Sas coat of arms

Sas (Saxon) coat of arms
150
Versions

Gules tincture variation (in Orbis Polonus 1641–43). Referred to as Sas II in Siebmacher's Armorial Book[1]
Details
Adopted ca. 13th century
Escutcheon gold (Or) crescent with its horns pointed upwards; on each horn a gold (Or) star. In its center a gold (Or) or silver (Argent) arrow pointed upwards.

Sas[1] or Szász[2] (origin: Slavic for "Saxon," Polish: Sas, Hungarian: Szász, Romanian: Saş) is a Central European coat of arms. It was borne since the medieval period by several Transylvanian-Saxon Hungarian nobility, Ruthenian nobility and Polish-Lithuanian szlachta families.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] The house was once a mighty princely and ducal house with origins in Saxony, Transylvania, Hungary and Ruthenia.[1][2][4][5][6][7]

History

Ancient Polish-Lithuanian historians like Szymon Okolski say that the origin of these arms is derived from Saxony, where during the mid-12th century King Géza II of Hungary invited Germanic peoples of Saxony to settle in, establish trading centres and defend relatively sparsely populated Transylvania in the Kingdom of Hungary, upon which the Transylvanian Saxons were later given a privileged status in the "Diploma Andreanum" (Golden Charter of Transylvanian Saxons) issued by King Andrew II of Hungary[3][5][9][10] (see Transylvanian Saxons).

The origins of the dynastic House of Sas[11] or Szász vary depending on the source. According to the chronicles of Albertus Strepa;[5] the outstanding military leader Comes Huyd of Hungary (a Transylvanian-Saxon), entered Galicia in 1236 with his mighty army of allied mounted warrior knights to the service of Daniel of Galicia King of Ruthenia, and each was rewarded with lands in Red Ruthenia that Huyd and his allied noble knights settled, being referred to as the Sas/Szász (Saxon) due to their Transylvanian Saxon dialect and origin.[4][5][8][9]

According to the chronicles of Wojciech Strepa;[3] Comes Huyd [Hujd] of Hungary, having come with his mighty army of allied mounted warrior knights to the service of Lev I of Galicia (1269–1301) the son of Daniel of Galicia King of Ruthenia, and having allied himself with Lithuania, drove the Eastern barbarians out of Mazovia. In reward for his knightly deeds, he was given, among other gifts, Lev's widowed sister-in-law N.N. of Galicia Princess of Kholm as a wife (the widow of Lev's brother Shvarn Daniilovich,[12] sister of Vaišvilkas, daughter of King Mindaugas of Lithuania from the House of Mindaugas)[13] and along with his allied knights lands in the territory of Red Ruthenia that they settled.[3][9]

Count Huyd, who bore on his coat of arms the blue (azure) escutcheon with the gold (or) crescent, gold stars and gold arrow, and the knights who allied under his battle banner, are said to have been the progenitors of the House of Sas (Szász).[3][8][9][14]

Vladislaus II of Bohemia and Hungary medieval ducat (Magyar aranyforint) gold coin struck in 1491 by the Baia Mare (Nagybánya) mint house in Transylvania. Reverse shows a crowned and nimbate standing figure of Saint Ladislaus I King of Hungary holding a horseman's battle axe and globus cruciger above the below mint mark "n" and mint house (mint master) shield Sas coat of arms of Bartolomeu Drágfi de Beltiug.

Early origins also point to the Hungarian Transylvanian-Saxon Voivodes Dragoş I de Bedeu (Bedő) voivode of Máramaros Prince of Moldavia[15] and his successor son Sas de Beltiug (Hungarian Szász de Béltek) Prince of Moldavia,[6][7][16] who bore the blue (azure) escutcheon with the gold crescent, gold stars and gold arrow on their coat of arms.[6][7] Other notable scions of Dragoş I were Bartolomeu Drágfi of Beltiug (Béltek), Comes Perpetuus of Middle Szolnok (1479–1488), Voivode of Transylvania and Comes of the Székely people (1493–1499),[16] who had distinguished himself earlier as a royal knight of the Hungarian Royal Court defeating the Ottoman Turks at the Battle of Breadfield (1479) together with Pál Kinizsi, István Báthory, Vuk Branković and Basarab Laiotă cel Bătrân.[17][18][19] At the time of King Matthias Corvinus' death, Bartholomew Drágfi of Beltiug (Béltek) was among the wealthiest landowners of the country, three castles, two manor houses, eight market towns and about 200 villages were in his property.[16] His estates in Middle Szolnok and Satu Mare included the castles of Chioar and Ardud together with the large lordships surrounding them, and further, the castles of Șoimi and the castellum of Ceheiu.[16] Another important family member, among others, was Ioan Drágfi of Beltiug (Béltek) Comes of Temes County in 1525, who died 1526 in the Battle of Mohács.[17][18][19]

Written descriptions of the Sas/Szász coat of arms in classical heraldic references, such as in "Herby rycerstwa polskiego" (1584), "Korona Polska/Herbarz Polski" (1728–1846) and Siebmacher's armorial book on the Hungarian and Transylvanian nobility, describe the arms in blue (azure) tincture, as borne by the families Drágfi (Hungarian patronym for "son of Drag") of Beltiug (Béltek) scions of Dragoş I of Bedeu, Jan Daniłowicz herbu Sas, Dziedoszycki (Dzieduszycki) h. Sas and Berlicz-Strutynskių (Strutyński) h. Sas.[1][2][3][4][6][7][8][11] Some families, however, bear this coat of arms on a red (gules) tincture field, in "Orbis Polonus" (1641–43) the Sas clan arms is described as being of "sanguineus" Latin for "blood red" tincture,[5] such as borne by the Counts Komarnicki herbu Sas family in the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.

Blazon

Sas coat of arms on the central facade of Uruski Palace, Warsaw; which now forms the University of Warsaw. In 1843 the former palace became the property of Count Seweryn Uruski herbu Sas (1817–1890),[11] marshal of the nobility of Warsaw Province, privy counselor of the Imperial Court and president of the College of Arms of the Polish Kingdom, who demolished the former palace and commissioned architect Andrzej Gołoński to design and raise a new palace in its place with Renaissance architecture. The sculptor Ludwika Kaufman was commissioned to carve the Sas coat of arms in reverence of the great progenitors of the Sas (Saxon) house. After the death of Seweryn Uruski in 1890 the palace became the property of his wife Countess Ermancja Tyzenhauz h. Bawół, then his youngest surviving issue Countess Maria Uruska h. Sas (1860–1931) who married Vladimir Światopełk-Czetwertyński.

Burned during World War II by the occupying German forces in the Warsaw Uprising, the palace remained in the ownership of the Światopełk-Czetwertyński family until 1947, then passed into the possession of the University of Warsaw. During the years 1948-1951 the palace was restored by the architect Jan Dąbrowski. Today it houses the Department of Geography and Regional Studies.

Other blazon images

Bearers, family members of the House of Sas

The following family name members are predominantly shown in Polish, from the classical genealogical and heraldic reference Korona Polska/Herbarz Polski (Crown of Poland/Polish Armorial) 1728–1846 by heraldist and author Kasper Niesiecki:[3] Baczyński, Bandrowski, Baraniecki, Bereznicki, Biliński, Błazowski, Bojarski, Bratkowski, Bryliński, Brześciański, Buchowski, Chodakowski, Czołhański, Daniłowicz, Długopolski, Dobrzański, Dubrawski, Dziedoszycki, Dziedziel, Hoszowski, Hrebnicki, Huhernicki, Jamiński, Jasiński, Jaworski, Kłodnicki, Komarnicki, Kropiwnicki, Kruszelnicki, Lityński, Łucki, Mańczak, Manesterski, Mikulski, Mściszewski, Nowosielski, Odrzechowski, Orłowski, Podwysocki, Raszkowski, Rosźniatowski, Rudnicki, Siemiasz, Skotnicki, Strutyński, Sulatycki, Świstelnicki, Szczombrowski, Tarnawski, Tatomir, Terlecki, Tersmer, Tyssarowski, Uniatycki, Winnicki, Wisłocki, Witwicki, Wołkowicki, Wołosiecki, Woryski, Zapłatyński, Zawisza, Zeliborski, Zesteliński, Zurakowski, Żukotyński.[3]

Addendum by the 19th-century editor and publisher Bobrowicz in Herbarz Polski (Polish Armorial)[3] "other sources of works from Duńczewski, Kuropatnicki, Małachowski, Wielądek and others also assign the Sas coat of arms to the following noble families:"[3] Brzuski, Charewicz, Husarzewski, Kumarnicki, Nechrebecki, Obertynski, Olewnicki, Pochorecki, Popiel, Sasimowski, Sasowski, Tyzdrowski.[3][8]

Uruski[11]

Notable individuals

Notable bearers of this coat of arms include:

Note: as name spellings were fairly fluid between local vernaculars spoken and written in past history throughout the Slavic-speaking states or central Europe region, so differences in name spellings exist from one place to another.

Related coat of arms

See also

Literature

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 von Czergheö, Nagy (1885–1893). Siebmacher's großes Wappenbuch, Band 4, Der Adel von Ungarn samt den Nebenländern der St. Stephanskrone [Siebmacher's Great Armorial Book, Vol. 4, The Nobility of Hungary inclusive the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen] (in German). Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe. pp. 4597–4598.
  2. 1 2 3 4 von Reichenau, von Czergheö, von Bárczay (1898). Siebmacher's großes Wappenbuch, Band 4, Der Adel von Siebenbürgen [Siebmacher's Great Armorial Book, Vol. 4, The Nobility of Transylvania] (in German). Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe. pp. 223–224.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Kasper Niesiecki - HERBARZ POLSKI Kaspra Niesieckiego S.J. (English Polish Armorial - Kaspra Niesieckiego S.J.), Author: Kasper Niesiecki, Publisher: Jan Nepomucen Bobrowicz, Breitkopf & Härtel, Lipsku (Leipzig), 1841, Vol. 8, p. 284-285, (in Polish).
  4. 1 2 3 4 Herby rycerstwa polskiego (English Coat of Arms of Polish Nobility), Author: Bartosz Paprocki, Publisher: Biblioteka Polska, 1584 Kraków, reprinted 1858 Kraków, reprinted 1982 Warsaw, p. 695-697 (in Polish).
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 ORBIS POLONUS, Tom III, (Simple English Armorial of Polish nobility, Volume 3), Author: Szymon Okolski, 1641-43, Kraków, p. 195-202 (in Latin), p. 207-214 digital.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 von Reichenau, von Czergheö, von Bárczay (1898). Siebmacher's großes Wappenbuch, Band 4, Der Adel von Siebenbürgen [Siebmacher's Great Armorial Book, Vol. 4, The Nobility of Transylvania] (in German). Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe. p. 104.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 von Reichenau, von Czergheö und von Bárczay (1885–1893). Siebmacher's großes Wappenbuch, Band 4, Der Adel von Ungarn samt den Nebenländern der St. Stephanskrone [Siebmacher's Great Armorial Book, Vol. 4, The Nobility of Hungary inclusive the Lands of the Crown of Saint Stephen] (in German). Nürnberg: Bauer & Raspe. p. 1298.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 Małachowski herbu Nałęcz, Piotr (1805). Zbiór nazwisk szlachty z opisem herbów własnych familiom zostaiącym w Królestwie Polskim i Wielkim ięstwie Litewskim [A collection of names of the nobility and descriptions of their coats of arms in the Polish Kingdom and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania] (in Polish). Lublin: w Drukarni J. C. K. Mci, XX. Trynitarzow.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Żernicki-Szeliga, Emilian (1904). Die polnischen Stammwappen : ihre Geschichte und ihre Sagen [The Polish Ancestral Coat of Arms : its history and its legends] (in German). Hamburg: Henri Grand. p. 82.
  10. ↑ Transylvanian Saxons, Encyclopædia Britannica
  11. 1 2 3 4 Uruski, Seweryn (1862). Notices sur les familles illustres et titrées de la Pologne [Notices on the illustrious and titled families of Poland] (in French). Paris: Librairie A. Franck. pp. 34, 64, 74, 298, 306, 312, 321.
  12. ↑ Dimnik, Martin (1981). Mikhail, Prince of Chernigov and Grand Prince of Kiev 1224-1246. Toronto: Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. p. 220. ISBN 9780888440525.
  13. ↑ Терлецький М. Контури роду Драго-Сасів / Вид.2-ге.– Львів:“Центр Європи”, 2005.– 172 c. (Виклад історії цих давних вихідців з Підкарпаття на Захід, у Саську землю [Верхню Лужицю – Саксонію], їхні мандри та повернення через Волощину [Угорщину] на свою прабатьківщину – Галичину),
  14. ↑ Терлецький М. (2005). Контури роду Драго-Сасів / Вид.2-ге.– Львів:“Центр Європи”, 2005.– 172 c.
  15. ↑ Vásáry, István (2005). Cumans and Tatars: Oriental Military in the Pre-Ottoman Balkans, 1185-1365. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 158. ISBN 9780511110153.
  16. 1 2 3 4 Kovács, András (2012). Institutional Structures and Elites in Sălaj Region and in Transylvania in the 14th-18th Centuries (PDF). XXI, Supplement No. 2. Cluj-Napoca: Romanian Academy, Centre for Transylvanian Studies. pp. 43–45, 110.
  17. 1 2 Joan cavaler de Puscariu - Date istorice privitoare la familiile nobile române (English History of the Romanian Noble Families). Editura societății culturale Pro Maramures "Dragoș Vodă", Cluj-Napoca, 2003 (in Romanian).
  18. 1 2 Prof. Alexandru Filipascu de Dolha și Petrova - Istoria Maramureșului (English History of Maramureş), Editura "Gutinul" Baia Mare, 1997 (in Romanian).
  19. 1 2 Wyrostek, Ludwik - Rod Dragow-Sasow na Wegrzech i Rusi Halickiej (English Clan Dragow-Saxon in Hungary and neighbouring Galicia). RTH t. XI/1931-1932 (in Polish).

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Sas (coat of arms).
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, May 06, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.