jan 1, 1331 - Pagan worship in Kobarid

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The worship of Belenus was of extreme importance in
the broad region of Aquileia throughout the Roman period. Thus it would not be strange if
his cult survived in late antiquity, on the contrary, it would be unusual if it did not. On the
other hand, Christianity advanced only slowly in the region of Tolmin, which is indicated
by the fact that as late as 1331 pagan worship of a sacred tree and a sacred spring was at-
tested at Kobarid. The church at Cividale (Slov. Čedad) organized a punitive expedition
against the pagans under the supervision of the Franciscan Franciscus de Clugia
(Francesco di Chioggia), the inquisitor operating against the heretics in the regions of
Venetia and Friuli, in the course of which the sacred tree was cut down and the sacred
spring filled up with stones.28 These and similar pagan traditions may have been preserved
by the epichoric population of the Tolmin and Kobarid regions (note an important pagan
sanctuary in the immediate vicinity of Kobarid),29 which may have blended with the Slavic
forms of paganism. Perhaps Belin would have simply been a Slavic/Slovenian name for Be-
lenus/Belinus, with modified characteristics, adapted to their mythological concepts.

Sasel Kos, Mythologica Slavica

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