EME Short Paper 1

Marley Stokes
History 150
10/15/2024
Final word count: 986
Curious Animals Unchanging: The perseverance of folk belief in Early modern Europe
As long as human society has existed, there has been spirituality, belief, and religion. As
animals with great cognitive power, we naturally wonder many things and seek to explain them:
How did we get on this planet seemingly created especially for us? Who put us here? Why do
things exist the way that they do? What is our purpose for existing? We answered and continue to
respond to these extremely nuanced and subjective questions based on what we have observed
around us first, which then expands into a different cosmogeny depending on to whom you’re
talking and their cultural background. Early modern Europeans are of absolutely no exception,
with countless pre-Christian pagan traditions and conjectures about the natural and supernatural
worlds around them that seep into belief even in contemporary times.
Before the spread of early Christianity by missionaries and word of mouth carried on
Roman roads, the average person’s belief was likely based on oral tradition and established
pantheons of their geographical location. Celtic polytheism in much of the subcontinent north of
the Alps had a large influence on early European paganism, as did the Hellenic religions of the
Greeks and Romans to the south, and to a small extent, the Kemetic religion of Egypt did as
well. We have seen examples of classically influenced belief in our discussions, such as the four
humors and the influence of the stars in astrology by Hippocrates, which served as a basis for
European medical knowledge for about two millennia after his death.
The pantheons and cosmology of early modern Europe transformed into what we would
now call “folk religion”, defined by the Oklahoma Historical Society as “... common beliefs that
are not necessarily grounded in scientific fact but are widely accepted as truth by most members
of the group… These can be seen regularly across ethnicities and are expressed in topics ranging
from the weather to childbirth. Some of these beliefs take the form of light-hearted axioms, but
others comprise important social rules, which if broken, constitute a serious breach of respect
and even threaten the group's well-being.”1 Despite the decrees of early Christian leaders like
Constantine and those of his later successors in the Roman Catholic Church, the millennia-old
popular beliefs among their subjects would persist through centuries of violent religious warfare,
inquisitions, and confessionalization.
Humoral theory is a great example of this: despite its’ pagan, Hellenistic origins, it was
accepted and promoted by the early Catholic church because it could go along with their belief
that their God created man in his holy image. When two different belief systems converge in
society, they often syncretize, particularly when one can line up specific aspects of each and
connect them, to form a system of very nuanced and layered spiritual thinking. Modern European
Christianity itself began this way, as an amalgamation of Judaic theology and Greek philosophy,
with glimmers of proto-European paganism strewn throughout to ease the common people into
their new religion via social conversion. Old pagan deities’ roles and aspects were transferred to
Christian saints and pagan holidays like Saturnalia, Samhain, and Ostara became Christmas,
Halloween, and Easter, respectively.
1
“Folk Beliefs | The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture.” n.d. Oklahoma Historical Society |
OHS. https://www.okhistory.org/publications/enc/entry?entry=FO004.
During the “witch craze” of the 15th and early 16th centuries the tenacity of pre-Christian
folk belief is particularly evident, as we see records of women participating in what we refer to
today as folk healing, although we know that most of them were simply caught in the crossfire of
a giant Euro-Christian civil war. At this point, the line between what is considered alright and
what is considered heresy by the church is immeasurably thin and seems to depend on exactly
who was practicing, their own social standing within the church, and the approved sources the
information being used came from. Priests and certain clergymen could heal and perform
miracles, and the average person was expected to sit back, obey, and not wonder for themselves
if they could heal just as well with what their grandmothers taught them at home. Those whose
home healing practices worked were in danger though, at the hands of an ever-suspicious and
self-preserving society in the name of God.
We know now that even the murderous persecution of so-called witches could not even
stamp out the prevalence of these archaic beliefs. Understandably after the witch craze, talk of
these practices went further underground than they had been even before, overshadowed in
history during the age of exploration and convergence of two vastly different worlds. Despite
being secret and held intimately close by believers, these proto-European beliefs crossed the
Atlantic and syncretized even further with the religion and beliefs of both the Indigenous people
of the New World and enslaved Africans alongside them, resurfacing in the mountains of
Appalachia which were once part of their home far away.
One could argue that these beliefs no longer exist, as they have been reimagined and
reused time and time again, growing and changing to suit the society around them, and therefore
have not carried on in their original capacity because we are no longer ancient Celts, Gauls, or
Greeks, and modern explanations for why the world is the way that it is void the need for popular
folk belief. My personal belief is that continuity in human belief and spirituality is essential to
the study of history and Early Modern History, as understanding past interpretations of our place
in the universe helps us further the understanding of sociological and psychological mindsets,
and the ways in which we as human beings interact with our world, bodies, and minds today, and
in the past. Humans have always wondered why, and their innate, primal curiosity about the
planet and their own existence is evidence enough for me that our continuity is perhaps one of
the most principal aspects of the study of history, and ourselves.

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Marley Stokes

Final word count: 986

inquisitions, and confessionalization.

Halloween, and Easter, respectively.

self-preserving society in the name of God.

Appalachia which were once part of their home far away.

the most principal aspects of the study of history, and ourselves.

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