Herbarz Polski translation

Lubicz herb

The following was prepared from the classic heraldic reference Herbarz Polski (by Kasper Niesiecki, S. J., Lipsk [Leipzig] edition, 1839-1846) by Leonard J. Suligowski, 218A North Henry, Brooklyn, NY 11222-3608. For each coat of arms the blazon or verbal description of the arms below is first given in the authentic heraldic style, followed by a translation from the Polish description by Niesiecki. The right and left sides ofa shield are identified from the standpoint of the bearer, i. e., the one holding the shield. His right would be your left and vice versa. The tinctures (colors) in heraldry are as follows: azure = blue; gules = red; sable = black; or = gold: argent = silver; vert = green. In heraldry all charges (pictures) on a shield are assumed to be facing dexter (right side) unless otherwise specified. In Polish heraldry all animals or birds are assumed to be in their natural coloring unless otherwise specified.

 

Arms: Azure, a horseshoe argent, heels to base, surmounted of a cross patée, and a second within the heels, both Or. For a crest, three ostrich plumes, proper.

 

There is a horseshoe shown as in the arms of Dabrowa and Pobog, with two crosses, of which one is atop the shoe, the other in its center. The shield is blue in color, the crosses white [Translator's Note: This is incorrect, the crosses are yellow, or gold]. Atop the helmet are three ostrich plumes. Thus it is is described in Okolski, Vol. 2, p. 185; Klejnoty [Crests], p. 65; and Bielski, p. 134.

 

The author Baszko described the origin of these arms, saying that they were acquired during a battle with the Prussians in 1190: "Having established peace at home, Kazimierz began to war against those Prussians who are called 'Polesians,' to avenge the death of his brother Henryk [± 1166]. Sons of his brothers-Boleslaw, son of Mieczyslaw, and Boleslaw the Tall and Mieczyslaw, sons of Wladyslaw-followed him into this campaign. During one battle, the enemy army had ambushed and broken through our forces. A certain soldier from that family that bears a horseshoe with a cross led an attack with his own forces, companions under his authority, and all the enemy fled straightway. This soldier captured the enemy commander, brought him to Kazimierz, and handed him over to him. As a reward Kazimierz gave him many possessions, in recognition of his splendid services, and added a second gold cross to the original token atop the horseshoe."

 

It is true that Paprocki, describing the house of the Lubicz Letkowskis, cites mention in old charters of Pawel Letkowski, the cupbearer of Płock, etc., in the year 1081. The printer, however, must have made an error in giving the year, it should have been 1281. This occasion of the arms' origin took place on the river Drweca, once called Lubicz. It seems more likely that the new addition [i.e., of the second cross] was made to one of the Pobog clan, not of Jastrzebiec, and that the Lubicz arms took their origin from those of Pobog. Nakielski mentions Budzislaw of this same clan, a land-owner of Łęczyca district, on p. 70 of his book on Miechów, saying that in the year 1225 he added the village of Chotla to the lands of the Miechów monastery in perpetuity, regarding which he cites a letter of Konrad, prince of Łęczyca.

 

Bearers of These Arms

[Added note to Niesiecki's text by the 19th-century editor, J. N. Bobrowicz]: Besides the families mentioned by Niesiecki, later heraldicians, such as Dunczewski, Kuropatnicki, Malachowski, and others, give the following families as also using these arms:

 

Not all those names mentioned above use Lubicz arms in the same form [Translator's note: in the list exceptions are marked with an asterisk*]. First of all, some have it that there is only one cross, in the center of the horseshoe, and no second one atop it; the families of Hercyk, Kopec, Monkiewicz, Tupik, Stabrowski and Wolkowicki use this form in their seals. Others, such as the Piadzewski's, have two crosses, one over the other, within the horseshoe. The Zabka's, however, have only one cross, in the center of the horseshoe, but put a star over it and stars at the ends of the shoe on each side; additionally they have on its left side and end, between the star and shoe, an arrow, point upward, at a slight angle. In the parish church in Malbork there is a similar shield, except the cross atop the shoe appears to be joined with the cross in the center. This was the clan shield of Wawrzeniec Reder, who died in 1582; there are Reders in Silesia who are noble (see Heindensztein's History of Moschov.).

 

Copyright © 1998 Leonard J. Suligowski. Used by permission. This article originally appeared in Rodziny  (Vol. XXI, No. 1, May 1998), the journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America.

;