Topór coat of arms

Topór
Details
Battle cry Szarża
Alternative names Bipenna, Bipennis, Szarża, Wścieklica
Earliest mention 1282 (seal), 1401 (record)
Families
Cities Opole Lubelskie, Rymanów, Stawiski, Chyrów, Toporów
Divisions Gmina Klimontów, Gmina Końskowola, Gmina Zaklików (former city), Gmina Żegocina

Topór (Polish for "axe") is a Polish coat of arms. It was used by several szlachta (noble) families in medieval Poland and under the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.[1]

History

The topór coat of arms is said to be one of the oldest Polish szlachta emblems, if not the oldest. Its use dates back to at least as far as a seal of the late 13th century. Before the Union of Horodło (1413) approximately 220 Polish szlachta families - mostly in and around Kraków, Lublin and Sandomierz - used this symbol.

Under the Union the coat of arms was represented by Maciej z Wąsocza, the Voivod of Kraków, and by Jan Butrym, a Lithuanian boyar who represented Lithuanian noble families. After the union another 150 families in Lithuania adopted the topór coat of arms. Due to its antiquity it was sometimes referred to as "Starża", an Old-Polish word denoting great age.

Blazon

Gules, axe argent. The crest is in the form of an axe embedded in the helm, argent.

In Latin: (Topor). Thopor siue Bipennis alba in campo rubeo (...)[2]

Notable bearers

Notable bearers of this coat of arms have included:

Gallery

Aristocratic variations

Standard variations

Coat of arms of cities and gminas

Coat of arms with the topór symbol

Paintings with the coat of arms topór

Other

See also

Bibliography

References

  1. Alfred Znamierowski: Herbarz rodowy. Warszawa: Świat Książki, 2004, s. 171. ISBN 83-7391-166-9.
  2. Jan Długosz: Insignia seu clenodia incliti Regni Poloniae
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