ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the challenges historians face in trying to comprehend pre-Christian Saxon religion. Scholarly debates are presented alongside beneficial insights from history, linguistics, and archaeology. These myriad sources of data are then utilized to discuss key categories pertaining to Saxon paganism, including cosmology, religious practice, and funerary customs. Certain elements of Saxon paganism are then juxtaposed with Frankish Christianity. By the conclusion of the chapter, readers will understand the primary components of Saxon paganism that Frankish rulers found problematic. While Frankish Christians believed in one God existing outside His creations, salvation through the sacrifice of Christ, and moral customs rooted in the Bible, Saxons were polytheists, practiced animal and human sacrifice to appease their gods, sacralized nature, and engaged in various forms of divination and magic. Frankish Christians interpreted Saxon paganism as demonic and, therefore, increasingly were resolved to root it out.
