Herb Bibersztein

Research Heraldry Herb Bibersztein

Herbarz Polski translation

Bibersztein herb

The following article is a direct translation from the classic Genealogical and Heraldic reference "Herbarz Polski" by Kasper Niesiecki S.J., (Lipsk) edition 1839-46.

 

There is a red antler of a deer with four gnarled extensions in a field of gold; a similar antler is above the helmet. Altho Paprocki, Okolski, and Bielski have written about this coat of arms, none of them mentions its beginnings, other than that it was brought to Poland from Silesia.

 

In 1420, the Biberszteins were so powerful that Prince Henry Glogowski signed a peace treaty with them.

 

Paprocki reports that Silesian coins were stamped with the Bibersztein coat of arms on one side and with such inscriptions on the other side as: Ulricus Comes in Regenstat, Maria Mater Salvatoris, Caspar Ulricus (1509), and Ernestus in Regenstat Comes.

 

Paprocki also adds that a Count Bibersztein, Fryderyk, contributed a great deal to the victories of the Polish Prince Herman for which he was rewarded with considerable property.

 

Others, such as Bielski, claim that it was Count Jan Bibersztein whom King Henryk Glogowski sent out with an army to take over the provinces of Wielkopolska, but who was defeated by Dobrogost Szamotulski (Cromer, lib. 11, 1310).  The Count then settled in Poland.  Paprocki adds that this Jan was a descendant of the Germans whom King Herman of Poland took prisoner in 1094 having fought off the invading Czechs. Later, he gave them lands to settle, and to the more worthy, more extensive estates.

 

Krasicki notes that there is to this day an estate named Bibersztein in Switzerland. There are several in Germany and, among others in Silesia, there is the family Marszal Bibersztein. August III appointed one of them the postmaster general in Warsaw.   However, the coat of arms of the Marszals is not the antler of a deer but SZACHOWNICA.

 

Other families claiming the Bibersztein coat of arms:

 

Bialkowski, Blonski, Boiszewski, Kazimirski, Jazwiecki, Sebienski

 

Copyright © 1986 Josephine M. Piegzik. Used by permission. This article originally appeared in Polish Genealogical Society Newsletter (Vol. 8, No. 1, Spring 1986), the journal of the Polish Genealogical Society (of America).

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