A third numismat from the exclusive “Armorial of the Polish Nobility” series depicting an image of the coat of arms of the noble family of Doliwa.
This is the first series of numismats which presents the images of coats of arms of the most distinguished Polish noble families. The following coats of arms have been issued so far: Jastrzębiec, Kościesza and Doliwa. The following ones are in preparation, e.g. Korczak, Leliwa and Rogala.
Obverse:
In the center, the figures of three noblemen. Below, grade Ag 925 and the symbol of the Mint: m/w. Latin inscription along the rim: NOBILITAS REGNI POLONIAE TOTIUSQUE REPUBLICAE.
Reverse:
In the center, Doliwa coat of arms. Along the rim an inscription: AMRA NOBILIUM DOMINORUM DOLIWA.
Packaging: an elegant case with embossment
Graphic design: Waldemar Malinowski
Plaster models: Dobrochna Surajewska
DOLIWA COAT OF ARMS
After seals typical of the Polish heraldry (of the Jastrzębiec family – a cross in a horseshoe, and the Kościesza family – a stylized spear point), it is time for the seal of a type common for western heraldry involving an ordinary (which consists two parallel straight lines running from edge to edge of the shield) .
In the case of Doliwa coat of arms, the shield is parted per bend. However, before I begin describing it in detail, I should say a few words about sides in heraldry. The sides are determined the other way round than the viewers watch. The side of a coat of arms which is right for the viewer is called left and what we see on the left side, is known as the right side of a coat of arms.
A bend is an oblique wide band running from the bearer’s upper right (that is, viewer’s upper left) corner of the shield, to its bottom left edge (viewer’s bottom right). Such a band which runs the other way round, namely, from the upper left corner to the bottom right edge, is known as “bend sinister”.
As you can see, it is quite misleading. Similar errors were also made in reference to Doliwa coat of arms. Versions of this coat of arms which, instead of a bend, are charged with a bend sinister for no reason can be seen not only on some monuments, but also in today’s works of art or even in academic studies. The reason of such alternation of the coat of arms may stem from the so-called “heraldic courtesy” in artistic representations – reversing the coat of arms or its elements towards other objects to show respect to them (e.g. in the direction of another coat of arms).
Usually, it is the “animate” coat of arms (people, animals) that undergoes such courteous reversal, still even such abstract ordinaries as a bend may “lean” to the other side and become a bend sinister in a given representation. It can be observed in Księga Bracka Św. Krzysztofa na Arlbergu (Bracka Book of St. Christopher on Arlberg) from the turn of the 14th and 15th centuries where Doliwa and Dryja coats of arms put together are slanted and turned to each other. The bend in Doliwa coat of arms is consistently reversed and has occasionally become the bend sinister. Here, quite unusually, there is no bend as an ordinary but only the bend (sinister) as a way of arranging the roses in the field of the shield and on the wing, on the helmet. Certainly, such occasional reversal should not permanently redefine the basic version of the coat of arms. It only serves as a justification of heraldists who having seen such relics believe this is how the coat of arms looks like in a canonical version.
The basic version of Doliwa coat of arms should be blazoned (that is, defined in a conventionalized way) in the following way: “Azure field on a bend Argent three roses Gules”. The blazon refers to the whole coat of arms. Here I describe the shield only. The oldest colorful presentation of Doliwa coat of arms can be found in the well-known polychrome from the 14th century in Ląd upon the Warta river. Some authors claim that the field of the shield is silver there. However, it is rather faded blue, or possibly, faded green that can be noticed. Sometimes, the field was red (Polish parts of the 15th-century western universal seals Toison d’Or, Lyncenich and Bergshammar as well as above-mentioned Księga Bracka z Arlbergu).
Yet, it is a version noted in Klejnoty (The Jewels) of Jan Długosz mentioning the Azure field (“in campo celestino”) that maps out the trend accepted in the process of stabilizing the color in the main field of the Doliwa coat of arms shield. The evolution of the jewel from the coat of arms (that is, element crowning the helmet or sticking out from the crown situated on the helmet) is also worth attention. The condition of the nice medieval jewel started to deteriorate in the 16th century and frequently assumes the form, completely inappropriate from the heraldic perspective, which lingers on till the present day here and there.
The stamp of Mikołaj from Biechów (embossed under the document of the Treaty of Kalisz 1343) depicts 3 vague spherical shapes above the helmet. However, some resemblance to the motif of three roses repeated from the shield can be seen. The stamp of Piotr from Fałków, District Judge from the area of Sanomierz, from 1419, as well as Księga Bracka, mentioned already twice, from the same period of time, depict the jewel in Doliwa coat of arms in the form of 3 roses on a wing (in the case of Fałkowki’s stamp, they are situated along a line – equivalent of the bend in the shield).
However, in the 16th century, the jewel was replaced with 3 roses arranged in a pole (vertically) between two horns or trunks. This is a kind of departure from a convention of the jewel being an ornament attached to a real knight’s helmet. Still this image is acceptable until none of the jewel’s element starts “flying” (it would definitely be much more than heraldry can bear).
It can be said that further deterioration took place within only 6 years, namely, between the publication of Gniazda Cnoty by Bartosz Paprocki from 1578 in which the roses additionally touch one another, and Herby Rycerstwa Polskiego from 1584 where each rose freely “flies”. It has to be said, though, to justify Paprocki, that the horns are still solidly fixed to the helmet. Further deterioration process of this coat of arms has reached a point where all the jewel’s elements sail up over the helmet (it is satisfactory if they are at least partially obscured with fleurons of the crown). Such images can still be found.
Noble families of Doliwa coat of arms have survived to this day and have their representatives in the Confederation of the Polish Nobility. If they asked for a version of the coat of arms for use, it would definitely be the old one – with the wing or solidly fixed horns and roses.
Kaj Małachowski,
Heraldic consultant of the Confederation of the Polish Nobility
