>I'm not sure I'd chuck out Orlanth kingship rites at all - after all _all_
>the Christian kings up to Charlemagne's father (and many long afterwards)
>received their legitimacy from definitely non-Christian heathen gods and
>rites.
Agreed. But Queen Elizabeth II, though her legitimacy *does* ultimately derive from her descent from Wotan (via Cerdic of Wessex), performs very little Wotanic worship in public nowadays. I think this is Jeff's point. Kings (frex) are made using all kinds of archaic ritual and paraphernalia and selection criteria -- this does not mean that the religion which devised those bits of chrome and fluff is necessarily alive and well.
Carolingian kings saw themselves as Old Testament monarchs. (And Carolingian bishops saw themselves as Old Testament prophets, and had much fun doing so). That doesn't mean there was *much* cultural continuity between Judaea 800 BC and Gaul 800 AD.
Nick
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