Polish heraldry
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.
Unlike Western Europe, in Poland, the Polish nobles szlachta 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.
[2] 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 (ius militare) and iure polonico [pl].
[6][7] 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].
[8] 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 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.
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.
[20] 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.
His work was continued by Professor Józef Szymański [pl], who finally published an armorial of original Polish coats of arms.
[25] 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.
Among the oldest coats of arms in Poland, nearly half use a red background, with blue (azure) coming in a distant second.
[41] Other typical features used in Polish heraldry include horseshoes, arrows, Maltese crosses, scythes, stars, and crescents.
[43] It has been suggested that originally all Polish coats of arms were based on such abstract geometrical shapes, but most were gradually "rationalized" into horseshoes, arrows and so on.
Evidence of the origins of the system was considered scanty, and the hypothesis has been criticized as being part of "Sarmatism" (the Polish tradition of romanticizing their supposed Sarmatian ancestry).
Supporters, mottos, and compartments normally do not appear, although certain individuals used them, especially in the final stages of the system's development, partly in response to French and German influence.
By the 17th century, usually, men and women inherited a coat of arms from their father or mother or even both (or a member of a clan who had adopted them).
This partly accounts for the relatively large proportion of Polish families who had adopted a coat of arms by the 18th century.
Such publications, akin to Almanach de Gotha or Gelre Armorial and descended from the tradition of rolls of arms, appeared in Poland regularly from the 15th century onwards.
