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Archiver > HERBARZ > 2003-08 > 1060291527


From: "Leon Stevens" <>
Subject: RE: The Pokrzywnicki (Bock) family's real coat of arms - a puzzling case
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 17:25:30 -0400


> palm fronds <

Mantling was originally intended to protect helmets from the sun and
prevent them from baking a knight's head. They consisted of a thin
turban of cloth about the top of the helm with ragged-edged strips of
material covering the back of the helmet and shoulders. The function or
very existence of mantling was lost to many Poles and Lithuanians who
perceived them to be some sort of leafy decoration akin to classical
acanthus leaves. In portraiture, banners, architecture etc. mantling is
often completely replaced by various types of flora, including palm
fronds, laurel and similar familiar decorative plants. In their
armorials, heralds usually "correct" family and individual
interpretations, although Okolski occasionally substitutes wreaths for
mantling.
The symbols of Jastrzebiec and Slepowron are very frequently confused.
The Brzozowski and Koczaski families include the Slepowron bird in their
Jastrebiec charge "variants." At least two other versions replace the
hawk in the crest with it. The black bird with a ring in its beak may be
found fairly commonly in western European heraldry as well. The raven
symbolized Odin the God of war but was also sacred to the Celts. The
Slavs too may have adopted this totem or later disguised it with other
species such as the goshawk. Similarly the ring in the black bird's beak
may represent Odin's rings.


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