Hipocentauro atsiradimas lietuvos didžiosios kunigaikštystės kilmingųjų heraldikoje

• Authors: Agnė Railaitė

Abstracts

EN

Centaur or Hippocentaur in armory of the nobles of Lithuania has been little researched. This subject is a still untapped gold mine for research into heraldry, though due to the lack of primary sources providing scholars with more questions than answers. The question what was the source and in what way Centaur (which later turned into Hippocentaur) appeared in armory of the GDL nobility remains a blank spot in the historiography. The present article discusses history and symbolism of centaurs, analyzes the Centaur family described in the Lithuanian annals, examines the assumptions for the selection of the coat of arms of the Alšėniškiai (Pol. Holszański) family, transformation of Centaur into Hippocentaur and occurrence of the latter in armory of the Giedraičiai (Pol. Giedroyć) family in the sixteenth century, specifies the terms of Centaur, Hippocentaur, Kitovras and Sagittarius. The article presents an assumption that Centaur came into armory of the nobles of the Grand duchy of Lithuania and first of all to the armory of the Alšėniškiai dukes through the Church (vie the ecclesiastical art and literature). Alšėniškiai dukes’ selection of the Centaur symbol for their coat of arms could have been influenced both by the Eastern and Western Churches, in the symbolism of which this mythical being was abundant. The analysis of the available sources and scientific literature allows identifying Naugard as one of the potential ways for Centaur’s coming through the Western and Eastern Churches. The argument for selecting Centaur could have been related to soldiership and the political situation in the Grand duchy of Lithuania. Dynamics of sphragistics/armory of the Alšėniškiai dukes can be seen from the sequence of the following facts: in 1390 the design of Jonas Alšėniškis’ seal contained a figure of Saint John, in 1420 Simonas Jonaitis Alšėniškis (a son of Jonas Alšėniškis) assigned by vytautas went to Naugard and already in 1422/1423 the designs of the seals attached to the Meln Peace Treaty by Simonas Jonaitis Alšėniškis and Mykolas Jonaitis Alšėniškis depicted Centaur. With the gradual spread of Christianity and contacts with the Western culture in the country, Centaur in the second quarter of the fifteenth century turned into Hippocentaur. The function of the coat of arms of the Alšėniškiai family, i.e. what the coat of arms was intended to declare, was expanded. Hippocentaur could have also served as a symbol of Christianity, antithesis to paganism. Appearance of the Hippocentaur coat of arms in the heraldry of the Giedraičiai family in the second half of the sixteenth century is associated with the ideas of the Renaissance, establishment of the myth of the Roman origin in the worldview and perception of the identity of the nobility and dying-out of the Alšėniškiai family. Since the Giedraičiai, who had a lower social status than the other representatives of the family, began using the coat of arms with Hippocentaur, presumably by doing so they wanted to emphasize how noble and old their family was, which was particularly important in the sixteenth century.

• Publisher: Lietuvos istorijos institutas
• Journal: Lietuvos istorijos metraštis
• Year: 2010
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 23-38

Dates

published

2010

Contributors

author

Agnė Railaitė

• Lietuvos istorijos institutas

Identifiers

Biblioteka Nauki

57626772