Foreign Arms and Flags in Copenhagen

Of course, Copenhagen being the the capitol of Denmark, we should not be surprised to find the flags and/or arms of other nations appearing there, as capitol cities will generally host the embassies and consulates of foreign countries there.

So, during our walkabouts in Copenhagen, we found the following (in alphabetical order), without really trying to look very hard:

The flag of Finland:

The flag and arms of the French Republic:

The flag of Georgia (the country, not the U.S. State of Georgia!): Argent a cross between four crosses patty gules.

The flag and arms of the Italian Republic:

On a ship in the harbor, the ensign of the Republic of Poland. This ensign is based on the naval ensign, but instead of the fly being swallowtailed, this is a standard flag shape. Per fess argent and gules in chief the arms of Poland in chief (Gules an eagle displayed argent beaked and crowned or). (The national flag of Poland is simply Per fess argent and gules.)

The flag of the Republic of Slovenia:

And, finally, the arms of Sweden

Quite the international tour, for simply walking about the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark!

Heraldry In The Court

And no, I don't mean anything like, for example, the Royal Arms which appear in the courtrooms of Great Britain or Canada.

No, this was a court case in Poland, where the frontman for the rock band Behemoth, Adam "Nergal" Darski, and Maciej G., the band's webmaster, along with Rafal Wechterowicz, the graphic artist, had been charged by the District Prosecutor's Office in Gdansk for "insulting" the national coat of arms of Poland on the band's "Republic of the Unfaithful" tour artwork and merchandise.

Here is an image of Poland's national coat of arms:

And here's an image of the "Republic of the Unfaithful" artwork on a tee shirt:

As you can see, it's pretty clearly evocative of the national arms, enough so that an heraldic expert consulted by the prosecutor's office said that the tour's artwork featured "a distorted image of Poland's national emblem," and that it "included elements and symbols considered Satanist and anti-Christian, with the aim of conveying content far removed from the historical and state ideology."

Polish law protects Polish symbols against public profanation and insult, and any public use may be considered a criminal offense, the conviction of which could result in up to a year in jail. Someone clearly thought that this artwork was both profane and insulting.

But an April 16, 2018 story notes that the charges against all three defendants have now been dismissed before the case went to trial, and Nergal has said on Instagram that the design "will soon be back in stock" in the band's webstore.

You can find the original story about the filing of these charges on-line at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/behemoth-frontman-formally-charged-with-disrespecting-polands-national-coat-of-arms/, and the more recent news story about the charges being dismissed at http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/charges-dismissed-in-case-involving-behemoth-frontman-and-polands-national-coat-of-arms/

An Update on an Unidentified Coat of Arms in St. Cuthbert's Church, Dalmeny

In my post of October 5, 2017 (https://blog.appletonstudios.com/2017/10/stained-glass-heraldry.html), there was a coat of arms in one of the three windows that was not identified, but was possibly related to the anonymous donor of the windows, who had them made for the church in memory of his mother.

Reader Ralf Hartemink (who runs the website Heraldry of the World at http://www.ngw.nl/; if you have any interest in civic heraldry and have never seen his site before, I cannot recommend it to you highly enough. I use it all the time when researching civic coats of arms) has come forward with a possible identification for the arms: the Polish family Prawdzic of the herb Szlachecki, here (image from pl.wikipedia.org):

Historically, the arms had the golden lion on an argent (silver) background, as exemplified in this redrawing from the Gelre armorial:

I'd like to thank Ralf for letting me know about this Polish coat of arms, and think that we may have made the anonymous donor of this window a little less anonymous.

Stained Glass Heraldry (Updated with New Information)

There are three beautiful stained glass windows in St. Cuthbert's Church in Dalmeny, Scotland.

These windows - of the Madonna and Holy Child, St. Theresa, and St. Margaret - were commissioned in memory of his mother by a Polish officer (who wished to remain anonymous) of the 10th Polish Mechanised Brigade which formed in Douglas during WWII. The windows were created by Miss Lalia Dickson, who exhibited at the Royal Scottish Academy sporadically between 1936 and 1957.

The central window of the Madonna and Infant Christ displays the coat of arms of Poland (though the eagle here, while usually crowned or, is crowned argent here).

The south window, of St. Margaret, has a shield which is probably meant to symbolize Edinburgh, though it is not Edinburgh's coat of arms. Here, the shield would be blazoned Azure a triple-towered castle argent.

The north window, with St. Theresa (probably St. Theresa of Lisieux given the presence of the flowers), displays an as-yet unidentified coat of arms.

The arms of Krakow, Poland have been mentioned as a possibility, but a quick comparison of the arms here with those of Krakow (immediately below) are very much greater than the differences between the arms in the south window and those of Edinburgh.

I do not believe that Krakow is a likely candidate, but I do not have a better suggestion to make at this time. It is very difficult to make out what the lion is holding in its paw, though a ring of keys is certainly a strong possibility.

In any event, these three windows are a beautiful (and heraldic) tribute to a man's mother.

UPDATE: I ran across this depiction of the arms of the Polish herb Zaremba done by Tania Crossingham. There is an obvious similarity to the arms in the window here, though there are some clear differences, too (the lack of the gems in base, and the lions here appear to be holding something in their paws).

Mail Order Heraldry, Part 3

Continuing our review of the most recent Design Toscano catalog, we find a stained glass panel with the arms of France Modern (http://www.designtoscano.com/product/code/HD35387.do), Azure three fleurs-de-lis or.

On another page, they offer a “White Eagle Stained Glass Window” panel, which they state is “[b]ased upon the historic coat of arms of Poland” (http://www.designtoscano.com/product/code/HD765474.do).

For myself, I generally dislike armorial products which are “based on” something else almost as much as I dislike movies which are “based on” a book or story.  I find that, in many cases, the product often bears a minimal relationship to the item it is “based on.”  Here, though, except for the fact that the eagle’s head is facing the wrong way (it should be looking to the viewer’s left, not its own left) it does match the real arms of Poland pretty well.

Ah, if only I had more windows here at home in which to hang more heraldic stained glass.

Heraldry in Florence, Part Twenty-Seven

Upside-down and backwards. (Or should I say, in British fashion, “reversed and mirrored”, or in American fashion, “inverted and reversed”?)

Today’s post about heraldry seen in the city of Florence is a bit of a mystery. The flag here was being carried by the leader of a tourist group. If all of the main tinctures were reversed, that is, white where they are red, and red where they are white, then this would be the flag of Poland charged with the arms of Poland. But they aren’t, and so it isn’t.

I am assuming that because the tour guides are not representatives of the government of Poland, that they are not permitted the use of the flag and arms, and so have reversed them in order to denote who they are without appearing to be “official.”