The Frauenkirche (Cathedral of Our Lady) in the historic center of Munich serves as the cathedral of the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising and seat of its Archbishop.
The cathedral can hold approximately 20,000 people; this is surprising when one considers that at end of the 15th Century, when the cathedral was built, the city only had about 13,000 inhabitants
Around the exterior of the cathedral are many memorial stones. They came from the cemetery which surrounded the church. For reasons of hygiene the cemetery was to have been moved, but several times, citizens successfully resist against that. In 1800 the cemetery was paved over. On the exterior wall of the cathedral the preserved stone epitaphs of the wealthier citizens are attached. Some of them are decorated with figures, and some with coats of arms. Some texts are almost no longer legible due to weathering over the centuries.
Today we begin looking at some of those memorials with heraldry on them, or at least the ones about whom I can find information.
The first is the memorial of Wolfgang Christoph Edler [noble] von Spitzel auf Unterspan, who (as the memorial tells us) died 12 February 1786, aged 81. The family had arms since 1707, and were named knights of the Holy Roman Empire 1 September 1756.
The first is the memorial of Wolfgang Christoph Edler [noble] von Spitzel auf Unterspan, who (as the memorial tells us) died 12 February 1786, aged 81. The family had arms since 1707, and were named knights of the Holy Roman Empire 1 September 1756.
The arms are found in Rietstap's Armorial Général, where they are blazoned: Écartelé: au 1, d'or, à une couleuvre ondoyante en pal et contournée d'azur, derrière une grille d'argent, posée sur un tertre de sinople; aux 2 et 3, coupé de sable sur argent, le sable chargé d'une paire de tenailles d'argent, posée en fasce; au 4, d'azur, à un griffon d'or, tenant de ses pattes une masse à picotons d'argent.
An English blazon would be: Quarterly: 1, Or, a serpent undy palewise and contourny Azure, behind a grille Argent, set upon a mound Vert; 2 and 3, per fess Sable and Argent, the Sable charged with a pair of pincers fesswise Argent; 4, Azure, a griffin Or, holding in its paws a spiked mace Argent.
A fairly complex coat of arms, and unusual in having the second and third quarters being the same while the first and fourth quarters are different.
Nonetheless, an interesting coat of arms on a memorial to a member of this old Bavarian noble and civil servant family.
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