Jelita coat of arms
Polish coat of arms
Jelita is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta families.
History
One of the oldest Polish coats of arms. First depicted on the seal of Tomisław z Mokrska from 1316.
Additionally, the Polish medieval chronicler, diplomat and soldier Jan Długosz referred to those bearing the Jelita coat of arms as "a clan born in Poland of men who are modestly devoted to dogs and hunting."
Legend
Legend has it that this coat of arms was granted by King Władysław I Łokietek to a peasant soldier (and his family) after the Battle of Płowce (1331) in which the Polish armies defeated the 40,000-strong force of the Teutonic Knights with minimal casualties. The man fought with great courage and only fell in battle when pierced by three spears in the abdominal area which caused his bowels to fall out. Shortly before his death, the King ennobled the fatally wounded man. Hence, the three crossed spears in the coat of arms, as well as the name Jelita, Bowels or Guts.
Blazon
There are three lances of gold (or yellow), displayed in the design of a star on a red field, so that two on the sides are shown with their ends and points upward and the center lance with its point straight downward. on the helmet is a demi goat leaping with its forepaws upward, facing to the right, with horns on its head.
“Jelita coat of arms” enters the record as polish coat of arms. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Jelita, coat and arms can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q2090057. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1316 and 1331.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jelita coat of arms” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.