Polish heraldry
Study of coats of arms in lands of Poland
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 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. Rulers often hired these free warriors and mercenaries to form military units (Polish: Drużyna) 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. 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.
Because Polish clans (Polish: Rody) 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 (Polish: Dom), such as the House of Odrowąż. Later, when different Houses created different surnames for each property, the House turned into the Clan Odrowąż.
“Polish heraldry” enters the record as study of coats of arms in lands of Poland. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Polish, heraldry and Study can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Polish heraldry” 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.