Polish heraldry is the study of the coats of arms that have historically been used in Poland and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It treats of specifically Polish heraldic traits and of the Polish heraldic system, contrasted with heraldic systems used elsewhere, notably in Western Europe. Due to the distinctive ways in which feudal societies evolved, Poland's heraldic traditions differ substantially from those of the modern-day German lands and France.
Polish heraldry is an integral part of the history of the Polish szlachta (nobility).
History
Unlike Western Europe, in Poland, the Polish nobles did not emerge exclusively from the feudal class of knights but stemmed in great part from earlier Slavic local rulers and free warriors and mercenaries. Rulers often hired these free warriors and mercenaries to form military units ()Tadeusz Nowak, Jan Wimmer, "Historia oręża polskiego 963-1795", Wiedza Powszechna, Warszawa 1981, , str.33. Drużyna was formed by younger units (majority) and older units of magnates and descendants of former local rulers that also where part of the council of war of the Ruler and eventually, in the 11th century during the time of Casimir I the Restorer with the development of feudalism, armies paid by the Prince were replaced by knights that were paid in land.J. Wyrozumski Historia Polski do roku 1505, Państwowe Wydawnictwo Naukowe, Warszawa 1986, rozdz. IV,13, str. 97 Much written evidence from the Middle Ages demonstrates how some elements of the Polish nobility did emerge from former Slavic rulers that were included in the ranks of the knightly class under the terms of the chivalric law () and .Franciszek Piekosiński Polish Knights during the Middle Ages, 1901J. Bardach, B. Leśnodorski, M. Pietrzak, Historia państwa i prawa polskiego, Warszawa 1976,
Because Polish clans () have different origins, only part of the szlachta can be traced all the way back to the traditional old clan system based on kinship. The clans that could show kinship belonged to a House (),Herby rycerstwa polskiego przez Bartosza Paprockiego zebrane i wydane r. p. 1584; wydanie Kazimierza Józefa Turowskiego, 1858, Wielkopolska Biblioteka Cyfrowa such as the House of Odrowąż. Later, when different Houses created different surnames for each property, the House turned into the Clan Odrowąż. Other szlachta were not related and their unions were mostly voluntary and based on fellowship and brotherhood rather than kinship, still being full members of the Clan, creating Clan politics like in Clan Ostoja or Clan Abdank, but forming a heraldic clan. Near the end of the history of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, due to adoptions and other circumstances, all Clans in Poland turned into Heraldic Clans.[Wladyslaw Semkowicz, Clan Abdank i Medieval time http://www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/plain-content?id=119155]Lukasz Lapinski, PhD in Polish history using DNA evidence to claim clan origin and structure
In the year 1244, Bolesław, Duke of Masovia, identified members of the knights' clan as members of a genealogia:
I received my good servitors [Raciborz and Albert] from the land of [Great] Poland, and from the clan [genealogia] called Jelito, with my well-disposed knowledge [i.e., consent and encouragement] and the cry [vocitatio], [that is], the godło, [by the name of] Nagody, and I established them in the said land of mine, Masovia, [on the military tenure described elsewhere in the charter].Górecki, Piotr (1992). Economy, Society, and Lordship in Medieval Poland: 1100-1250. New York, NEW YORK: Holmes and Meier Publishers, Inc. . OCLC 25787903
The documentation regarding Raciborz and Albert's tenure is the earliest surviving of the use of the clan name and cry defining the honorable status of Polish knights. The names of knightly genealogiae only came to be associated with heraldic devices later in the Middle Ages and in the early modern period. The Polish clan name and cry ritualized the ius militare, i.e., the power to command an army; and they had been used sometime before 1244 to define knightly status.
According to Polish historian Tadeusz Manteuffel, a Polish clan (ród) consisted of people related by blood and descending from a common ancestor, giving the ród/clan a highly developed sense of solidarity (see gens). The starosta (or starszyna) had judicial and military power over the ród/clan, although this power was often exercised with an assembly of elders. Strongholds called gród were built where a unifying religious cult was powerful, where trials were conducted, and where clans gathered in the face of danger. The opole was the territory occupied by a single tribe. Such clans often used signs (proto-coat of arms)Heraldyka - Początki herbów rycerskich w Polsce that later, during 13th century become coat of arms of the House or the Clan. The origin of those proto-CoAs is controversial. Some, like Sulimirski, claim Sarmatian originT. Sulimirski, The Sarmatians, Thames & Hudson Ltd (December 1970), and some like historian Franciszek Piekosiński claim that those signs are Runes of dynastic tribal rulers.O dynastycznem szlachty polskiej pochodzeniu, 1888P. Dudziński, Alfabet heraldyczny, Warszawa 1997, s. 208–220
Heraldic symbols began to be used in Poland in the 13th century.J. Bieniak, Heraldyka polska przed Długoszem, [w:] Sztuka i ideologia XV w., pod red. P. Skubiszewskiego, Warszawa 1978, s. 192 The generic Polish term for a coat of arms, herb, was used for the first time in the year 1415 at the Royal Office with text et quatuor herbis,Białek W., Swarzędz 1638-1988, Swarzędz 1988historia.org - first section and citation originating as a borrowing of the Czech erb, which in turn came from the German Erbe – heritage.Herb, explained in official page of City of WarsawPWN - Słownik języka polskiego pod red. W. Doroszewskiego (last sentence)
Many Polish coats of arms and the overwhelming majority of their variations possess charges derived from Polish linear property marks, which appeared before the emergence of any heraldic concept. These signs were very similar to tamgas which were used in territories stretching from Siberia to the Caucasus region and the Crimean Peninsula, including by the Sarmatians in antiquity and by the Tatars in the Middle Ages. At the same time, they were hereditary signs serving as identification and ownership marks. As early as the 13th and 14th centuries they became objectified, while their shape underwent a process of heraldization. This gave rise to heraldic signs including stars, horseshoes, crescents, and the rogacina (arrowhead, along with its variations), which are symbols characteristic of Polish heraldry.
During the Union of Horodło (1413), 47 Prince and Boyar families of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were adopted into 47 Polish noble clans and began to use Polish coats of arms.Lidia Korczak (red.): Unia horodelska 1413. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, Kraków 2014,
Medieval coats of arms
Since there was no heraldic authority in Poland or in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, many old Polish coats of arms were changed over time by different publications, losing their original appearance. The Heraldic Commission was registered on 20 January 2010.Dziennik Ustaw z 2000 r. Nr 6 poz. 83 Although many medieval Polish coats of arms were presented in Western European rolls of arms,Almanach de Gotha, Gelre Armorial, Codex Berghammar, :fr:Grand Armorial équestre de la Toison d'or, Stemmata polonica, :fr:Armorial Bellenville, :de:Armorial Lyncenich there were no publications that presented original coats of arms in Poland until the 20th century, when began recovering old Polish coats of arms. His work was continued by Professor , who finally published an armorial of original Polish coats of arms.Józef Szymański, Herbarz rycerstwa polskiego z XVI wieku. Warszawa: Wydawnictwo DiG, 2001.
The ancient PałukiSemkowicz W. Jeszcze o rodzie Pałuków Wiad. Numizm. Archeolog. 21(1939/1948), s. 96-107 family coat of arms was visually close to the Topór coat of arms, and in time a similar coat was assumed by Clan Topór.Paweł Dudziński: Alfabet heraldyczny. Warszawa: Diogenes, 1997, s. 209. As the Ostoja coat of arms evolved, the dragon was replaced by feathers and the cross by the sword, followed by other changes between ancient and modern versions.Alfred Znamierowski: Herbarz rodowy. Warszawa: Świat Książki, 2004, s. 25. .
Many Polish coats of arms feature so-called variations, which are particular to Polish heraldry. In many cases, variations are simple errors, sometimes the family wished to make a distinction within the clan and in other cases coats have been called variations of a particular family's coat just because they look similar, which all together create a unique heraldic clan organisation in Poland.Tomasz Gajl, Herby Szlacheckie Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów, Wydawnictwo L&L 2005, , Introduction chapterStanisław Dumin, Herbarz rodzin tatarskich Wielkiego Księstwa Litewskiego, Wyd. I, Gdańsk, Związek Tatarów Polskich, 1999, s. 16-18 ISSN 1234-9267Bartosz Jankowski, Smok w herbach szlachty polskiej, pismo historyczno-społeczne 14/2 (2007), p.97-116
Starting with proto-arms and families like Odrowąż being the House of Odrowąż, Polish family names were appended in many cases with -cki or -ski in reference to the name of their properties; for example, if a person named Chełmski acquired the town of Poniec, he would change his surname to Poniecki.http://www.poniec.pl – “Jak Chelmscy stali sie Ponieckimi” Furthermore, a Jerzykowski (de Jerzykowo) that owned the property of Baranowo changed his surname to Baranowski (de Baranowo) and a Baranowski that owned the property of Chrzastowo change the surname to Chrzastowski (de Chrzastowo).IH PANhttp://www.slownik.ihpan.edu.pl/search.php?id=3775
A family became a clan or "heraldic family" using the same coat of arms. Later, when clans adopted several families, they formed heraldic clans, families using the same arms, in many cases defending clan politics but not necessarily blood related to each other.A. Wajs, Materiały genealogiczne, nobilitacje, indygenaty w zbiorach Archiwum Głównego Akt Dawnych w Warszawie, DiG, Warszawa 2001.
Peculiarities
Although the Polish heraldic system evolved under the influence of German heraldry, there are many notable differences.
The most striking peculiarity of the system is that a coat of arms does not belong to a single family. A number of unrelated families (sometimes hundreds of them), usually with a number of different family names, may use the same, undifferenced coat of arms, and each coat of arms has its own name. The total number of coats of arms in this system was relatively low – ca. 160 (PiekosińskiF. Piekosiński, Poczet rodów szlachty polskiej wieków średnich, Lwów 1911F. Piekosiński, Heraldyka polska wieków średnich, Akademia Umiejętności, Kraków 1899) in the late Middle Ages.A. Małecki, Studya heraldyczne, t. 1-2, Lwów 1890. The same can be also seen in Western Europe when families of different surnames but sharing clan origin would use similar coats-of-arms, the fleur-de-lis of the many Capetian families being perhaps the best-known example.