Heinrich Leutemann in the context of "Teutons"

An Irminsul (Old Saxon 'great pillar') was a sacred, pillar-like object attested as playing an important role in the Germanic paganism of the Saxons. Medieval sources describe how an Irminsul was destroyed by Charlemagne during the Saxon Wars. A church was erected on its place in 783 and blessed by Pope Leo III.Sacred trees and sacred groves were widely venerated by the Germanic peoples (including Donar's Oak), and the oldest chronicle describing an Irminsul refers to it as a tree trunk erected in the open air.

Saxon paganism, sometimes known as Continental Saxon paganism or Saxon heathenism, refers to the religion of the Saxons before their Christianization in the wake of the Saxon Wars (772–804) of Charlemagne. Distinct from its closely related Anglo-Saxon counterpart, Saxon paganism was a polytheistic belief system and part of the larger Continental Germanic mythology, with a focus on the sacredness of pillar-like objects (such as Irminsul) and sacred groves, many of which were destroyed.

After Christianization, monasteries repurposed Saxon beliefs and values in new Christian literature, such as the Old Saxon epic poem Heliand, and used the region as a barrier between Christendom and the Slavic and Norse pagans to the north and east. Reportedly, paganism continued among the Saxons until the 12th century.