1

At the Border between Two Worlds.

Hungarian and Polish Influences upon the Wallachian and Moldavian

Mediaeval Heraldry (fourteenth – sixteenth centuries)*

Tudor-Radu TIRON

The purpose of this study is to investigate how heraldry appeared in the

principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia, under the impact of the Western armorial

practices interfered by the neighboring kingdoms of Hungary and Poland. The text will

come across the place of the problem in the Romanian profile literature, then will

describe the political and cultural background of the apparition of the heraldic

phenomenon, and finally will approach each category of coats of arms, focusing on the

characteristic features.

The issue of the origins of the local heraldry has been fairly addressed by the

Romanian researchers of the last one century and a half. The approach has been uneven,

as the overall works already published have been drawn mainly to the origins of the state

coats of arms1, little on civic arms

2 and very little on the ecclesiastic

3 and noble arms

4.

However, since Emil Vîrtosu’s realized his reference-study on Romanian sphragistics5

(this one too with pluses and minuses), no overview was actually dedicated to the

beginnings of the heraldic phenomenon in general. This type of approach is

supplementary ‘cumbered’ by number of problems. Of these, there could be mentioned

* This work has been supported by a grant of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific

Research, CNCS – UEFISCDI, project number PH-II-RU-TE-2011-3-0250. 1 D. Cernovodeanu, Ştiinţa şi arta heraldică în România (Bucureşti 1977), 25-36 (general

approach of the profile litterature). 2 D. Cernovodeanu, I. N. Mănescu, ‘Noile steme ale judeţelor şi municipiilor din Republica

Socialistă România’, Revista Arhivelor, XXXVI, 1-2 (1974), 7-11. Also, Şt. S. Gorovei, ‘Am pus pecetea

oraşului’, Magazin Istoric, XII, 2 (131) (februarie 1978), 35-38, 55. 3 D. Cernovodeanu, ‘Heraldica bisericească în ţările române’, Biserica Ortodoxă Română, XCIII,

1975, 7-8, 962-963. Also, P. Zahariuc, ‘Note de sigilografie ecleziastică moldovenească’, HERB. Revista

Română de Heraldică, I (VI), 1-2 (1999), 171-172. 4 L. Şimanschi, ‘Cele mai vechi sigilii domneşti şi boiereşti din Moldova (1387-1421)’, Anuarul

Institutului de Istorie şi Arheologie Iaşi, XVII (1980), 141-158. 5

E. Vîrtosu, ‘Din sigilografia Moldovei şi a Ţării Româneşti’, Documente privind Istoria

României. Introducere, II (1956), 333-366 (origins and development of the princely seals), 458-496

(origins and development of the civic seals).

2

the little number of already published specialized collections of sources (on seals, coins,

epigraphic works etc.)6, the lack of common opinions of the specialists on several

important issues (such the origins of the Romanian princely coats of arms), the poor

reception of the foreign theories regarding the origins of heraldry in neighboring

countries (with the exception of several studies written in Romanian7, or in languages

accessible to the Romanian researchers8).

Affirmed as distinct political entities during the fourteenth century, the

principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia (which formed the core of the present

Romania), knew since their beginnings the features of Western and Central-European

civilization – as illustrated by the old Romanian art and architecture, where these features

interfered with the local patterns of culture. Although the heraldry in the Orthodox world

was far of having the importance gained in the West, in the above mentioned century the

coats of arms were already assumed and used by the upper classes of the Serbian and the

Bulgarian states, of Lithuania and the Russian territories. Under these two ‘poles’ of

influence, namely the feudal and Catholic kingdoms of Hungary and Poland, the heraldic

phenomenon was gradually adapted to the vernacular pre-existent totems, emblems,

monograms or geometric signs, whose results remained to this day characteristic to the

resulted national armorial systems.

Wallachian and Moldavian mediaeval coats of arms were mainly connected with

the ruling princes, the nobles (boyars) and the local communities (the Church used

devices with images of saints, upon the seals of the monasteries, while the upper clergy

used monograms derived from an old Byzantine usage)9. All these three political

6 As example, while the state numismatics has been suitably approached (Gh. Buzdugan, O.

Luchian, C. I. Oprescu, Monede şi bancnote româneşti, Bucureşti 1977), only the princely sphragistics has

been similarly faced (L. Şt. Szemkovics, M. Dogaru, Tezaur sfragistic românesc, I, Sigiliile emise de

cancelaria domnească a Ţării Româneşti (1390-1856), II, Sigiliile emise de cancelaria domnească a

Moldovei (1387-1856), Bucureşti 2006). There hasn’t yet been published any ‘corpus’ on noble, civic or

ecclesiastic seal. 7 As example, S. Jakó, ‘Sigilografia cu referire la Transilvania (până la sfârşitul secolului al XV-

lea)’, Documente privind Istoria României. Introducere, II (1956), 561-633 8 As examples, the studies of Sz. de Vajay on the origins of Hungarian heraldry: ‘L’héraldique

hongroise’, Archives héraldiques suisses – Schweizer Archiv für Heraldik, LXXIV (1960), 2-6, then ‘Les

sources numismatiques de l´héraldique d´Etat hongroise’, Recueil du IXe Congrès International des

Sciences Généalogique et Héraldique, Berne, (30 juin - 6 juillet) 1968, Berne (1968), 149-167. 9 T. R. Tiron, ‘Un vechi odor al Sfintei Mănăstiri Putna. Note pe marginea folosirii monogramelor

şi a ‘semnelor geometrice’ în emblematica şi heraldica medievală românească’, Analele Putnei, III, 1

(2007), 109-152.

3

categories used European style coats of arms. So, which were the reasons to determine

the apparition and development of heraldry in the space delimited by the Carpathians, the

Danube and the Black Sea, within a society who knew no tournaments, no rolls of arms

or other Western opportunities for the armorial display?

The background

The beginnings of the heraldic phenomenon in Wallachia and Moldavia are little

known. The local rulers had been the first to be in contact with the armorial usages, since

the thirteenth century. A direct evidence – such the coat of arms attributed to a ‘Roy de

Blaqui’ (= ‘king of the Land of the Vlachs’) in the Wijnbergen Roll (1265-1280)10

(Fig.

1) – is disputable: there is no clear and direct proof that this shield was actually used.

However, people were aware of the existence of the heraldry, since coats of arms were

carried in battle, upon the Romanian soil, by the troops of the neighboring Hungarian and

Polish kingdoms. As example, the Illuminated Chronicle of Vienna (b. 1360), shows a

detail from a miniature representing the so-called battle of Posada (1330), where the

warriors of the Wallachian prince Basarab attracted and decimated the troops of the

Hungarian king Charles Robert11

(Fig. 2). Seeing the disaster of his army, the monarch

changed his warfare with one of his magnates, who lost his life in order to insure the

retreat of his sovereign (‘…Rex autem mutauerat armorum suorum insignia quibus

induerat Deseu filium Dyonisii, quem putantes esse regem crudeliter occiderunt…’).

Thus, we can see the corps of the deceased royal substitute, with the crested helmet of the

Angevine dynasty, while the real king was actually indicated by a shield of the Hungarian

arms. Despite the fact that this was then the way to conceive and illustrate such a

historical episode, it is no less true that foreign armies, Western-like equipped, brought in

the lands inhabited by the Romanians a living, military heraldry. Besides this, the episode

of 1330 testimonies about the rich spoils of war captured from the Hungarian army,

including a very large number of weapons, sword-belts and expensive clothes

10

P. Adam-Even et L. Jéquier, ‘Un armorial français du milieu du XIIIe siècle : L’armorial

Wijnbergen’, Archives héraldiques suisses – Schweizer Archiv für Heraldik (1951), 49-62, 101-110 and

(1952), 28-36, 103-111 (general approach). Also, D. Cernovodeanu, ‘Das Armorial Wijnbergen und die

Heraldik der walachischen Dynasten’, Tappert (1975-1979), 1, fig. I-III (Romanian approach of the

subject). 11

Gh. Popa-Lisseanu, Izvoarele istoriei românilor, XI. Cronica pictată de la Viena (Bucureşti

1937) 104, 111, 236.

4

(‘…Vlachi… acceperunt plurima arma uetesque pretiosas omnium elisorum… et

beltheis…’)12

. Most of these objects were undoubtedly ornamented and personalized with

armorial decorations and most probably determined the Wallachian upper class to think

about the usage of coats of arms – with or without the specific reasons that actually

determined, in the Western typical feudal society, the rise of heraldry...

But coats of arms were not known only from the back and forth of the Hungarian

and Polish armies. The political process that led to the apparition of the principalities also

had a demographical dimension, with individuals, families and even entire communities

moved from Transylvania to the new-founded principalities13

. Because of the little

number of preserved documents, the genealogy of such families – which were settlers,

but also conquerors of the land – can hardly be reconstructed, so it is practically

impossible to trace clearly the Transylvanian roots of a Wallachian or a Moldavian

lineage. There are however enough arguments in this respect (offered by the

onomatology or the toponymy), both regarding the genealogy of the rulers of the

Principalities, as well as that of the noble houses14

, and these arguments are additionally

enforced by the heraldic sources.

Princely coats of arms

The oldest Romanian coats of arms belonged, in Wallachia, to the princely house

of Basarab (since the reign of Vladislav I) (Fig. 3) 15

, and in Moldavia to the princely

houses of Dragoş (Fig. 4)16

, and then Bogdan (since the reign of Petru Muşat – Fig. 5)17

.

These achievements were used upon the state seals and coins, as well as upon

inscriptions, precious goods etc. In the cases of both principalities, the mediaeval

chroniclers retained and transmitted the legend of the ruler who had come from ‘beyond

12

Popa-Lisseanu, Izvoarele 111, 236. 13

Şt. Meteş, Emigrări româneşti din Transilvania în secolele XIII-XX. (Cercetări de demografie

istorică) (Bucureşti 1971) 3-5 14

M. M. Székely, ‘Familii de boieri din Moldova de origine transilvăneană (secolele XIV-XVI)’,

Arhiva Genealogică, I (VI), 1-2 (1994), 102-104. 15

Buzdugan, Luchian, Oprescu, Monede 8-16. 16

We exemplify using the shield represented upon the obverse of the pommel of a sword

belonging to un unidentified member of Drágffi (Dragoş) family, object with a controversial history, which

is conserved in the Museum of Eski Serai, Istanbul – M. Beza, Urme româneşti în Răsăritul ortodox,

(Bucureşti 1937) 99. 17

Buzdugan, Luchian, Oprescu, Monede 43-57.

5

the mountains’ (that is to say from Transylvania and the adjacent regions), settled the

country and founded the dynasty18

. Besides the legend – which seems to be in all

probability true, as accepted by the historiography, particularly in what that concerns

Moldavia’s foundation19

– it is important to notice that the historic Wallachian and

Moldavian coats of arms (the bird of prey and the aurochs) evince clear similarities with

the totemic-like old Hungarian heraldry – a system reflecting the totemic symbolism of

ancient nomadic tribes, as previously referred to by the regretted Dr. Szabolcs de Vajay20

.

Thus, despite different other origins which were proposed by several authors21

, the

Moldavian aurochs head’s (Fig. 6)22

most probable source of inspiration should been

searched in the heraldry of Maramureş23

, a region ruled by the Hungarian kings but

largely inhabited by Romanians, whose elite was deeply involved in Moldavia’s

foundation24

. Even three centuries ago, the Moldavian chronicler Miron Costin was the

first to suggest the idea of the displacement of the aurochs head from Maramureş to

Moldavia25

. Also, the Wallachian bird of prey (Fig. 7) may have originated from the

space of the Hungarian heraldry, reminding the mythical bird Turul of the tribes ruled by

Árpád. But the same bird could be also imagined as a response to the Royal ostrich-head

crest of the Angevine kings, the latter being conceived for indicating supremacy, since

the ostrich was considered to ‘engorging everything’26

– including the political opponents

of the monarchy, as prince Basarab, who defeated king Charles Robert in 1330.

18

N. Stoicescu, ‘«Descălecat» sau întemeiere? O veche preocupare a istoriografiei româneşti.

Legendă şi adevăr istoric, Constituirea statelor feudale româneşti (Bucureşti 1980) 97-110. 19

C. Rezachevici, Cronologia critică a domnilor din Ţara Românească şi Moldova – a. 1324-

1881, I, secolele XIV-XVI (Bucureşti 2001) 411-415 (the historiography about the origins of prince Dragoş

of Moldavia). 20

de Vajay, ‘L’héraldique’, 2. 21

S. Andrieş-Tabac, ‘Tradiţia mitică în istoriografia românească despre originea stemei Ţării

Moldovei’, Tyragetia, III (XVIII), 2 (2009), 23-30. See also *** Simbolurile naţionale ale Republicii

Moldova (Chişinău 2010), 35 and note 8. 22

We exemplify with the seal of Alexander the Good, prince of Moldavia – see Szemkovics,

Dogaru, II, 24-25. 23

T. R. Tiron, Din nou despre originile stemei Moldovei, lecture presented upon the occasion of

the meeting of the National Committee of Heraldry, Genealogy and Sigillography of the Romanian

Academy, Iaşi Branch, in 17 May 2005 (to be published in Buletinul Societăţii Numismatice Române). 24

R. Popa, Ţara Maramureşului în veacul al XIV-lea (Bucureşti 1997) 224-225. 25

M. Costin, Opere (Bucureşti 1958) 209. 26

Sz. de Vajay, ‘L’héraldique, image de la psychologie sociale’, Atti della Accademia Pontaniana,

XVI (1966-1967), 42-43.

6

The Hungarian influence was also visible in the shields figured upon the coins

minted by the fourteenth to the sixteenth centuries Romanian princes27

. The structure of

both shields was similar (per pale, with the first – or the second half – barry of four, six

etc.), with the main difference that the Moldavian princes had also several fleurs-de-lis –

which made their shield to be actually the same with that of the Angevine kings – while

the Wallachian princes omitted these flowers in their arms (however the fleur-de-lis

appear to have been widespread in the Wallachian’, second half of the fourteenth century

Court art, as shown by the mobile and immobile patrimony of that time)28

. The

explanation is that, despite of the conflict rapports between the rulers of these

principalities and the Hungarian monarch – their suzerain de jure – the political, cultural

and organizing influences were undeniable (as testimonied by the European style

portraits of two of the Wallachian rulers of the fourteenth century, the prince Nicholas

Alexander29

and the so-called ‘beheaded knight’, both from St. Nicholas Princely Church

of Curtea de Argeş30

. Per fas et nefas, until the end of the fourteenth century, when both

Principalities freely assumed the suzerainty of the Polish king, the local rulers remained

the ‘satellites’ of the powerful Western neighbour, who at least was their ultimate support

in the face of the Ottoman danger31

. Even more, the alternative name of Wallachia, used

since 1374 by the princely chancery, was Ungrovlachia, showing without any doubts the

strong influence that St. Stephen’s Crown still had between the Danube and the

Carpathians32

. Thus, there were enough reasons for the local princely heraldry to be

strongly – if not entirely – inspired by the Hungarian royal arms.

27

We exemplify using the shield (detail) from the obverse of a ducat from Vladislav I, prince of

Wallachia, reproducing the so-called IIIrd type commun. We also exemplify using the reverse of a dublu

groş from Alexander the Good, prince of Moldavia, reproducing the so-called IIIrd type – Buzdugan,

Luchian, Oprescu, Monede 9, 60. 28

R. Theodorescu, Bizanţ, Balcani, Occident la începuturile culturii medievale româneşti

(Secolele X-XIV) (Bucureşti 1974) 322-323. Also, N. Iorga, Istoria românilor, III, Ctitorii (Bucureşti 1937)

247 (mention about the fleurs-de-lis, initially embroidered in gold and excavated from a princely grave of

the 14th century in St. Nicholas church of Curtea de Argeş, respectively the fleurs-de-lis represented upon

the crown worn by an unknown prince, represented into a mural painting of the same time). 29

D. Barbu, Pictura murală din Ţara Românească în secolul al XIV-lea (Bucureşti 1986) 11-12

and Rezachevici, Cronologia 71. 30

D. Onciul, ‘În chestiunea Bisericii Domneşti de la Curtea de Argeş’, Buletinul Comisiunii

Monumentelor Istorice, IX (1916), 60-61, fig. 14. 31

D. C. Giurescu, Ţara Românească în secolele XIV şi XV (Bucureşti 1973) 393-398. 32

Giurescu, Ţara Românească 17.

7

So, the apparition of the Romanian princely heraldry can be explained from both

the genealogic and the political points of view: a) the ruler who had come from ‘beyond

the mountains’ brought in his new country the arms of his family; b) whatever the origin

of these arms had been, there were several influences, mainly from the Hungarian royal

heraldry (we can only notice the influences, however we have no reasons to think about

any awards of armorial diplomas).

Noble coats of arms

Less studied than the princely coats of arms, the arms belonging to the upper

aristocracy (the dignitaries, which were also great landowners), confirm what we have

already seen, regarding the two great ways for the apparition of the princely heraldry.

Similar conclusions can be traced about the noble arms. As an example, when looking at

the seal of captain Giulea (1384, 1387), dignitary of the Moldavian prince Peter I –

containing a helmet crested by a lion – it is reasonable to infer that an image having no

other correspondent in the Romanian medieval sphragistics should rather come from the

Hungarian heraldry, as the name of this personage (derived from the Hungarian form

Gyula) denotes an ancestry in Maramureş, the region then placed under the rule of the St.

Stephen’s Crown (we also take into account the fact that it was estimated that 100-200

families of local rulers – cnezi – from Maramureş were involved in the foundation of

Moldavia, and Giulea should have belonged to the second generation after the settlers of

the country)33

.

The historic research agreed the fact that the noble class in Wallachia and

Moldavia had multi-ethnical roots, this being a consequence of the complex process of

the foundation and the consolidation of the states, process that involved people coming

from the Polish, Lithuanian, Hungarian, Tartar areas a. s. o. Because of the very reduced

number of documented sources about the families of the local boyars, the researcher

should consider the indirect information, as given by the anthroponomy or the names of

the estates, in order to find out more about the origins of each noble family. Interesting

things should be noticed when examining the images inscribed upon the seals.

33

Şt. S. Gorovei, Întemeierea Moldovei. Probleme controversate (Iaşi 1997) 31.

8

Several dozens of seals have been preserved, particularly upon the solemn State

documents, issued by the Moldavian chancery from the late fourteenth century to the

early sixteenth century34

. Inspired by the Polish and Hungarian chanceries35

, the usage of

seals of the dignitaries, sometimes qualified in documents of the time as ‘barons’36

(besides the princely seal) (Fig. 8)37

, gives the image of a living heraldry, certainly not

identical, however similar with that of the Western and Central Europe. The majority of

these noble seals had a heraldic decoration, the achievements being – as far as proven by

the genealogical connections – transmissible hereditarily38

. The Western influences are

visible when examining the good quality of the rendering, the important number of

inscriptions using Latin letters (instead of Cyrillic) and – last but not least – the fact that

these were individualized seals, that is to say ordered and manufactured by each

dignitary, and not borrowed, bought no matter where, or even randomly found. The

Romanian boyars were indeed aware of the Western heraldic usages.

The images represented upon these noble seals are particularly important here,

considering the symbolic meaning which can be reasonably presumed. As example, it

was noticed that the seals of Moldavian dignitaries as Andriaş (1393) (shield with a

griffin), Mihail of Dorohoi (1395-1437) (cross and crescent), respectively Boguş

Nesteacovici (1434, 1436) (shield inside another shield), clearly remind the achievement

used by the Polish nobles belonging to the coats of arms (herbowe) Gryf, Szeliga and

Janina. There are no clear proofs that the mentioned dignitaries or their ancestors were

actually received in these Polish coats of arms, as their seals could equally bear a griffin,

a cross and a crescent or another shield, which were in fact common charges all over the

Continent. Yet, on the other hand, there are mentions about solemn moments that marked

34

E. Vîrtosu, ‘Despre cosigilarea actelor domneşti’, Anuarul Institutului de Istorie şi Arheologie

Iaşi, VI (1969), 151-157. Also Vîrtosu, ‘Din sigilografia’, 405-437. 35

Vîrtosu, ‘Despre cosigilarea’, 417. 36

I. Bogdan, Documentele lui Ştefan cel Mare. Volumul 2. Hrisoave şi cărţi domneşti (1493-

1503), tractate, acte omagiale, solii, privilegii comerciale, salv-conducte, scrisori (1457-1503) (Bucureşti

1913) 327 (see the formula barones moldavienses, appearing into a report of king Mathias Corvin’ envoys,

dated on 25 June 1475). 37

We exemplify with the document issued on 13 December 1421, by Alexander the Good, prince

of Moldavia, and his Council boyars, in the benefit of the prince’s ex-wife, Rimgaila, sister of the king of

Poland – Documenta Romaniae Historica, A, I (1384-1448) (Bucureşti 1975), 69-72. The original

document is preserved at Archiwum Glówne Akt Dawnych (Warsaw), perg. 5308. 38

L. V. Lefter, T. R. Tiron, Boierii lui Ştefan cel Mare – începuturi şi descendenţe. Conexiuni

genealogice şi moşteniri heraldice, lecture given at the XIIth edition of the Colloquiums of Putna

Monastery, on 12 July 2012 (to be published in Analele Putnei).

9

the relationship between the Moldavian princes and the Polish monarchs, their suzerains

(end of fourteenth century – end of fifteenth century), as the ceremonial of Colomeea (15

September 1485), reported in detail, when prince Stephen the Great paid the homage in

front of the Polish king Casimir Jagiełło. Even if the moment when the Moldavian

dignitaries also paid their homage and received ‘chivalric signs’ from the king (‘…eo

facto Regia Maiestas omnes Palatini armigeros, uniuersam denique Curiae Suae

iuuentutem militiae Symbolis insigniuit…’)39

, was hastily interpreted as a testimony of the

existence of a grant of arms (collective or individual)40

– and the presumption isn’t

reasonable in the context – this doesn’t mean that conferring a coat of arms to a

Moldavian boyar or accepting him (as well as his lineage), inside a Polish coat of arms

was totally impossible. Unfortunately, clear mentions in this direction don’t occur until

the late sixteenth century, the starting time for a clearly documented series of Polish

grants to several Moldavian princes and boyars41

.

Returning to the category of the noble seals – which is the widest example of

Romanian medieval heraldry – one can also notice the presence of seals decorated with

the so-called ‘geometrical signs’, a familiar presence for the Polish, Lithuanian or

Ukrainian heraldic systems (and even with the Tartar damgas or tamghas). The list of

Moldavian dignitaries of the fourteenth – sixteenth centuries having armorial seals with

this kind of signs is considerable42

, and there are clear visual connections with the Polish

noble coats of arms. Because of the lack of information on genealogical connections

between the Moldavian boyars and the aristocracy of Polish nobles, any direct reference

to the herbowe such as Sas, Lis, Kościesza remains questionable. However, when

examining the variations of the Polish coat of arms Sas – itself immortalizing the memory

of Sas, son of Dragoş, the founder of the Moldavian state, who left descendants in Galicia

(Galicja, Halicz)43

– we can notice that the basic coat of arms found number of

39

V. Eskenasy, ‘Omagiul lui Ştefan cel Mare de la Colomeea (1485). Note pe marginea unui

ceremonial medieval’, Anuarul Institutului de Istorie şi Arheologie Iaşi, XX (1983), 257-267. 40

Şt. S. Gorovei, ‘Cu privire la heraldica medievală românească’, Arhiva Genealogică, II (VII), 1-

2 (1995), 281-282. 41

C. Rezachevici, ‘Indigenatul polon – o formă însemnată de integrare a nobilimii româneşti în

cea Europeană în Evul Mediu’, Arhiva Genealogică, III (VIII), 3-4 (1996), 207-208, 212 42

O. Odnorozhenko, Rodova gheraldika Ruso-Vlahii (Moldavskogo gospodarstva). Kintzia XIV-

XVI st. (Kharkiv 2008), passim. 43

L. Wyrostek, Réd Drágow-Sasów na Wegrzech i Rusi Halickiej (Kraków 1932) 31, 128-129,

150 and also Rezachevici, Cronologia 413-414.

10

alterations. Same thing could happen with the Moldavian noble arms, these could have

been derived versions of real Polish arms, due to some untraceable blood connections.

Anyway, with or without proofs of family connections with the Polish aristocracy,

the noble Moldavian coats of arms of the fifteenth – sixteenth centuries denote some

sources of inspiration in the feudal heraldry of the Northern neighboring state. The co-

sealed documents addressed to the Polish kings were generally issued within the

Romanian Principalities44

. However, some documents – as the homage act issued by five

great boyars of prince Peter I of Moldavia, on 26 September 138745

– were expressly

issued and sealed abroad. So, when the dignitaries of the time used to travel outside the

boundaries of their country, they sealed the documents as the Polish or Hungarian barons

did. They also had court and military ranks of Western inspiration46

as marscalcus,

comes, captain, keeper of a castle etc.; briefly, they were aware of the features of the

Central-European and Catholic civilization, including the usage of arms. We can

reasonable presume that number of noble seals – as well as number of princely seals –

were commissioned to Polish or Hungarian (Transylvanian) workshops, as clearly

indicate the good quality of the execution of many original seal-matrix.

Civic coats of arms

Last category of Moldavian and Wallachian coats of arms denoting Western

influences is that of the communities’ heraldry. We consider here only the achievements

actually depicting coats of arms, which are by all means the most ancient (local

authorities used also seals which with other types of symbols, such as iconographical).

Although their number is limited and they are attested upon documents subsequent to the

timelines of the present study, seals as these of the boroughs of Câmpulung in Wallachia

(Fig. 9)47

or Roman and Baia (Fig. 10) in Moldavia have certain origins in the fourteenth

44

In the case of Moldavian co-sealed documents, there are 23 pieces sealed by the princes and the

boyars (between 1393 and 1553), then 11 pieces separately issued by the boyars, and also several pieces

issued by pretenders to the throne (between 1387 and 1510) – Vîrtosu, ‘Din sigilografia’, 432-437 45

*** Documente privitoare la istoria românilor, I, 2 (Bucureşti 1890) 297. The original

document is now preserved at Archiwum Glówne Akt Dawnych (Warsaw), perg. 5333. 46

N. Stoicescu, Sfatul domnesc şi marii dregători din Ţara Românească şi Moldova. Sec. XIV-

XVII (Bucureşti 1968) 46-47. 47

Vîrtosu, ‘Din sigilografia’, 459-461. The original seal-matrix is now preserved at Muzeul

Judeţean de Istorie Prahova, nr. 64-11957.

11

or fifteenth centuries48

, as testimonied by the Gothic display of the image and the legend

in Latin and not in Cyrillic letters. Besides this, the first and the third above-mentioned

urban communities were at some point capital cities of Wallachia and Moldavia, having

also a remote Catholic minority that dated as far as the foundation of both Principalities.

The ‘birth’ of civic heraldry occurred under the influence of Western customs, but in the

same time it was noticed that – at least in the case of Moldavian boroughs of Roman and

Baia – each seal exemplified a hunting legend, of the boar and of St. Hubertus’ stag. But

in the same time, the apparition of the Moldavian aurochs head was also explained by the

legend of a beast followed and killed by Dragoş, the legendary ruler who crossed the

mountains from Maramureş (under the rule of the Hungarian king), hunted the aurochs

and assumed his face but also founded the country and its dynasty. Mirroring the legend

of the foundation of the State, the legend of the foundation of the first local communities

was equally illustrated by assuming arms having a hunting explanation. Equally

interesting is the bird of prey of the Wallachian borough of Câmpulung, whose visual

similarity with the bird of prey of the principality denotes commons origins, that probably

precedes the foundation of the country and is reminiscent also of the totemic symbolism

of ancient Hungarian tribes.

*

Conclusion

The present study reevaluated an issue little approached by the Romanian profile

bibliography: the origins of the heraldic phenomenon in Wallachia and Moldavia, in the

first centuries of their existence as mediaeval states. Appeared upon the political map of

the region only by the middle of the fourteenth century, these principalities were

traditionally depending to the Eastern features of culture and civilization. However, even

since their foundation, the Western influences interfered by Hungary and Poland were

enough strong to leave durable traces in the local civilization.

Placed at the boundaries between the Orthodoxy and the Catholicism, the local

mediaeval society of Walachia and Moldavia was aware of the heraldic phenomenon,

although the upper classes knew only a little part of the Western chivalric traditions. As a

consequence of the lack of both heraldic authorities and armorial legislation, the use of

48

Cernovodeanu, Mănescu, ‘Noile steme’, 7-11.

12

arms developed slowly. However, in the fourteenth-fifteenth centuries, the coats of arms

were present upon seals, coins and monuments connected with the princes of the lands,

the members of the noble class and the most important communities.

The neighbouring countries as Hungary and Poland could be considered the main

‘entrance gates’ of Western heraldry in Walachia and Moldavia. It should be stressed that

the foundation and the growth of these principalities were deeply influenced by the

regional policy of the above-mentioned kingdoms, with multiple consequences connected

with the displacement of elites and import of Western customs, of which the usage of

heraldry.

As a general consequence, coats of arms appeared in the territories between the

Carpathians, the Danube and the Black Sea together with the families that had already

assumed them in the regions of their origin. This must have been the ‘scenario’ for the

apparition of the princely achievements, as well as for the apparition of an important

number of noble arms. Having in their mind some genealogical connections – provable or

not in our days – or simply inspiring them by the heraldic customs of the Hungarian or

Polish nobles, the local boyars began to assume arms, to commission seal-rings and to

use them for the State affairs. Less developed than the princely or noble coats of arms,

the armorial bearings of the local communities also offers interesting and fine examples

of civic heraldry, conceived accordingly with the Gothic style but adapted to the local

historic realities.

Based on clear evidences of what it was heraldry at its beginnings, this study tried

to answer to several questions, namely when, how and why coats of arms appeared in

Wallachia and Moldavia. The issue is certainly open to further approaches; however the

premise of the Western influences is undeniable, the same as the determinant role of the

kingdoms of Hungary and Poland in the apparition and development of the local heraldry.

Illustrations

Fig. 1. – Coat of arms attributed to an unidentified ‘Roy de Blaqui’ (= ‘king of the Land

of the Vlachs’) in the Wijnbergen Roll (1265-1280).

Fig. 2. – Western mediaeval heraldic warfare in the Romanian Principalities. Miniature

from the Illuminated Chronicle of Vienna (b. 1360), showing an episode of the 1330 fight

13

between Basarab, prince of Wallachia (1324-1352), and the Hungarian king Charles

Robert.

Fig. 3. – Dynastic coat of arms of the princely house of Basarab in Wallachia, upon the

reverse of a ducat minted by Mircea the Elder, prince of Wallachia (1386-1418).

Fig. 4. – Dynastic coat of arms of the princely house of Dragoş in Moldavia, upon a face

of a pommel belonging to the lineage of Dragoş, first prince of Moldavia (<c. 1347> –

<c. 1354>).

Fig. 5. – Dynastic coat of arms of the princely house of Bogdan in Moldavia, upon the

reverse of a groş minted by Peter, prince of Moldavia (1375-1391).

Fig. 6. – State (territorial) coat of arms of Moldavia, upon the great seal of Alexander the

Good, prince of Moldavia (1400-1432).

Fig. 7. – State (territorial) coat of arms of Wallachia, upon the great seal of above-

mentioned Mircea the Elder, prince of Wallachia.

Fig. 8. – Example of solemn document issued by the Moldavian chancery, sealed with

the princely seal and co-sealed by the great boyars of the realm. This document, dated 13

December 1421 (Alexander the Good, prince of Moldavia, conferred several rights to his

ex-spouse, Rimgaila, sister of the king of Poland), attested that the great boyars of

Moldavia used at that moment individualized heraldic seals, several of these

achievements being hereditary.

Fig. 9. – Heraldic seal-matrix of the borough of Câmpulung in Wallachia (fifteenth-

sixteenth centuries). Example of coat of arms belonging to a former capital of the

principality, having the achievement connected with the state coat of arms.

Fig. 10. – Heraldic seal-impression of the borough of Baia in Moldavia (seventeenth

century, resulted from a matrix much older, now lost). Example of coat of arms

belonging to a former capital of the principality, with the achievement illustrating the

immemorial legendary hunt – a theme also met with the beginnings of the land of

Moldavia.

Keywords:

Wallachian and Moldavian heraldry, coat of arms, seal, coin, Western influence

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Fig. 1

Fig. 2

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Fig. 3

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Fig. 5

Fig. 6

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Fig. 7

Fig. 8

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Fig. 9

Fig. 10