Around 1426, Michael Junge, Bishop of Sambia, issued a decree forbidding the Old Prussians from rebaptising their children in rivers or elsewhere after they had already been baptised by Christian priests. He also prohibited giving the children different names from those received at Christian baptism. Violators faced fines or whipping.
Around 1426, Michael Junge, Bishop of Sambia, issued a decree forbidding the Old Prussians from rebaptising their children in rivers or elsewhere after they had already been baptised by Christian priests. He also prohibited giving the children different names from those received at Christian baptism. Violators faced fines or whipping.
An earlier example comes from the Livonians. In the late 12th century, after the departure of German crusaders, the recently baptised locals reportedly washed themselves in the Daugava, declaring:
“We now remove the water of baptism and Christianity itself with the water of the river.”
According to Henry of Livonia, they even placed a carved wooden head, which they believed represented the Saxons’ god, on a raft and sent it down the river after the departing Germans.
