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From: "Nikolai v. Pock" <>
Subject: The Pokrzywnicki (Bock) family's real coat of arms - a puzzling case
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 18:07:50 +0200 (CEST)



07.08.2003


The Pokrzywnicki (Bock) family's real coat of arms - a
puzzling case


Hello!

I posted earlier some request about the history and
genealogy of my family: "(von) Pokrzywnicki", also
"von Bock" in East Prussia, originally from Mazovia.

As concerns our coat of arms (COA), I have several
seals of different persons from the time around 1800
which--following Ostrowski (1897)--I would identify as
Slepowron odm. (picture at:
http://www.geocities.com/pokrzywnickiana/ )

A recent find has puzzled me somewhat. It is the COA
used by the Royal Polish lieutenant Stanislaus (von)
Pokrzywnicki (* about 1665, + 1735) on a contract in
1717. It is clearly identifiable as Jastrzebiec and
the oldest seal from a member of my family I am aware
of.

I would be inclined to think that the probability of
him knowing his correct COA is higher than that of his
later relatives.

This would then suggest that my family really belongs
to the clan Jastrzebiec.

Which in turn would probably also explain why Polish
herbarze have never really located my family in Poland
at any specific Pokrzywnica, and only Uruski (1904)
knows of Pokrzywnicki herbu Jastrzebiec and locates
them at the same place that I was told my family
originates from, viz. Pokrzywnica, pow. Mlawa. So this
would fit in neatly.

It only begs the question: how could my ancestors have
developed their COA from the original Jastrzebiec to a
form identifiable as Slepowron odm.? Pure negligence
either on their part or that of the sealmaker? Or a
deliberate decision? Can anyone help or has seen
similar cases?

Another request would concern the form of the newly
discovered seal itself. A description would be: At the
centre is the shield of the Jastrzebiec COA (a
horseshoe, opened to the top (like an U), that
contains a chevalier's cross (like +). On top of that
shield is a crown with five "leafs" in which the hawk
stands with the figure from the shield in one talon.
The shield itself is surrounded at each side by
(probably) a palm frond (probably, or an ostrich
feather?); those cross at the bottom. Around this
figure (here symolized as [*] )are placed letters in
the following scheme:

S N
[*]
P P

Does anyone know how to interpret this seal? S and P
on the left could obviously be Stanislaus
Pokrzywnicki's initals, but what the about N and P on
the right (not his wife's initals, whose name is Anna
Maria, née von Diebandt)? Could they be an
abbreviation for anything? What do the palm fronds
signify (if they signify anything at all and are not
purely graphical elements)?

I would appreciate any suggestions and/or enlightening
remarks very much indeed.

Regards,

Nikolai von Pock
Berlin, Germany

Ostrowski, Juliusz hr., 1897, Ksiega herbowa rodów
polskich [Wappenbuch der polnischen Geschlechter; nur
bis Buchstabenfolge Sylm]. 19 Lieferungen, Warszawa
[Warschau]: B. Bolcewicz, druk Józef Sikorski,
1897-1905.

Uruski, Seweryn hr., 1904, Rodzina - Herbarz szlachty
polskiej opracowany przez Seweryna hrabiego Uruskiego,
przy wspóludziale Adama Amilkara Kosinskiego,
wykonczony i uzupelniony przez Aleksandra
Wlodarskiego. Wyd. staraniem i kosztem córek autora.
22 vols., Warszawa: Gebethner i Wolff, 1904-38. In
vol. 14 (1917) p. 175-177.


=====
---------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.geocities.com/pokrzywnickiana/
---------------------------------------------------------------
site dedicated to the von Pokrzywnicki (von Bock 1775) family in East Prussia 1650-1945

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