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Archiver > HERBARZ > 2001-03 > 0984152607


From: "Leon Stevens" <>
Subject: Re: Gear at Grunwald
Date: Fri, 09 Mar 2001 10:43:27 -0500


No. We are not in agreement that Poland was in large part under Silesian influence. Silesian influence trails off quickly beyond perhaps Cracow. This is well-documented by Polish heraldic practice in which coats of arms are cease to be pictographic and become simple and formulaic northward and eastward.. Beyond Silesia and the Warta watershed, heraldic charges become barely disguised or outright Asian tamgi (abstract geometric property markings). During the medieval period, even some western Polish seals contain no heraldic elements whatsoever, only a property mark and the Latinized name of its owner.

>>> <> 03/09/01 12:23AM >>>
P.S.
when I refer to Polish arms , of course, I do not mean those of the
Lithuanian domains which in 1410 were only very loosely joined to
Poland in a dynastic union. If Great and Little Poland are taken as
influenced from Silesia, only Halicz remains to the Polish King and
Masovia to a Piast remnant. As I noted, what seems a long time ago,
Masovia was noted for the number and poverty of its gentry and Halicz
had been a part of the Russian cultural sphere. The Commonwealth of
Lublin had yet to be established. We seem to be in agreement that
medieval Poland was in large part under Silesian influence - if that
influence is to be guaged by the uniformly "Germanic" appearance of
contemporary Silesian representations.
Lithuanian influences there certainly were as even the knights of
the Ordenstaat would take to their use the Lithuanian shield and
sometimes the spisa (lance). The art and texts of the time confirm as
much.
Regards,
John
(Rohde).


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