Are there common characteristics of Baltic heraldry … like there is in say Nordic or Germanic heraldry?
As far as i now the Baltic heraldry is much influenced by the Germanic/Scandinavian heraldry and to a lesser extent Russian and Polish heraldry. The later most in Lithuania as it and Poland long formed a union. The personal arms I have seen clearly follows a Germanic/Northern European Style, which is not suprising scince the noblity here was mainly of German desecent.
The civic heraldry also shows Germanic influences, and in modern day Estonia a Finnish influence which have created a line of attractive arms. In strongly Catholic Lithuania one finds many Saints and other Christian symbols in their civic heraldry.
thank you.
In the 1990’s, I lived on and off in Estonia and became familiar with the Estonian Herald, Priit Herodes, who designs all of Estonia’s new orders, badges, flags and arms both civic and military. Most of the older town arms in Estonia are of Germanic origin as the country was occupied by the Livonian Order and then by the Teutonic Order for some centuries. When Sweden conquered Estonia, Swedish nobles brought their Swedish arms with them as did the Russians who came to Estonia after it was conquered by Peter the Great in 1710. After 1917, Estonian heraldry became very strongly influenced by the Finns who are the linguistic and ethnic cousins of the Estonians. During this first period of freedom 1919-1938, if a town did not already have existing German style arms, then new arms were designed in the Finnish style. When Estonia became independent again in 1991, the civic arms from the first republic were restored and Mr. Herodes followed the heraldic style of his predecessors.
http://www.civicheraldry.com/region/estonia
Regarding personal arms:
The provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty required that those persons of German ancestry living in the three Baltic republics were to be repatriated to Germany, most German nobles left the country in 1938. Most Swedish commoners and nobles left when the Soviet occupation began or were evacuated by the Swedish Navy during the World War II. Between the wars many Russian nobles sought refuge in Estonia but were very quick to move on when the Soviets threatened annexation. Just the same there are still some titled Swedish and Russian families who remain in Estonia and continue to use their ancient arms. In present day Estonia, Mr. Herodes draws up new grants of personal arms (which I have seen) for private Estonians and records them in the Estonian Chancellery.
cool. thank you. thanks for the link as well.
Some Estonian personal arms scanned from the Finnish Scout Heraldry Society’s magazine Liehuvat Värit:
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/404/skanna0071kv5.jpg
CoA of Tiina Kukk.
http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/9771/skanna0070ne9.jpg
CoA of Arvi Kiisa.
http://img264.imageshack.us/img264/2435/skanna0074vo1.jpg
CoA of Velvo Laas.
Marcus K wrote:
Some Estonian personal arms scanned from the Finnish Scout Heraldry Society’s magazine Liehuvat Värit
What a coincidence, I receive this journal also. Would you happen to know the Finnish heraldic artist Kauri Laurla?
David Pritchard wrote:
What a coincidence, I receive this journal also. Would you happen to know the Finnish heraldic artist Kauri Laurla?
I know about him, but have not had the opportunity to meet him. And now I never will as he sadly passed away last year.
I am very sad to learn this. We exchanged e-mails for many years and spoke on the telephone on occasion. I have not heard from him in some time, when did he pass away? I may be wrong but I did not think that he was particularly old?
David Pritchard wrote:
I am very sad to learn this. We exchanged e-mails for many years and spoke on the telephone on occasion. I have not heard from him in some time, when did he pass away? I may be wrong but I did not think that he was particularly old?
He died on 10 february 2006 aged 62. A link with Baltic Heraldry is that Laurla was a member of the Estonian State Heraldry Committee.
The military in Estonia and Lithuania and to a lesser extent in Latvia makes use of heraldry.
som estonian examples:
http://www.mil.ee/im/maavagi/mv_staap.jpg
Staff of the Land Forces.
http://www.mil.ee/im/maavagi/mv_vahipataljon.jpg
The Independent Guards Battalion.
http://www.mil.ee/im/maavagi/mv_kuperjanov.jpg
Kuperjanov Independent Infantry Battalion.
http://www.mil.ee/im/merevagi/pitka_vapp.jpg
The flaggship of the Estonian Navy Admiral Pitka named after the first commander of the Estonian Navy. The arms show the emblem of the Navy over the Cross of Liberty (an Estonian decoration).
The Heraldry of the Lithuanian armed forces can be seen here http://www.kam.lt/index.php/en/34486/
