A heraldic clan (''ród herbowy''), in

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...

, comprised all the noble (''

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

'') bearers of the same

coat of arms A coat of arms is a heraldry, heraldic communication design, visual design on an escutcheon (heraldry), escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central ele ...

. The members of a heraldic clan were not necessarily linked by

consanguinity Consanguinity ("blood relation", from Latin '' consanguinitas'') is the characteristic of having a kinship with another person (being descended from a common ancestor). Many jurisdictions have laws prohibiting people who are related by blood fr ...

. The concept was unique to

Polish heraldry 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 sys ...

History

The Polish word ''herb'' derives from the German ''Erbe'', "inheritance" or "heritage", and denotes a

. Unrelated families could be granted the same

and thus become co-armigers sharing the same ''herb''. Bearers of the same coat of arms were variously called ''herbowni'', ''współherbowni'' (co-armorials), or ''klejnotni'', from ''klejnot'', "jewel". The numbers of such individual families often reached several dozen; several hundred were not uncommon. The heraldic-family tradition constitutes one of the hypotheses about the origins of the

Polish nobility The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in the ...

: the unique feature of

being the practice of inducting unrelated families into the same coat of arms, sometimes with minor variations of

tincture A tincture is typically an extract of plant or animal material dissolved in ethanol (ethyl alcohol). Solvent concentrations of 25–60% are common, but may run as high as 90%.Groot Handboek Geneeskrachtige Planten by Geert Verhelst In chemistr ...

. In time, all those families were integrated into the Polish nobility, the ''

''. The number of families within a particular "heraldic family" varied over time and could be affected by

heraldic adoption Heraldic adoption ( pl, adopcja herbowa), was in the Kingdom of Poland a legal form of ennoblement and adoption into an existing heraldic clan; along with assuming the coat of arms of that clan it took place as a result of an act issued by the King ...

. Entire noble classes from other nations, for example from

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, were incorporated by adoption—granted an ''

indygenat ''Indygenat'' or 'naturalization' in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth was the grant of nobility to foreign nobles. To grant ''indygenat'', a foreign noble had to submit proof of their service to the Republic, together with proof of nobility is ...

''—into the Polish nobility and its heraldic system. Removal from the heraldic system was also possible, by ''

vituperatio nobilitatis Nagana szlachectwa ( la, 'Vituperatio nobilitatis'), literally reprobation/reprimand/censure of nobility, also translated by Norman Davies as Test of Nobility Norman Davies, ''God's Playground''/ref> was a legal procedure of the revocation of nobi ...

'', a legal procedure for

revocation of nobility Revocation of nobility is the removal of the noble status of a person. It should be distinguished from the concept of dérogeance ("derogation" of nobility), which, e.g., in the context of French history, led to removal of the privileges of nob ...

. Polish coats of arms have their individual names, usually stemming from the heraldic clan's ancient seat or

battle cry A battle cry or war cry is a yell or chant taken up in battle, usually by members of the same combatant group. Battle cries are not necessarily articulate (e.g. "Eulaliaaaa!", "Alala"..), although they often aim to invoke patriotic or religious ...

; or from the way the arms were depicted "

canting arms Canting arms are heraldic bearings that represent the bearer's name (or, less often, some attribute or function) in a visual pun or rebus. French heralds used the term (), as they would sound out the name of the armiger. Many armorial allus ...

". The battle-cry derivation of many Polish heraldic family names has given rise to the now outdated term "''proclamatio'' arms", referring to the names'

hortatory In linguistics, hortative modalities (; abbreviated ) are verbal expressions used by the speaker to encourage or discourage an action. Different hortatives can be used to express greater or lesser intensity, or the speaker's attitude, for or ...

nature. From the 17th to the 20th centuries, belonging to a distinguished house and a shared armorial lineage mattered to members of the ''szlachta''. That is why most modern Polish

armorial A roll of arms (or armorial) is a collection of coats of arms, usually consisting of rows of painted pictures of shields, each shield accompanied by the name of the person bearing the arms. The oldest extant armorials date to the mid-13th centur ...

s are arranged by clan names, rather than by their respective family arms, as was the case with 16th-century armorials.Paprocki - http://literat.ug.edu.pl/grafika/herby.htm

References

{{reflist Polish heraldry Clans

History

See also

References