Coat of Arms of Poland
Encyclopedia : C : CO : COA : Coat of Arms of Poland
The coat of arms of Poland consists of a white eagle on a red shield. The eagle is wearing a crown and has golden claws and beak. In Poland, the coat of arms is usually called simply White Eagle (Orzeł Biały), always capitalised. Note that in heraldry there is never a "white" colour: what we see as white is normally said to be "silver" (and "yellow" is "gold"). However, the Polish eagle is the only one which is "pure" white instead of silver.
The eagle is sometimes thought to be the white-tailed eagle, although the highly stylised depiction does not connect the insignia with any specific species of eagle. Another interpretation is that it is form of a "heraldic eagle", based on the Golden Eagle.
Legend
The White Eagle is said to have originated when Poland’s legendary founder Lech saw a white eagle’s nest. When he looked at the bird, a ray of sunshine from the red setting sun fell on its wings, so they appeared tipped with gold, the rest of the eagle was pure white.
Some historians consider the origins of the insignia to be the coat of arms insignia of either the Roman or Holy Roman Empire. The latter was a black eagle.
History
A white eagle is first known from coins made during king Boleslaus’s reign, initially as the Piast family’s personal coat of arms.
Przemysł II introduced the White Eagle as a national symbol.
The current version of the insignia was introduced by an amendment to the Polish Constitution in 1927. In 1945, the new communist regime removed the crown from the eagle's head and replaced (perhaps accidentally) the rosettes, which resemble stars, on its wings with stars. The crown was seen as a symbol of the monarchy. After the end of the communist regime, the crown was reintroduced in 1990, and the current version is basically the same as that of 1927, with minor cosmetic changes.
See also
- Order of the White Eagle – the highest order in Polish honours system.
- Flag of Poland
- Coat of arms of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth
- Coat of arms of Lithuania
- Polish heraldry
- Polish coins and banknotes
Polish Military
Historic Coats of Arms
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.