the boar prepared to pagan sacrifice in Chapter II of the “Lex Salica”: “If anybody steals a sacred boar (maiale votivo) and the fact that it was initiated may be proved by witnesses (testibus), so he will be sentenced to pay 700 denars, which makes17, 5 solids” [9, II, 12]. The penalty for a theft of a simple boar was 15 solids [9, II, 14].
The ritual of offering sacrifice was very important in the life of the Celts and the Germans [2, 67-68]. On the basis of the information from the Roman historian Tacitus (died circa 120 A. D.) and modern archeological investigations we know that since olden times the Germans sacrificed their domestic animals to the deities [11, 254; 13, IX]. While speaking about the pagan manifestation among the Salian Franks, Gregor of Tours (538-594) mentioned the ceremony of offering sacrifices: “This tribe was always devoted to the paganism; they ... made the images of the woods, waters, birds and animals and worshipped them as gods and sacrificed for them” [sacrificium delibare consueti - 6, II, 27]. The reference to the sacred boar in the “Lex Salica” is usually used as the indisputable fact of existence of some pagan rituals among the Franks [8, 197; 19, 259].
The paganism of the Franks and other German tribes wasn’t invariable during the Great Migration. J.-M. Wallace-Hadrill recognized that the Frankish paganism had changed greatly and included some details from the beliefs of the Celts, Anglo-Saxons, Frisians and other tribes [18, 17-18]. The main problem of our article is whether the “Les Salica” can be used as a source of information on the evolution of the paganism among the Salians.
First of all we should discuss the issue what kind of sacrifice is reflected in the “Lex Salica”? The article about the theft of a boar is significant by its reference to witnesses (testibus), who can confirm the sacrificial destiny of the stolen animal. Who were these witnesses? In this case their confession is not very important; they could be Christians or pagans. How
could they know about the sacrificial boar and the forthcoming sacrifice? It seems that these witnesses were not afraid to give evidence and were not afraid to show their sympathy for the pagan ritual in such a way.
Pagan beliefs and rituals of the German tribes were closely connected with their tribal forms of living and rural economy. By the end of the V th century A. D. the Salian Franks had migrated from Toxandria in different directions and were governed by several kings. The Salian Franks disintegrated into separate local tribal groups. The disintegration of the tribe made it difficult to keep common tribal pagan holidays and rituals as it had taken place just before the Great Migration. Moreover, the migration to Gallia broke all connections with the native sacred groves and forests across the Rhine where the Germans usually kept their pagan festivals and sacrifices.
The common tribal holidays disintegrated little by little. But the Franks preserved the group forms of the pagan rituals, which were practiced in the frameworks of patriarchal households, among the dwellers of farmsteads and small villages, among the groups of warriors. At the beginning of the VI th century A. D. the Salian Franks lived in small villages and farmsteads: this conclusion can be drawn on the basis of the data on the size of the herds of cows, horses and pigs [5, 74-75].
The sacrifice of domestic animals usually took place under the open sky. A group of people — family members and relatives of the person who made the sacrifice, his village neighbors — always watched the act of sacrifice. The ritual of sacrifice was simple and it could be performed not only by the pagan priests, but, according to the story of Tacitus, by patriarchs of the family (paterfamilias) as well [13, X].
Was the sacrifice in the “Lex Salica” in private or public interests? The reference to witnesses allows us to conclude that quite a wide range of people knew about the forthcoming sacrifice.
Hypothetically, only the head of the boar was used as a sacrifice. It is obvious from the letter of the Pope Gregory I to the Queen Brunchilda in 597 A. D. Gregory demanded that the Franks should never make “the blasphemes sacrifices of the animals’ heads” [animalium capitibus sacrificia — 4, 30]. So the participants of the sacrifice ceremony ate the remaining portion of the corpse.
One can suppose that higher value of an initiated boar in comparison with an ordinary animal can be explained by its sacred mission. The stolen animal could have been raised just for the sacrifice. In case of theft the stolen boar could be replaced by another animal, but this fact broke the solemnity of preparing and keeping the ritual.
The forthcoming sacrifice of the boar may have had a public character and was performed in the interests of the all dwellers of the farmstead or village. Such local sacrifices usually took place during the seasonal agricultural festivals devoted, for example, to the completion of rural field works in autumn. So there always were people in the village, who knew about the forthcoming sacrifice.
The first stage of disintegration of the pagan beliefs among the Franks began from the moment oftheir settling in the Roman
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The pagan sacrifice in the “Lex Salica”
Empire. It was lasted till the Franks maintained mass folkmoots of all free men and warriors. As we know, in earlier times these folkmoots had been headed by pagan priests [13, XI]. So we may suppose that some pagan rituals were held at the beginning or at the end of these tribal folkmoots. The folkmoots were still kept among the Salian Franks in the beginning ofChlodowech’s ruling. But gradually the folkmoots of the whole tribe were replaced by the assembly of the king with his personal band of men, junior military commanders, counsellors and assistants. So mass tribal folkmoots and mass pagan rituals became extinct. This stage of disintegration of the paganism ended with the conversion of Chlodowech into Christianity at the edge of the V-VI centuries A. D.
In the course of migration and settling on the new lands the tribal pagan societies which were commonly found among the Germans before the Great Migration fell into small pagan units — groups of patriarchal families, farmsteads and villages.
On the second stage of disintegration of the paganism pagan festivals and rituals held in these thin pagan groups got great significance. The dwellers of these small villages were connected together by their cognate and neighbouring relations and cooperative use of their lands. These people arranged their local pagan festivals.
The words of the biographer of Landibert (died between 698-701 A. D.), Bishop of Maastricht, about the people’s life in the valleys of Shelda and Maas, convince us of this conclusion. He wrote: “The dwellers of this region didn’t make up any urban districts (civitatibus), but they lived in numerous villages scattered around here and there, where they arranged their frequent and numerous pagan gatherings to worship their gods” [15, IX].
Later clerics and missionaries faced these local pagan festivals and sacrifices. Thus, Vedastus (died circa 540 A. D.), Bishop of Arras, saw the preparation of the ritual of sacred spilling of beer in the private feast [17, VII]. Paternus (died circa 565 A. D.), Bishop of Coutances, saw the sacrifice of meat at a peasants’ festival [16, 427]. An Irish monk and preacher Columbanus (died 615 A. D.) met a small group ofAlemanns, who made sacrifice ofbeer in the honour ofWodan [14, II, 53].
The second stage was lasted till the times when local sanctuaries near the villages and local pagan festivals were preserved. The article from the “Lex Salica” about the sacred boar shows us this particular period in the destruction of the paganism in Gallia. So the existence of pagan beliefs and rituals in small groups of peasants didn’t worry the first Merovingian kings, who recognised the high value of a sacrificial boar.
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