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Excerpt from the
book HERALDRY OF THE WORLD Written and illustrated by Carl Alexander von Volborth ,
K.St.J., A.I.H. Copenhagen 1973 Internet version edited by Andrew Andersen, Ph.D. |
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Hungary (pp.
114-117, 208-209) In the ninth century tribes of horsemen
came from southern Russia and conquered the area which is today called
Hungary. Their leader was named Arpad and he founded a dynasty which ruled
until 1301. King Stephen (sovereign prince from 997 and
king from 1000 to 1038) broke the power of the ancient tribal chieftains and
developed a social organisation of the state which by and large corresponded
to that of Western Europe. Stephen later became the national saint of
Hungary. Even before these first Hungarians invaded
the country they are supposed to have had various tribal totems or insignia
of chiefdom, traces of which are discovered in the eleventh century, and
these may be the origin of some of the charges which are most common in the
arms of the old Hungarian aristocracy: griffin and bear, as well as sun, moon
and stars (Figs 618 and 621).
The first coat of arms in the traditionally
Western European form dates from 1190, the first armorial bearings with
helmet and crest from about 1300. The first letters patent seem to date from
1326, and the first letters patent in connection with ennoblement from 1430. A charge which is found very often in
Hungarian heraldry is the head of a decapitated Turk, sometimes with turban, sometimes
without, but always with a big black moustache and as a rule with blood
dripping from the neck (Figs 615 and 617). On occasions the head is held by a
warrior, a lion or a griffin, or set on the point of a lance or a sabre.
There are heads of Turks in more than fifteen per cent of all Hungarian coats
of arms, and the background to this is of course the struggle between Hungary
and the invading Turks, which was almost a permanent feature in Hungary's
history from the fifteenth century to the eighteenth. Other typical charges
are horsemen, rearing horses and an arm with sword in hand (see Figs 618 and
621), also a green dragon which usually has a red
cross on its body and which also appears encircling the shield (Fig. 619).
This originates from the badge of the Order of the Dragon established by King
Sigismund (1387-1437).
The arms of the nobility include both
tournament helmet (Fig. 619) and barred helmet, surmounted as a rule by a
coronet (Figs 618 and 621). The mantling often has more than two tinctures,
and in that case a frequent combination is blue and yellow dexter, red and white sinister (Figs 615 and 618). The oldest civic arms, assumed by the towns
themselves or granted them before the Turkish wars, are influenced by German
heraldry and show the usual castles, towers or city walls (Figs 614, 616 and
624). Later civic arms are of a more national character containing charges similar
to those in the heraldry of the Hungarian nobility, such as a warrior with
sabre or banner, an arm with sword in hand or a beast holding a sword or
other items. Shields without charges 'but merely divided into two or more
fields are very rare. One example is Hungary's own original coat of arms,
which is horizontally striped in red and white (see Fig. 609).
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