Burial and Sacrifice in Lithuania During the Late Fourteenth - Fifteenth Century: Religious Confrontation or A Unique Conversion Phenomenon – Baptism by Fire?

Abstract

This article seeks traces of the 1387 Lithuanian baptism formula, i.e. a religious confrontation or the conversion from paganism to Christianity, in the archaeological material. One type of find, low-relief ring brooches were selected for this purpose since they are found in fourteenth-century Livonian Christian burials, late- fourteenth – fifteenthcentury Lithuanian inhumation burials in Lithuania, sacrificial pits, pyre sites, and Lake Obeliai. It would be difficult to find more suitable finds in Lithuanian archaeological material for researching late-fourteenth-century religious confrontation or conversion than low relief ring brooches since it is precisely these that help to place the various burial customs and rites in chronological order. Low-relief ring brooches were Christian devotional objects intended for neophytes. Most of them consist of brooches with a grapevine or seven doves. In some of the sacrificial locations they are found brand new, while in others they have been in a very hot fire. The chronology of their sacrificial locations coincides with the beginning of Lithuania’s Christianisation in the late - fourteenth – early - fifteenth century but in no way with the end of the old faith we are seeking. Thus this archaeological material does not provide data for a religious confrontation in the late fourteenth century but does point to a unique phenomenon from the beginning of the religious conversion: evangelical baptism by fire.