Flins is a Slavic deity, mentioned for the first time in the book Cronecken der Sassen in 1492 by the German writer Konrad Bothe. People believe it was not really worshipped.
People believe the name of the Polish town, Świeradów-Zdrój also known as Flinsberg in German, came from Flins.
Bothe said Flins was worshipped by people in the Harz Mountains and in Lusatia.
The deity was called Flins because it was believed to reside on a rocky outcrop and appeared as a deceased figure wearing a long cloak, holding a staff with a burning torch, and having a lion resting on its left shoulder. The lion was believed to resurrect worshippers when they died.
— Konrad Bothe
The described statue was supposed to be destroyed by Prince Lothair. Bothe's information was spread all across Europe and many people drew Flins.
Theories about his origin
There are a variety of theories about his origin, almost all consider him to have never been a real Slavic God.
According to Elias Schedius (1605–1641), the name of the deity was in fact a corrupted name of a supposed king of the Vandals : Vitzlauw (Wisław? )→Vlitzauw→Vlintz.
Christian Wilhelm Bronisch [de] (1788–1881) believed that it was derived from the Sorbian mrlinjec, mrlinjc – "dead".
Zbygniew Martynowski [pl; de] (1908–1993) derived it from the sequence lawjenc → lwiniec → lwinc → wlic → flins, and said it was related to lions.
Leonhard Franz argued the description was related to St. Christopher rather than a Slavic deity.
The figure of a Slavic necromancer holding a staff, but without a name, is also mentioned in the description of the shrines of the Western Slavs by Al-Masudi, a traveler from the middle east who visited the region in the 10th century. He recorded the following cult in the temple / healing place. :
Another shrine was built by one of their rulers on Czarna Góra (Black Mountain). It was surrounded by many beneficial springs whose waters differed in color and taste, and were believed to possess healing properties. The deity worshiped in this temple was represented by a large statue of an old man holding a staff that could summon skeletons from their graves.
— Al-Masudi, Łąki Złota i Drogich Kamieni
References
- ^ Jerzy Strzelczyk: Mity, podania i wierzenia dawnych Słowian. Poznań: Rebis, 2007, s. 72. ISBN 978-83-7301-973-7.
- ^ Krzysztof R. Mazurski: Świeradów-Zdrój i okolice. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo „Sport i Turystyka”, 1986, s. 29-30. ISBN 83-217-2561-9.
- Al-Masudi, Łąki Złota i Drogich Kamieni