Ślepowron is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (; ; ) were the nobility, noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Depending on the definition, they were either a warrior "caste" or a social ...

families in the times of the

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...

. From the fifteenth century, the descendants of the Ślepowron family began to use names taken from their lands. This led to many different surnames being created within one family, symbolically united under the

Korwin The New Hope ( , NN) is a right-wing to far-right political party in Poland and member of Confederation. As of 2024, it is led by Sławomir Mentzen. Founded in 2015 by Janusz Korwin-Mikke as a result of his removal from the Congress of th ...

(raven) coat of arms, which is thus unique in Polish heraldry. Wawrzęta Korwin de Ślepowron is the oldest known ancestor of the family, although their oral traditions claim descent from

Marcus Valerius Corvus Marcus Valerius Corvus (c. 370–270 BC), also sometimes known as Corvinus, was a military commander and politician who served in the early-to-middle period of the Roman Republic. During his career he was elected consul six times, beginning at the ...

, a Roman general.

Blazon

A black raven with a gold ring in its beak and its wings somewhat extended for flight, facing right, standing atop a cross, on the shoulders of a horseshoe standing erect with heels at the bottom. The shield is blue and the horseshoe silver. Above the shield, on a crowned helmet stands a similar raven. The horseshoe and cross were added to the coat of arms due to a marriage alliance with the Pobog clan. A later version adopted by many Korwin families is the

Korwin coat of arms Korwin is a Polish heraldry, Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta families in the times of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and by the Russian Counts Korwin-Jelita coat of arms, Litwicki tracing their origin back to Empress Cath ...

, in which the raven stands on a log rather than a horseshoe..

History

The name Ślepowron is said to be taken from the village of Ślepowrony near Płońsk, Mazowsze, which belonged to the then-established Korwin-Piotrowski family. According to "Herbów Rycerstwa Polskiego" by Bartosz Paprocki) this village was given to the knight Wawrzęta de Ślepowrony by Fr. Konrad Mazowiecki.

Motto

“Kości spròchniałe powstańcie z mogiły, Przywdziejcie ducha i ciało i siły' - Woronicz (found in Herbarz Polski, Hipolit Stupnicki)

Sarmatian Totem

The raven is of much older, legendary

pagan Paganism (, later 'civilian') is a term first used in the fourth century by early Christians for people in the Roman Empire who practiced polytheism, or ethnic religions other than Christianity, Judaism, and Samaritanism. In the time of the ...

origins. A Polish aristocratic

clan A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

Sarmatian The Sarmatians (; ; Latin: ) were a large confederation of Ancient Iranian peoples, ancient Iranian Eurasian nomads, equestrian nomadic peoples who dominated the Pontic–Caspian steppe, Pontic steppe from about the 5th century BCE to the 4t ...

origin chose the raven, possibly as its " rodnidze" or clan

totem A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While the word ...

The 1224 Grant

Many centuries later, a raven is attested in a grant of privilege to Warzęta Korwin z Ślepowrony, from Duke

Konrad I of Masovia Konrad I of Masovia (ca. 1187/88 – 31 August 1247), from the Polish Piast dynasty, was the sixth Duke of Masovia and Kuyavia from 1194 until his death as well as High Duke of Poland from 1229 to 1232 and again from 1241 to 1243. Life Konrad w ...

, given at

Warsaw Warsaw, officially the Capital City of Warsaw, is the capital and List of cities and towns in Poland, largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the Vistula, River Vistula in east-central Poland. Its population is officially estimated at ...

in 1224.

The Roman-Hungarian legend

The full Korwin shield, with the ring in the raven's beak, came to Poland from Hungary almost two centuries later, via the ''Roman-Hungarian legend'' amid contacts between the Polish nobility and the Hungarian Royal Court.

Roman legend

The

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

tribune Tribune () was the title of various elected officials in ancient Rome. The two most important were the Tribune of the Plebs, tribunes of the plebs and the military tribunes. For most of Roman history, a college of ten tribunes of the plebs ac ...

, born 370 BC of the

gens In ancient Rome, a gens ( or , ; : gentes ) was a family consisting of individuals who shared the same ''nomen gentilicium'' and who claimed descent from a common ancestor. A branch of a gens, sometimes identified by a distinct cognomen, was cal ...

Valerii, in 349BC accepted a challenge to

single combat Single combat is a duel between two single combatants which takes place in the context of a battle between two army, armies. Instances of single combat are known from Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages. The champions were often combatants wh ...

by a

barbarian A barbarian is a person or tribe of people that is perceived to be primitive, savage and warlike. Many cultures have referred to other cultures as barbarians, sometimes out of misunderstanding and sometimes out of prejudice. A "barbarian" may ...

warrior. During the combat, a raven perched upon Valerius' helmet and pecked his foe's eyes so fiercely that the barbarian was blinded. In memory of his victory, Valerius got the

agnomen An ''agnomen'' (; : ''agnomina''), in the Roman naming convention, was a nickname, just as the ''cognomen'' had been initially. However, the ''cognomina'' eventually became family names, and so ''agnomina'' were needed to distinguish between sim ...

''Corvinus'' from ''Corvus'' (raven). Marcus Valerius Messalla Corvinus (64BC-8AD) was

Caesar Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus (born Gaius Octavius; 23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14), also known as Octavian (), was the founder of the Roman Empire, who reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death in ...

' co-consul.

Hungarian/Polish legend

Coat of Arms on the Castle of Hunedoara 03

In the Kingdom of Hungary, the

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

n-Hungarian family of Korvin had flourished since the 15th century. Janos Hunyadi and his son Matthias Corvinus Hunyadi, King of Hungary and

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, called themselves "Corvinus" and minted coins displaying a raven with a ring. The epithet ''Corvinus'' was coined by Matthias' biographer, the Italian

Antonio Bonfini Antonio Bonfini (Latin variant: ''Antonius Bonfinius'') (1427‒1502) was an Italian humanist and poet serving as a court historian in Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpat ...

, who claimed that the Hunyadi family descended from Marcus Valerius Corvinus, who had supposedly settled on the

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus ro ...

Pannonia Pannonia (, ) was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire bounded on the north and east by the Danube, on the west by Noricum and upper Roman Italy, Italy, and on the southward by Dalmatia (Roman province), Dalmatia and upper Moesia. It ...

n frontiers, the future Hungary. This claim was later taken over by the Polish aristocrats connected with the Hungarian Hunyadi family. Triumph of Marcus Valerius Corvinus

House Medonich

The house of Medonich, of Magyar origin, anciently held territories in the Moldavian region of eastern Hungary, in the forests of Transylvania and Moldavia. The family was recorded to attend the national council of 1221 in which King Andras II issued the Golden Bull according self-determination to the nobles and gentry Konrada Mazowieckiego established the Slepowron, Stracchowa, Drozkzion and Wola clans in 1224. His descendants through his son Korwin or Corwins were nobles in north Italy. Another branch settled in Drozkzino Latvia and Slavonia. One member of the Medonich family appeared at the Prussian court in 1414 acting as a representative for his family in Galacia; another appeared at Dobryczn in 1674.

King Matthias's Ring

In addition to the above, the Silesian Annals tell that a raven carried off the ring which King Matthias, (who was also ruler of the Duchy of

Głogów Głogów (; , rarely , ) is a city in western Poland. It is the county seat of Głogów County, in Lower Silesian Voivodeship. Głogów is the sixth largest town in the Voivodeship; its population in 2021 was 65,400. Among the oldest towns in Po ...

, and

Suzerain A suzerain (, from Old French "above" + "supreme, chief") is a person, state (polity)">state or polity who has supremacy and dominant influence over the foreign policy and economic relations of another subordinate party or polity, but allows i ...

of all the

Silesia Silesia (see names #Etymology, below) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Silesia, Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at 8, ...

n duchies), had removed from his finger. Matthias chased the bird down and slew it, retrieving the ring - and in commemoration of this event, he took the Raven as a symbol for his signet sign.

Arms derivatives of Ślepowron, alternative drawings and entitled family versions

::* Tadeusz Gajl identifies 30 coats of arms derivatives of Ślepowron:
Gosiewski
surname Gosiewski. (Is uncertain if it is derivative of Korwin or Ślepowron).
Jurzyc
surnames Jurzyc, Jurzyk.
Kamecki
surname Kamecki.
Kamieński
surname Kamieński.
Kossakowski Count
surname Kossakowski.
Krakowski Count
surname Krakowski.
Krasiński Count 1
surname Krasiński.
Krasiński Count 2
surname Krasiński.
Krasiński Count 3
surname Krasiński.
Kudelski
surname Kudelski.
Kurkowski
surname Kurkowski.
Leśniewski
surname Leśniewski.
Lisowski
surname Lisowski also Lissowski.
Luberadzki
surname Luberadzki.
Lutostański
surname Lutostański
Mieroszewski Count
surname Mieroszewski.
Milan
surnames Milewski, Zaorski.
Milewski Count
surname Milewski.
Nachtraba
surnames Nachtrab, Nachtraba.
Olszweski IV
surname Olszewski.
Olszewski V
surname Olszewski.
Pawłowski Count
surname Pawłowski.
Rabe
surname Rabe.
Pokrzywnicki
surname Pokrzywnicki.
Rosyniec
surnames Górka, Rosiński, Rosyniec.
Sobobliński
surname Sobobliński.
Sobolewski Count
surname Sobolewski.
Suchodolski II
surname Suchodolski.
Szlubowski Count
surname Szlubowski.
Wróblewski
surname Wróblewski.
Wykisiały
surname Wykisiały. ::* Coats of arms related to Ślepowron on other way. Some coats of arms may be related to Ślepowron, yet they are not classified as ''Derivatives'' properly, on Polish armorials:
Czarnowron
surnames Borowicz, Fijałkowski.
Kurowski
surname Kurowski.
Kudelski
surname Kudelski.
Raszyniec
surnames Maciuk, Maczuk.
Sandrecki
surnames Sandrecki, Sendraszyc.
Siedmiogradzki
surname Siedmiogradzki.
Zasulicz
surname Zasulicz.
Żukowski
surnames Kowalewski, Żuchowski, Żuczenko, Żuk, Żukowski.

Notable bearers

Notable bearers of this coat of arms include: * Stanisław Sebastian Bronicki *

Augustyn Kordecki Abbot Augustyn Kordecki (born Klemens Kordecki Ślepowron coat of arms; November 16, 1603 – March 20, 1673) was a prior of the Jasna Góra Monastery, Poland. He was curate A curate () is a person who is invested with the ''care'' or ''cure ...

* Gabriel Rzączyński (1664–1737), Polish Jesuit priest and writer *

Kazimierz Pułaski Kazimierz Michał Władysław Wiktor Pułaski (; March 4 or 6, 1745 October 11, 1779), anglicised as Casimir Pulaski ( ), was a Polish nobleman, soldier, and military commander who has been called "The Father of American cavalry" or "The Sold ...

* Panteleimon Kulish (1819–1897) — Ukrainian writer, critic, poet, folklorist, and translator; * Pavlo Teteria (1620s–1670) —

Hetman ''Hetman'' is a political title from Central and Eastern Europe, historically assigned to military commanders (comparable to a field marshal or imperial marshal in the Holy Roman Empire). First used by the Czechs in Bohemia in the 15th century, ...

Right-bank Ukraine The Right-bank Ukraine is a historical and territorial name for a part of modern Ukraine on the right (west) bank of the Dnieper River, corresponding to the modern-day oblasts of Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr, Kirovohrad, as well as the western parts o ...

(1663–1665); *

Ignacy Mościcki Ignacy Mościcki (; 1 December 1867 – 2 October 1946) was a Polish chemist and politician who was the country's president from 1926 to 1939. He was the longest serving president in Polish history. Mościcki was the President of Poland when Ge ...

President of Poland (1926–1939) *

Wojciech Jaruzelski Wojciech Witold Jaruzelski ( ; ; 6 July 1923 – 25 May 2014) was a Polish military general, politician and ''de facto'' leader of the Polish People's Republic from 1981 until 1989. He was the First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party ...

President of Poland (1989–1990) * Tadeusz Kłopotowski Senator of Poland (1989-1991) * Szymon Marcin Kossakowski *

Wincenty Krasiński Count Wincenty Krasiński (5 April 1782 – 24 November 1858) was a Polish nobleman (szlachcic), political activist and military leader. He was the father of Zygmunt Krasiński, one of Poland's Three Bards—Poland's greatest romantic poets ...

(in France: ''comte Vincent Corvin-Krasinski'') * Kazimierz Krasiński *

Zygmunt Krasiński Count Napoleon Stanisław Adam Feliks Zygmunt Krasiński (; 19 February 1812 – 23 February 1859) was a Polish poet traditionally ranked after Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki as one of Poland's Three Bards – the Romantic poets who ...

* Tadeusz Gosiewski * Grzegorz Skwierczyński * Przemysław Skwirczyński *

Karol Szymanowski Karol Maciej Szymanowski (; 3 October 188229 March 1937) was a Polish composer and pianist. He was a member of the modernism (music), modernist Young Poland movement that flourished in the late 19th and early 20th century. Szymanowski's early w ...

Henryk Lowmianski Henryk may refer to: * Henryk (given name) * Henryk, Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, a village in south-central Poland * Henryk Glacier, an Antarctic glacier * Henryk JanikowskiSoccer Player (polish National) See also * Henryk Batuta hoax Henryk Bat ...

* Chris Korwin-Kuczynski (21st century) Canadian politician * Przemysław Gosiewski Deputy Prime Minister of Poland (2007) * Łukasz Leończuk (1993) * Otto von Corvin-Wierzbicki (in Germany ''Otto von Corvin'' also ''Otto von Corvin-Wierzbitzky'') * Walenty Nasierowski (1802-1888) J. Straszewicz, „Les polonais et les polonaises de la revolution du 29 Novembre 1830″, A. Dinard, Paryż 1832 *

Franciszek Krasiński Franciszek Krasiński (1525 – 1577) was a Polish nobleman who was Bishop of Kraków (1572-1577). Krasiński was born in 1525 to Jan Krasiński, a ''stolnik''. The family claimed the Ślepowron coat of arms. As Vice-Chancellor of the Crown, F ...

(1525–1577), bishop

Related and ''Derivative'' coats of arms

* Czarnowron coat of arms * Kurowski coat of arms * Materna coat of arms * Sandrecki coat of arms

References

External links

Herbarz Polski - Od Średniowiecza do XX wieku
(Tadeusz Gajl) in English and Polish.
Genealogia Dynastyczna/Dynastic Genealogy
(Ryszard Jurzak) in English and Polish.
Słownik genealogiczny - leksykon
( Marcin Niewalda - ''redaktor naczelny'') in Polish.
Ornatowski.com
(Artur Ornatowski) in Polish :- Herby szlacheckie Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów (Tadeusz Gajl) :- Herbarz rodowy (Alfred Znamierowski) :- Szlachta wylegitymowana w Królestwie Polskim w latach 1836-1861(1867), (Elżbieta Sęczys) :- Ornatowski.com – Rodziny (Artur Ornatowski)

(Andrzej Brzezina Winiarski) in Polish.

(Adam Kromer) in Polish. * ttp://akromer.republika.pl/herby_hetmani.html#wl Mały Herbarz (Hetmani wielcy litewscy) Adama Kromera. in Polish
Mały Herbarz (Hetmani polni litewscy) Adama Kromera
. in Polish

. in Polish

(Marcin Gosiewski). in English and Polish.

(Michael Roman). in English * Slepowron Coat of Arms and bearers.
Strona Krassowskich herbu Ślepowron
in Polish * "Wróblewscy herbu Ślepwron" in Polish *

Confederation of the Polish Nobility The Polish Nobility Association (PNA) (, ZSzP) – is a sociocultural organization, registered in 1995 in Gdańsk. The association aims to integrate the nobility of the once Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, take care of cultural monuments of th ...

�
List of Members
in Polish and English
Nasierowscy herbu Ślepowron
in Polish * The Lyczkowskis o

Literature

*Mănescu, Jean-Nicholas: ''Das Oswaldussymbol in der Wappenwelt Osteuropas.'' Tom C. Bergroth (edited): Genealogica & Heraldica. Report of The 16th International Congress of Genealogical and Heraldic Sciences in Helsinki 16–21 August 1984. Helsinki 1984, p. 415-424. ISBN 951-99640-4-5 {{DEFAULTSORT:Slepowron Coat Of Arms Polish coats of arms