Historians have often seen Europe’s high middle ages as the “triumph” of Christian culture over the pre-Christian paganism, be it civilized Greco-Roman paganism or barbaric Germanic paganism. But was Christianity’s “triumph” simply a defeat for Greco-Roman and Germanic cultures, or did pagan ways and mindsets somehow manage to live on beneath or alongside Europe’s triumphant Christian culture?

Historians have often seen Europe’s high middle ages as the “triumph” of Christian culture over the pre-Christian paganism, be it civilized Greco-Roman paganism or barbaric Germanic paganism. But was Christianity’s “triumph” simply a defeat for Greco-Roman and Germanic cultures, or did pagan ways and mindsets somehow manage to live on beneath or alongside Europe’s triumphant Christian culture?