New stuff from Tudor Radu Tiron.
The arms of the Princes Basarab of Wallachia and of Duke Vlad II Basarab Dracul, Prince of Wallachia.
http://www.czipm.org/Grafika/Foto/wallach01.jpg
http://www.czipm.org/wallach.html
Click to enlarge.
Excellent! Bravo!
Nenad,
Amazing as always. Do you have the blazon for Duke Vlad II Basarab Dracul, Prince of Wallachia arms?
Terry;62476 wrote:
Nenad,
Amazing as always. Do you have the blazon for Duke Vlad II Basarab Dracul, Prince of Wallachia arms?
If I could find a nice way of asking this, I would, but I’m not sure I can: why do people ask for blazons of arms for which a picture is available and which present no complexities of any kind?
Per pale, dexter Or three bars Gules, sinister Azure.
Joseph McMillan;62477 wrote:
If I could find a nice way of asking this, I would, but I’m not sure I can: why do people ask for blazons of arms for which a picture is available and which present no complexities of any kind?
Per pale, dexter Or three bars Gules, sinister Azure.
maybe I named the wrong person but I am pretty sure I did not. Look at the link on the page. second image (the one on the right). That is what I want a blazon of.
Even I can figure out the one above….
Terry;62478 wrote:
maybe I named the wrong person but I am pretty sure I did not. Look at the link on the page. second image (the one on the right). That is what I want a blazon of.
Even I can figure out the one above….
Well, I thought you could, which is why I put my foot in my mouth by not following the links far enough. My apologies.
The heraldic imagery of the medieval Basarabs was profoundly studied by the outstanding Romanian scholar, Dan Cernovodeanu.
As it has been shewn by him, in the 14th century the heraldic insignia of the wallachian monarchs consisted of the dynastical arms (borne as burelй or fascй of various number of pieces Or and Gu; one may suspect a Hungarian inspiration); the princely crest, presumably of the territorial significance (an eagle, originally a vulture, later sometimes confused or maybe deliberately hybridized with a raven, contournй Sable, holding a cross Or), which at the end of the century was in some cases also borne in a shield (presumably Az ab initio) as a national coat-of-arms; and a complementing cognizance which maybe was not originally borne in a truly heraldic way, a crescent with a star. This latter emblem is enigmatic but IMO it could serve as a hint to the Wallachian monarchs’ links with the rulers of either Byzantium or Bulgaria.
The star-like sun of Apollo and the crescent of Artemis were connected with the town of Byzantium before its ‘imperial promotion’ and were presumably, despite of the heathen allusions, known later as a local symbol of the Empire’s center. Thus these elements could be associated with the Empire and Imperial dignity – maybe even not necessarily the Byzantine one, but that of the Bulgarian Asenides as well (they actually claimed the dignity of the Emperors of Bulgaria and Greece). Two centuries later the crescent-and-star composition was retrospectively considered to be the arms of the Empire of Illiria of the Nemanides; and, needless to say, it was assumed by the Ottomans, maybe because of the same Imperial aura.
In any case, it could be under Prince Ladislas I of Wallachia (1364-1377) or in the days of his predecessor Nicholas Alexander (1354 – 1364) that the dynastical arms appeared to be sometimes augmented (in a form of an impalement; one may suspect further Hungarian inspiration) with a field Az which was, again sometimes, charged with the crescent and star (or with a crescent alone) Or. This practice is curious and enigmatic no less than the celestial emblem itself. It could be that the use of the crescent and star was perceived as a kind of a political manifestation; so maybe this use was in some cases seen as inappropriate, but instead of remarshalling the impalement, the field could be left without charges, creating a kind of a Warteschild.
Ladislas II (1447-1456) changed the order of the impaled halves, giving the preference to the field with the crescent and star. It had been suggested that the dynastical fascй could be exiled to the second half because of the Hungarian associations (be they the reason for the arms’ assumption or not), for political reasons. The evolution continued; thus on the coins of Vlad II AFAIK the arms were lacking the crescent and star and the dynastical half was given the preference. It is not clear if Vlad the Impaler continued this practice. Coins disputably ascribed to him have the same arms as those of Ladislas II.
Returning to the Wallachian eagle, I must confess that I dare to doubt the aforementioned learned opinion according to which it was originally a vulture. The images known to me may be interpreted as representations of an eagle in a bold, grotesque style. Dr Cernovodeanu believed that the Sable of the Wallachian bird, kept for generations despite of the field’s colour Azure, corresponds to the black feathers of a vulture; but this combination of colours may be explained in a purely heraldic, “anti-naturalistic” way, using other Eastern-European arms (such as the Polish arms Slepowron) as analogies.
I am unable to trace the way of the Wallachian eagle from crest into the principality’s shield step by step. Certainly this may be better explained by the Romanian specialists who researched much more sources and may take in consideration much more historical circumstances than me. There is no doubt that Mr Tiron’s reconstruction of Vlad II the Dragon’s arms is historically accurate, but I am sadly unaware of the sources he used.
However it is clear that in 1390 a seal of Prince Mircea the Elder was already adorned with the principality’s arms consisting of a bird (highly stylized eagle if not indeed a vulture) holding a long cross in its beck and accompanied with the omnipresent crescent-and-star emblem in the sinister canton. In the course of the following century this latter ideogram, maybe on losing its earlier importance, was partitioned: its two elements were placed in the two upper cantons.
As to the dragon in the eagle’s claws, this element crept into the principality’s arms but AFAIK was not stable. Actually I wonder if it did not emerge in the first half of the 15th century from a misinterpreted (or ingeniously reinterpreted) mantling below the original princely crest – just look at this!
It is almost commonly known that Vlad II earned his nickname “the Dragon” (“Drakul”: the Romanians, like, say, the Swedes, are used to turning a definite article into a suffix) because he was admitted into the Order of Dragon by its founder, Sigismund of Luxemburg. – The badge of this order is emblazoned by Mr Tiron in the upper sinister corner of his painting. – Vlad II the Dragon’s son, Vlad III, became known as “the Dragon’s [son]”, Draculea. Ominously for him, the word “Drakul” is also used in Romanian to define the devil.
Vlad III the Impaler was, in many senses, an outstanding ruler. A gifted warlord and a diplomat, he also worked hard to reinforce the values of princely authority, national unity and independence, and moral chastity by fierce terror and mass executions of striking cruelty. The horrific tales about his atrocities and inhuman habits, collected by his political enemies, started a literary tradition which developed a totally diabolic image of a clever, efficient and insanely sadistic tyrant. The Impaler’s main targets were the Turkish enemies, the old noble families, the merchants and the paupers; accordingly, the popular memory in Wallachia was kinder to him than one could expect. In the modern times, many historians tried to oppose the “black legend”, mentioning Vlad’s military bravery and his decent death on a battlefield, enumerating his motives and reducing his impaled victims’ number from many thousands to a number of hundreds. In fact, they were explaining that he was not an infernally cruel madman but a remarkably cruel politician.
From Dr Cernovodeanu I learned about the existence of a hypothesis (“totally light-minded” as he remarked himself) that it was Vlad III who started to mix the eagle motif with that of a “sinister” raven.
The modern arms of both Roumania and Wallachia as its part, and, surprisingly, of the independent Moldova are all based on the eagle-and-cross emblem which lost [regrettably IMH and private O] some of its essential early features, such as the eagle’s position and colour.
It is probably also worth mentioning that the heraldic history of the sister State, the principality of Moldavia, and their Mus[h]atide dynasts is similar in several aspects; the Mus[h]atide rulers sported, at least for a while, a pseudo-Hungarian impalement (this time with a burelй or a double cross and fleurs-de-lis, probably in distinctive colours), the solar/lunar elements were used as well, and the main national symbol, the auroch’s/wisent/bull’s head, was originally borne as a crest before being used as the principal charge in the principality’s shield.
http://lh4.ggpht.com/crusilly/SK3stUS97NI/AAAAAAAAAT4/zrhjdhuPvp0/s144/Stema_Moldovei_1476.jpg
A version of the Wallachian arms with the dragon was claimed in Russia by the Kheraskov family (originally Herescul/Cherescul). They immigrated from their Wallachian motherland temp. Peter I and had their arms confirmed by Paul I [General Armorial II, 134].
http://lh5.ggpht.com/crusilly/SK3enFTjnWI/AAAAAAAAATY/da4YCjClrkg/s288/p0292.jpg
This was most likely a legalised usurpation, as the Heresculs were of an aristocratic but not of a princely lineage and should not bear the national Wallachian symbol in such a way.
Mr. Medvedev, thank you VERY much for givnig us all a wider historical and heraldic perspective!
Traeasca Romania :D ... You are very welcome, Father.
What a wonderful stuff for "Euro_Pean" or "Arms of the Season", dear Michael Yu.!
May I hope…?:)
You are welcome, dear colleague - just do it 
The final point in the story which I tried to tell is that… (oops, I do not remember the details and cannot check them just now… but I must tell the story, it is so juicy…)...
Well, some close relatives (nephews, if I am not mistaken) of Vlad III obtained a patent of arms from a friendly monarch (again, I am a Dutchman if I can recall if that was a Hungarian King or an Emperor). The arms were quite gorgeous: Gu three wolf’s [;) Being of the house/branch of Drakul (i.e. descendants of Vlad II the Dragon), and being accordingly mentioned in the patent, they were probably the only ones to got "the arms of the name Drakul[a]".
P.S. Actually there was a Russian noble family of the name Draculo-Criticos. All I know is that a member of this family applied for a change of the bizarre family name. No idea if the change was granted, let alone if he had any assumed arms; at least there was no grant to this lineage.
Michael Y. Medvedev;62616 wrote:
The arms were quite gorgeous: Gu three wolf’s [;)???] teeth issuant from the dexter Arg, with a sabre of the same, hilt and pommel Or, in pale overall.
I believe "wolves’ teeth" is the correct term for this charge. I’ve seen them quite often in arms in Prague, but they’re rare in more western heraldry.
By a mere occasion, I met on the internet the following rendition (actually based on a partly hypothetical reconstruction) of the arms of the Vlad the Impaler by a Portugese artist don David José Fernandes da Silva. Not as if I am a too great a fan of this artwork but it certainly corresponds to the subject of this thread.
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_sPiVp5N3GVk/SQxaNHGo8jI/AAAAAAAAAbY/dikjZ87eOLY/s400/vladtepes by don David José Fernandes da Silva.jpg
