For thousands of years humans havecommunicated by way of varioussystems of pictorial symbols. One ofthe most venerable systems of thiskind is European heraldry, whicharose in the western part of Europe in the twelfth century as part of theculture of chivalry. Various geometricshapes and depictions of animals be-gan to be painted on the broad area of knights’ shields, thus identifyingthe bearers or their lords, conveyinginformation and sending a message,whether at a tournament or in the field.Throughout Western Europe heraldrybecame all the fashion.

Over time the fashion persisted and became institutionalized. Thoseearly days were the period inwhich a hereditary nobilitywas taking shape. The em-blems became the symbolsof the aristocracy; family em-blems passed down throughthe generations. Only laterwere coats-of-arms adoptedby countries, towns, universi-ties, religious orders, guildsand other institutions.

In the Kingdom of Bohe-mia the first forerunners ofaristocratic heraldry appear-ed at the end of the twelfthcentury. The seal of the feudal rulerHroznata, who was later beatified,dates from 1197. His symbol (threesets of antlers) continued to be usedby his line, the Counts of Vrtba, untilthe family died out in 1830. Thesecond-oldest noble emblem appear-ed in 1220 on the seal of Vítek ofPrčice. It consists of a shield with arose – the same symbol that would be used by his descendants, the Lordsof Rožmberk, one of the most im-portant Czech noble families, whodied out in 1611. A few of the oldestCzech noble families traceable to thetwelfth century continue to this day,for example the Šternberks and theWallensteins (Valdštejns).

Gothic heraldry valued simple andstriking subjects, like the star of the

“A person must devote the closestattention to the signals the beingsand things that surround him, bytheir very presence, are beaming tohim. This is still a continual necessi-ty, though seemingly weakened bycivilization.”

Luc BenoistFrench philosopher

(1893-1980)

The coat-of-arms of Karel of Liechtenstein, Duke of Opava, 16188

Lords of Šternberk or the crenela-tions of the Lords of Cimburk. Escut-cheons composed of several fieldsappeared for the first time in the six-teenth century. The Valdštejns, forexample, divided their emblem intoquarters, and into each quarter theyplaced their original symbol of a lion.In the sixteenth century, with increas-ing numbers of people raised by thesovereign to noble estate, heraldicsymbolism expanded to include ever-more-exotic animals, or various objectsmeant to symbolize the original pro-fession of those whose ambitions hadbeen achieved.

At that time the aristocracy wasdivided into the lower nobility – the

knights – and the highernobility, the lords. The lords’estate consisted of just a fewdozen families and remaineda closed group rarely joinedby outsiders. In the seven-teenth century, the EmperorFerdinand II took advantageof the uprising and subse-quent defeat of the Czechestates to end the traditionalpractice in the Czech lands.He replaced the ancientCzech aristocratic systemwith the hierarchical systemas it existed in the Germanlands. The rights of the no-

bility were curtailed, while the pro-perty of many aristocrats was con-fiscated and then sold or distributedto families not part of the old Czechnobility.

This led to the appearance of Spanish,Irish and French elements in Czechheraldry. Complex compositions pro-liferated, as original family symbolswere joined by those of other familieslinked by marriage, of estates newlyacquired or of great deeds performed.

For example, the famous generalAlbrecht of Wallenstein began to com-bine his family shield with those ofhis estates in Mecklenburg, Frýdlant,Sagan, Wenden, Schwerin, Rostockand Stargard. In Moravia, the escut-

Czech Heraldrythrough the Centuries

Coats-of-arms of medieval Czech nobles drawings by Petr Tybitancl

Late Gothic coat-of-arms of the Kingdom of Bohemia from the bedroom of King Vladislav in Prague Castle

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cheon of the Lords of Liechtenstein,originally composed of a simple goldand red divided shield, was updatedin the seventeenth century when theLiechtensteins held the principalitiesof Opava (Troppau) and Krnov inSilesia and boasted family relationswith the lords of Kuenring and ofEast Frisia. Today this coat-of-armsis also used as the great arms of thePrincipality of Liechtenstein.

The most important nobles of thatera included the Lobkowicz family,the Eggenbergs and their heirs theSchwarzenbergs, the Slavata familyand their heirs the Černíns, the Collo-redo-Mansfelds, the Kinskýs, the Die-trichsteins and others. Most of thesefamilies enjoyed the title of prince;below them stood the counts, followedby the free lords (barons) and knights.

The awarding of orders of merit orthe completion of a certain numberof years in the military was auto-matically linked with being raised tothe nobility. Newly-titled families im-mediately received complicated coats-or-arms depicting services rendered to the ruling Habsburg dynasty. Forexample that of the famous painterVáclav Brožík, awarded a title in 1897,comprised a star as the symbol of fameand a trio of shields, the centuries-oldsymbol of the painters’ guild.

Over the centuries the real ad-vantages of belonging to the nobilitygradually faded, until in 1848 theywere limited to the mere existence ofa noble title and a coat-of-arms, bothprotected by law. In the new Czecho-slovak Republic after the fall of themonarchy in 1918, the official use

Traditions

Drawing of the seal of Vítek of Prčice, 1220, by August Sedláček

An example of Renaissance heraldry: the coat-of-arms of Michal Rytršic of Rytrsfeld, 1626

A Wild Man fighting with a heraldic lion, from theWenceslas IV Bible (also known as the Vienna Bible,

the Royal and the German Bible), around 1390

The number of new noble titles grewover the years, until by the nineteenthcentury a title was little more than a decoration bestowed by the state.

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Contemporary coat-of-arms of the southern Bohemian town of Písek, 2000

Contemporary coat-of-arms of the Region of Ústí, 200010

It is interesting to note that the conflict between Czech and Germannationalism in the nineteenth centuryleft its mark on the local heraldry:German-speaking Moravians usedthe gold- and red-chequerboard eagleawarded to Moravia by the EmperorFredrick III in 1462, while Czech-speaking Moravians refused to re-cognize the imperial grant and conti-nued to favour the original silver-redchequered eagle. Silesia, most of whichbecame part of Prussia in the eigh-teenth century, identified itself throughthe centuries with a crowned blackeagle, its breast marked by a silvercrescent, on a gold field. Silesia inturn had been divided since themiddle ages into a number of duchiesthat had their own devices.

In 1920 the Republic of Czecho-slovakia adopted its own coat-of-arms,in which the lion was accompaniedby the small arms of Slovakia, adouble cross on three hills.

The coat-of-arms of the Czecho-slovak Socialist Republic from 1960-1990 represented an attempt at a ra-

of aristocratic titles and coats-of-armswas abolished.

Coats-of-arms of theCzech lands

Around 1175, the princes of thePřemyslid family, who ruled theCzech lands until 1306, began mint-ing coins bearing the figure of a lion.When heraldry was invented this lionwound up on the shield and becamethe device of Bohemia. The lion isone of the two most popular symbolsin European heraldry, the other beingthe eagle, which the Přemyslids alsoadopted as a family device at a laterdate. Sometime during the mid-thir-teenth century the Czech lion gaineda second tail, just as the eagle in the coat-of-arms of the Holy Roman Empire was given a second head. A silver (or white) two-tailed lionwearing a crown on a red field be-came the emblem of Bohemia; it wascombined with the emblems of Mo-ravia, Silesia and Lusatia, the otherlands of the Kingdom of Bohemia at the time. The symbol of Moraviadates to around 1260, and consists ofa silver- and red-chequered crownedeagle on a blue field.

An attempt to change the rules of heraldry: the coat-of-arms of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, 1960

The current coat-of-arms of the Czech Republic, drawing by František Štorm

A depiction of the legend about Ješek of Pardubice explaining the origin of the symbol of the town of Pardubice. In 1158 Ješek of Pardubice took part in the battle of Milan; on his return his horse was sliced in two by the portcullis of the city gate. For his heroism in battle, he was granted theright to include the front half of his horse in his coat-of-arms, which is now that of the town. Relief by Bohumil Vlček after a design by Mikoláš Aleš.

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dical alteration of the rules of herald-ry. Communist ideology claimed tofollow in the “Hussite revolutionarytradition”, and so the shield was re-placed by the pavis, the full-lengthshield of the Hussite warriors. Thetraditional crown on the lion’s headwas replaced by a Communist star,while the emblem of Slovakia waschanged completely. After the over-throw of the Communist dictator-ship, the state in 1990 returned to theoriginal symbols. Today the officialcoat-of-arms of the Czech Republicexists in two variants: the small coat-of-arms has only the lion, while thelarge coat-of-arms combines it withthe symbols of Moravia and Silesia.

For centuries the Czech landswere divided into regions, but thesewere of mostly administrative impor-tance and people did not identify withthem. The reform of local govern-ment in the Czech Republic in 2000divided the country into fourteenregions, each of which adopted itsown coat-of-arms. Most combineelements of the old territorial device

with the coat-of-arms of the region’smajor town.

Coats-of-armsof towns and

villages

Besides regionalcoats-of-arms, thereis also a living tra-dition of municipalcoats-of-arms, which caught on laterthan that of the nobility. Coats-of-arms were awarded to towns by thenobility or the monarch. In manymunicipal coats-of-arms we find ele-ments of territorial and aristocraticmotifs. The most frequent heraldicsymbols are castle walls, which sym-bolize the right of the town to fortifyitself. Smaller communities did notenjoy the right to their own coat-of-arms; even so they made use ofsymbols similar to those of existingheraldry. After 1990 the informalpractice of town and village coats-of-arms was given an institutionalframework. The Czech Parliament’scommission on heraldry (officiallythe Sub-Committee for Heraldry andVexillology [the study of flags] of the

Chamber of Depu-ties) will, upon re-quest, issue to a self-governing munici-pality a coat-of-arms,which in most cases is rooted in its an-cient symbolism andcorresponds fullywith the rules ofheraldry.

Today in the larger towns, theold municipal coats-of-arms are gradually being replaced in publicuse by logos. Modern logos lack his-torical roots and symbolic sub-texts;for that reason, however, they areprobably better suited to the needs of today.

Jiří J. K. NebeskýPhotos: author, taken from Michal Fiala,

Coats-of-arms Documents in the Archives of the National Museum, Jiří Lapáček and

Břetislav Passinger, The Bečva River District down the Years, Václav Bednář,

Bohumír Indra and Jiří Lapáček, Chroniclers of the Town of Hranice,

CzechTourism

Drawing of the seal of the small Moravian town of Drahotuše, 1782

Coat-of-arms of the Moravian town of Hranice,nineteenth century

Provisional coat-of-arms of the Czechoslovak Republic, 1920

Middle-sized coat-of-arms of the CzechoslovakRepublic, 1920

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