Vota in Nature in 6th–7th Century Gaul and Hispania

This chapter examines how, from the 4th century onwards, Christian authors pursued a strategy of ‘ruralising’ paganism, portraying offerings at stones, trees and springs as misguided devotion to the natural world. Drawing on Roman traditions that praised rustic piety, they reframed such images to discredit non-Christian worship, presenting it as reverence for inert matter rather than the Creator. By the 6th century, this discourse re-emerged in attempts to suppress rites beyond episcopal oversight, linking unauthorised ritual acts to a pagan past. The chapter shows how this strategy was employed by bishops such as Caesarius of Arles and Martin of Braga and how it was further developed in Gallic and Hispanic councils of the 6th and 7th centuries.