culture of memory filipova

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Culture of Memoryin East Central Europe

in the Late Middle Ages

and the Early Modern Period


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Rafa Wjcik (ed.)

Culture of Memoryin East Central Europein the Late Middle Ages

and the Early Modern Period

Conference proceedingsCie, March 12-14, 2008

Prace Biblioteki Uniwersyteckiej nr 30

Biblioteka UniwersyteckaPozna 2008


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EditorRafa Wjcik

OrganizersRafa Wjcik, University Library, PoznaLucie Dolealov, Center for Theoretical Study, PragueGbor Farkas Kiss, Etvs Lornd University, Budapest

Organizational CommitteeArtur Jazdon, Aldona Chachlikowska, Krystyna Jazdon,

Aleksandra Szulc, Hanna Wieland, Rafa Wjcik

Gratefully acknowledging support of the University Library in Pozna

and International Visegrad Fund

http://lib.amu.edu.plwww.visegradfund.org

English Language Editor Tomasz Olszewski, University Library, PoznaGerman Language Editor Christian Myschor, Adam Mickiewicz University, Pozna

Technical ProofreadingMarlena Pigla

Krystyna Sobkowicz

Copyright by University Library in PoznaPozna 2008

ISBN 978-83-60961-00-1

ISSN 0860-1933

Front panel:Imagines agentes, ff. 206v-207r, Ms. 734,Zakad Narodowy im. Ossoliskich in Wrocaw

Printing preparationRHYTMOS, ul. Grochmalickiego 35/1, 61-606 Pozna, www.rhytmos.pl

Printed and boundPPHU TOTEM SC, ul. witokrzyska 53, 88-100 Inowrocaw, www.totem.com.pl

All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilization outside the strict limits ofthe copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution.This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing inelectronic retrieval systems.


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Preface (Rafa Wjcik) ............................................................................................................. 7

SABINE SEELBACHWissensorganisation contra Gebrauchsfunktion? Zum Erkenntniswertvon berlieferungsgeschichte am Beispiel der Memoria-Handschriftender Staatsbibliothek Olmtz ............................................................................................. 11

CLAIRE NORTONErasing Oral Residue and Correcting Scribal Error: Re-Interpreting the Presenceof Mnemo-Technical Practices in Ottoman Manuscriptsin the Early Modern Period .............................................................................................. 27

ALEXANDRU N. CIZEKAntike Memoria-Lehre und mittellateinische versus differentiales ................................. 43

GRETI DINKOVA-BRUUNBiblical Versification and Memory in the Later Middle Ages ......................................... 53

KRZYSZTOF BRACHADas Gedchtnis in der Praxis des mittelalterlichen Predigers .......................................... 65

MIECZYSAW MEJORArs versificandi and arsmemorativa. Geoffrey of Vinsauf on the Art of Memory(ars memoriae) ................................................................................................................. 79

BENEDEK LNGThe Art of Memory and Magic (the ars memorativa and the ars notoria) ...................... 87

LUCIE DOLEALOVMatou Beran and his Wordplays: A Case Study on the Art of Memory

in Late Medieval Bohemia ............................................................................................... 95FARKAS GBOR KISS

Valentinus de Monteviridi (Grnberg) and the Art of Memory of Conrad Celtis .......... 105

RAFA WJCIK, WIESAW WYDRAJakub Parkoszowics Polish Mnemonic Verse about Polish Orthographyfrom the 15th Century ...................................................................................................... 119

WITOLD WOJTOWICZMemoria und Mnemotechnik in der Chronica Polonorumvom Bischof Vincentius (ca. 1150-1223) ....................................................................... 129

Contents


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RYSZARD GRZESIKDid Two Models of the Memory about the Domestic Origins Existin the Hungarian Medieval Chronicles? ......................................................................... 139

ADRIEN QURET-PODESTAThe Historical Conscience in theAnnalesPosonienses and in the Historical Notesof the Pray Codex and Their Place in the Hungarian Medieval Historiography ............ 149

BALZS NAGYMemories of the Self: The Autobiography of Charles IVin Search of Medieval Memories ................................................................................... 161

KRZYSZTOF RATAJCZAKThe Dynastic Memory and the Role of Historical Books in the Educationof the Piasts from the 10th to the 14th Centuries .............................................................. 167

LSZL TAPOLCAIThe Changes of the Figure of Piast, the Protoplast of the First Polish Royal Dynastyin the Historical Tradition from Gallus Anonymus to Marcin Bielski ........................... 179

MICHAEL SCHULTERecollecting the Runes: Memory Culture in the Viking Age ......................................... 187

JOLANTA RZEGOCKAMnemotechnical Strategies at Play:Early Modern Polish Theatre and Its Manuscripts ......................................................... 205

ALICJA BORYSIch [...] habe diese Figur, als ich zu Konstantinopel gesehen,meinem lieben Bruder[]zum freundlichen Gedchtnis malen lassen.

Erinnerungen an die Reise in die Trkei in einigen der ltesten Stammbchernaus dem deutschen Kulturraum ...................................................................................... 213

RAFA T. PRINKEMemory in the Lodge. A Late 18th Century Freemasonry Mnemonic Aid .................... 227

JEANNIE J. ABNORemembering the Polish Renaissance Child in memoria ............................................ 239

KATEINA HORNKOVBishop Phillibert of Coutances Catholic Restoration in Hussite Prague ...................... 255

S. ADAM HINDINCivic Ritual and memoria in the Gelnhausen Codex ..................................................... 265

SNEZANA FILIPOVAMedieval Paintings in Macedonian Churches and Applied Arts as the Echoof the Heraldic Society ................................................................................................... 277

Notes on Contributors .......................................................................................................... 289

List of Illustrations ............................................................................................................... 295

Contents


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In time, the Heraldry became immanent to all classes and professions. The tracesand the memory of the important and less important feudal lords of the Middle Agesin Macedonia are to be found in art, applied art, coins, seals, documents and legends,interwoven into folklore poetry and stories (the most famous one being about tsarSamuel and Marko Krale-the small king).

Since Heraldry has not been a popular branch of study over the last few decades,very little effort, or none at all, has been made to find resources to explore the pastapart from looking at some armorials, already published and commented. However,the last two decades have revealed a considerable number of rings and a few sealsthat improve our knowledge of some emblems and figures popular on the territory ofmedieval Macedonia.

Over the last few years, a practice has been reestablished to bring back to life thecustom of awarding important persons for their outstanding achievements with stateor church medals, which, consequently, brings along the revival of traditional skillsand knowledge of heraldry. Also, all the present Macedonian cities and communes arechanging the images of socialism in their emblems into heraldic ones.

Some coats of arms related to the territory called Macedonia are well known and have

been published frequently within various armorials. They show variants of the representa-tion of golden lion rampant and the crown on red shield though the colors and the depictedanimals are not changeable (Armorial of Korenich Neorich, 1595, Althans armorial 1614,Armorial of Marko Skoroevich, 1636-1638, Fojnica armorial, 1675, Codex Keveshich,1740, Armorial of Ivo Saraka, from Dubrovnik, 1746). Within the Armorials of Palinich(end of 16/17th century), Pavle Vitezovich, 1701, and that one of count Ladislav Festet-ich, 1837 the color of the animal and the shield differ, being either red or golden.

Unfortunately, fresco ensembles have been overlooked so far. There are numerousmedieval fresco paintings preserved in Macedonian churches that keep the memory of

Snezana Filipova(Skopje)

Medieval Paintings in Macedonian Churches

and Applied Arts As the Echo of the Heraldic Society


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the heraldic symbols used by the noblemen, not at all noticed or described and exploredyet. Some of the represented noblemen are real historical figures that also minted coinsin their name and who are mentioned in various sources. Some saints and holy warriorsare represented as members of high society, whose military arms bear heraldic tones.

The present state of archaeological research reveals increasingly proves that heraldryhad made a firm base and continued to be used both by male and female aristocratseven after the fall of the territory under the Turkish rule. The most elaborated itemscome from a necropolis neas Strumica, at the village of Vodocha, situated next to thefamous monastery and church of Holy Virgin, a once metoch of Hilandar.1

Yet, most of the visual documents are offered by the medieval frescos in Macedonia,mostly presented in the churches of Ohrid, like St. Demetrius, or St. Sophia, the scenewith the soldiers sleeping at Christ grave, St. Nicholas, Prilep, or Holy Archangels inLesnovo.

Some of the most remarkable ones, along with the Passion compositions, likepainted curtains on the walls of the Holy Archangels in Lesnovo, or the facial wall of itsaltar table, show the impact of the contemporary insignia of the feudal society heral-

dic coat of arms, shield with heraldic emblems, and also monograms of rulers (kingMilutin at St. George, Nagorichino, or despot Jovan Oliver and his wife, Ana MariaLiverina at Lesnovo church). Most of these paintings and object are dated in the 13 th or14th century. Despot Jovan Oliver, and also the feudal lords Grgur and Vuk Brankovic,have their portraits represented in the catedral church St. Sophia in Ohrid, in the para-clis of Jovan Oliver, 1347-1350.2 They wear the double-headed eagle, embroidered on

1 Elica Maneva,Ancient Jewellery from Macedonia, Middle Ages (Catalogue) (Skopje: Kalamus, 2007).2 Cvetan Grozdanov, Ohridsko zidno slikarstvo od XIV vek(Ohrid, 1980), 63-65.

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Figure 1. Holy Doors,holy Virgin, v. Rankovce,Kumanovo, 17C, detail


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the garment, multiplied in a row of medallions, or as a single medallion placed upfront.There are also other motifs, like wolf, dog, related to the Serbian feudal lords (GrgurBrankovich, painted central medallion with wolf inside, on the chest, founders compo-sition from the western wall of Gregorius paraclis of St. Sophia, Ohrid). Double headed

eagle decorates the garment of Kesar Duka in St. Panteleimon, old St. Clement, Ohrid(before 1331),3 Despots Oliver and Anas garment from St. Sophia bears two largemedallions and under these two rows of small medallions with double-headed eagles,while the design of the clothes has been changed as compared to the narthex of HolyArchangels, Lesnovo, since the latter features smaller circles and the rows star from theupper end.4 Saints can also be represented dressed as nobleman with heraldic embroi-dery. St. Alexander is dressed like kesar in the Holy Virgin cave church at Tuminecnear Ohrid, now on the Albanian territory,5 once part of the territory of the then OhridsArchbishopric. Jovan Oliver has the same clothes in the group composition The EarthlyKings, the illustration of psalm 148:11.

The figure of Kesar Grgur from Holy Virgin at Zaum, Ohrid, 1361, shows doubleheaded eagles inscribed into two large medallions placed above and below the thigh,

with two small rows of small medallions bellow.Ostoja Rajakovich is the only lord bearing large medallions with eagles only bellow

the thigh (Old St. Clement, Ohrid, 1379).6 An interesting detail is the left upper medal-lion with wolf or a dog inscribed in.

3 Ibid.,32.4 Smiljka Gabelic,Lesnovo (Beograd: Stubovi Kulture, 1999), 78.5 Goce Angelichin Zura, Pesternite crkvi vo ohridsko-prespanskiot region [The Cave Churches in the

Region of Ohrid and Prespa] (Struga, 2004), 124.16 Grozdanov, Ohridsko zidno, 165.


Figure 2. St. Nicholas,Varosh, Prilep, 15-16th C,Holy Doors, detail


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Two rows of small medallions with double-headed eagles, show the garment ofKesar Novak from Holy Virgin at Mal Grad, Prespa.7

In the 14th century Byzantium even nobleman without high titles could be depictedwearing state heraldic coat of arms put on their clothes or shoes, as Kovacevich hasnoticed.8

King Georgi Kastriot (1405-1468) was the last Ortodox ruler before the TurkishEmpire occupied the whole region of the Balkans. His state was part of present Alba-nia and Macedonia, and some historians regard him as belonging to the western Mace-donian tribe of the Miaks where the Kastrioti family name occurs.9 His first biographerwas Marin Barleti, from the 16th century.10 Macedonian historian Petar Popovski11 hasrecently tried to prove the Slavic origin of Skenderbeg-the Turkish name for G. Kas-triot. His coat of arms of 1451, according to Gjim,12 was divided in half vertically,which shows dimidiation was performed. The left side (that is the real right side of thecoat of arms) has black crowned double-headed eagle, golden star above it, on goldenbackground, and on the right side lion rampant with a sword, white lily above it onblue background, while later on he had to change it into black double-headed eagleon red background, golden star above it, while his grandson Constantine in 1500 hada coat of arms bearing on the whole surface of the shield the left side image of theblack crowned double-headed eagle, golden star above it, on golden background.

The flag of Georg(i) Kastriot had golden lion on red background. It was the newone, since the Venetians and the Anjous insisted the old one, containing 16 armed sunput on three coloured bands-two red ones up and down and white in the middle, to bechanged.

At St. Demetrius, Ohrid, 14th

century,13

the three Roman soldiers are dressed aswestern solders in the composition Holy women at the tomb of Christ. They haveidentical longish oval shields containing heraldic composition. The light surface isdivided in two by a band coming from left to right. In the upper part there is a graphic

17 Zura, Pesternite crkvi, 164.18 Jovan Kovacevich, Srednievekovna noshnia balkanskih Slovena (Beograd, 1976).19 Among the recent works to show this point of view is the book of Petar Popovski,

(: -, 2005). Debates on his possible Serbian, Bulgarian, or Albanian origin stillgo on.

10 , , (:, 2008). He writes: Vita et res praeclare gestae Christi Athletae Georgii Castrioti Epirotarumprincipis, qui propter heroicam virtutem suam a Turcis Scander beg, id est Alexander Magnuscognominatus est (libris XIII) Georgi Kastriots helmet, in the Viena Kunst Historische Museum,

has the following shortened inscription: Jezus Nazarenus * Principi Emathie * Regi Albaniae * TerroriOsmanorum * Regi Epirotarum * Benedictat Te (Jesus Nazarene Blesses Thee [Skanderbeg], Prince ofEmathia (old name for the western part of Macedonia), King of Albania, Terror of the Ottomans, King ofEpirus.

11 Popovski claims he has found new documents where George Castriot is writing (personally):My people in Albania are Macedonians, descendents of Alexander the Great Popovski, .

12 Gjin Varfi,Heraldika Shqiptare (Tirana, 2000).13 Vladimir R. Petkovich, Pregled crkvenih spomenika kroz povesnicu srpskog naroda [Overiev of

Church Monuments within the History of Serbia] (Beograd, 1950), 236, 990, fig. 712. It is accepted byGrozdanov in Ohridsko zidno, 157.

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Figure 3. Tumince, Albanija, once part of Ohrids Archbischopry, St. Alexandar


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Figure4.

KesarN

ovakandhiswifekala,

detailofthedress


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Figure 5. Ana Maria Liverina, Lesnovo, Holy Archangels


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Figure6.

St.De

metrius,Ohrid


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Figure 7. Holy Doors, Holy Virgin, v. Rankovce, Kumanovo, 17C


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sign in the shape of the Latin letter Y. The lower part has three dots (flowers?) andtwo small slanting red lines. They are inscribed in a frame that is not continuous, butshows regular half circular breaks, like many contemporary shields. The same shapeof the shields and very similar position of the soldiers is represented in the nearbychurch Holy Virgin Chelnica, but the shields are covered by the bodies of the soldiers.A shield with slanting band with no decoration in the fields is represented on a medal-lion (jubilee coin) from Kosovo, dated in the 15th century.14

On the same composition Holly women at Christs tomb, at another church,H. Archangels, Lesnovo (1341), the main offi cer is represented as a child (this mightbe related to the last crusade wars when children did head the armies) holdinga small flag and dressed differently, with western type of chain mail and a westerntype of heraldic shield . The shield is divided by three slanting white bands from leftto right downwards, while the rest of the surface is dark (black?). The framing bandis filled with multiplied V ornament. It resembles the shield on the coat of arms ofthe city of Bar, from the same 14 th century, and has additional rose in the middle.15The shields of the other six soldiers have central dark five-leaf rose. The white rose,the only four-leaf one, is popular with the feudal lords of Poland, Bohemia, Den-mark, etc.

At St. Nicholas, Prilep, 1298, soldiers presented within the same composition fromthe Holly women at Christ tomb, wear shields, one oval and two triangular shaped,decorated with motifs frequent in the western medieval heraldry, such as lozenges.

On the frontal side of the altar table of Holly Archangels in Lesnovo featuresa painted double-headed eagle.16 If it is to be dated contemporary by the fresco decora-

tion of the church, it can be dated in the mid of the 14th

century and, to the best of myknowledge, is a unique one made in fresco and placed in such a place.Feudal lords of lesser importance are represented in most of the churches in the

late 14th or 15th century, being partial or full investors of the whole fresco ensamble(like Vojvodka Vladislava from Holy Virgin at Kuceviste, near Skopje, the couplePaskac from St. Nicholas, Psacha, St. Nicholas Bolnichki, Ohrid: Helen of the Anguedynasty, etc.

There are also saints dressed as noblemen at St. Demetrius, Sushica, Skopje, 14th cen-tury, first zone, or as high-ranking warriors wearing heraldic shields-St. Pantelei-mon, Nerezi, Skopje, on the left side of the wall next to the entrance in the naos, datedin 1164. The saint warrior doctor has a dog on a white shield. This painting with thisheraldic emblem seems to be the oldest one within the Byzantine territory and needs

much more attention and elaboration. The monument, one of the most remarkable andworldly known by the quality of its paintings, was commissioned the Byzantine princeAlexius Komnen, a nephew of the Byzantine emperor Alexius Komnen.17 Only a few

14 Bojana Radojkovich,Nakit kod Srba [The Coat of Arms of Beograd] (Beograd, 1969), 162.15 Milosh Chirich, Grb grada Beograda (Heraldika 2) (Beograd, 1991), 22.16 Gabelic,Lesnovo, 64. This composition has been repainted some time later.17 Kosta Balabanov, Freske i Ikone u Makedoniji (Yugoslavija, Beograd, 1983), 55-59, and the cited

literature.

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years before, another nephew of the ruling Byzantine emperor, was the head of OhridArchbishopric John Komnen.18

Holly DoorsEach of the few preserved painted wooden carved Holy Doors from the late medieval

period bear the heraldic double-headed eagle symbol (St. Nicholas, Varo, Prilep, 15th--16th century, Holy Virgin, v. Cvek, and Holy Virgin, v. Rankovce, Kumanovo,17th century).

There are numerous objects of jewelry, mainly rings, buttons and belts, or objectsof the material culture (dishes, vessels, belts) that bear the coat of arms of the rulingSerbian dinasty, the double-headed eagle, and also emblems with a represenation ofthe wolf associated with Brankovich, or the lion, wolf, or grifin as well as dragon.

Seal-RingsDated in the 13th, 14 th and 15th century, part of the collections of the Museum in

Prilep, and the Belgrade Museum of Applied Arts.19 The ring dated in the 2/2 of the14th century from Prilep has a double-headed eagle on the main upper surface, whilethe neck is decorated with a shield divided into 4 horizontal fields, where the upperones are thin and straped, with an empy thin band in between.20 The ring from DemirKapia has a double-headed eagle, the one from tip contains opened crown;21 whilethe ring of a knight from Skopje or Prilep shows two letters, cyrilic U and [ combinedlike in the monograms of Tzar Milutin.22 The seal-ring from Vodocha, end of the late14th century, has heraldic image of striped shield with wolf above it and a knife.23

The Dragon is associated with some orders, such as the Order of the Knights of theDragon, founded in 1408 by Sigismund, the Hungarian King. A nobleman buried inthe Vodoca nekropolis wears such a ring, thus informing us that there were Macedo-nian medieval feudal lords associated with this Order where few were admitted.24 VukBrankovich, famous Serbian nobleman, was also a member of this Order. His coat ofarms has both the lion on the shield and the dragon as crest. Grgur Brankovich, on theother hand, even though from the same family as can be detected from the fresco ofthe paraclis of St. John, from St. Sophia, Ohrid) had the dog as his emblem, as hadSevastokrator Branko.25 Sevastokrator Brankos belt and seal are preserved and keptin the Museum of Applied arts in Belgrade.26 A ring ascribed to Radoslav Hlapen, the

18 Ibid.,59.19 Ivanishevich, Prstenie, 9-17, 36, sl. 7.20 Ibid..21 Blaga Aleksova, Prosek-Demir Kapija (Skopje, 1966), Table XIX, 211, Table XXII, 302.22 B. Moshin, Povelje kralja Milutina-diplomatichka analiza [The Novels of King Milutin. Diplomatic

Analyses],Istoriski Chasopis 18(1971): Table 53.23 Elica Maneva, Vodochka varijanta na kruzni naushnici od docniot 15 vek, MN 26, 3-28. The

insription around this ring has not been published.24 Maneva,Medieval Jewellery, ring no. 46.25 Grozdanov, Ohridsko zidno, 123, fig. 30.26 Ivanishevich, Razvoj heraldike u srednievekovnoj Srbiji [The Development of Heraldy in Medieval

Serbia],Zbornik Radova Vizantoloskoy Instituta XLI (2004): 213-234.



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lord of Edessa and Veria, also contains the wolf as crest over the shield. His daughter,Elena, married king Marko, the feudal lord whose seat was Skopje. The coat of armsof King Volkashin, his father, is to be found in the Fojnica armorial (1675), and wesee again a female figure of a queen with red mantle used as crest, while the shieldcontains red cross as central figure, where the white eagle is put over the middle ofthe cross, and the four empty spaces are filled with four green shaped ognila (a toolto produce sparkles to light fire).27 This crest can be seen applied on coins, rings, andtombs.28 This visual element has some analogies with some coat of arms published inthe Zurich armorial from 1340.

These heraldic coat of arms or elements and material objects bearing them are alsopainted within medieval fresco ansambles. Such archaeological findings mostly comefrom Skopje or Prilep since these cites have been seats of the medieval state. One ofthe most representative findings dug up over 50 years ago is the grave of a lady wear-ing earnings that have two medallions with the Paleologian coat of arms, doubloe-headed eagle, and the inscribed initials MP of Maria Paleologova, found in DemirKapia by the archaeologist Dr. Blaga Aleksova.29

The monogramsof ecclesiastical noblemen are also to be found, and the most repre-sentatiove one is the monogram of archbishop Gregorous, engraved on the ambo ofSt. Sophia in Ohrid, probably to be dated around 1313, like the exonartex built by thesame archbishop. Also the chivalry-rings that served as seals use this way of shortenedname-coat of arms. Holy Archangels Lesnovo liturgical objects and polilei, contain thedouble headed eagle and the monograms of the founders, Jovan (John) Oliver and AnaMaria Liverina.30 The lower part of the wall of the naos has also painted monograms of

Jovan Oliver and Liverina. Monograms of King Milutin, at St George, Staro Nagorichinohe reconstructed in 1313, are to be found painted over the capitals in the nave.31

Emperors pillows as a symbolic item of kingly regalia are the adequate place toput the coat of arm of the state (Byzantium, manuscript of John Kantakuzin,1351).Similar representation is shown in the fresco of Serbian King Milutin at St. Georges,Staro Nagorichino, Kumanovo.32

Seals as sign of power and authority of an offi ce and institution also bear heraldicelements and are to be associated both with secular and ecclesiastical bearers ofpower and institutions. The most important medieval seal found in Macedonia is theseal of the Byzantine Emperor Alexius Komnen (1088-1118), discovered in October2007 at the medieval fortress Kale, at Skopje.33 The seal of King Volkasin, from theDubrovnik Archives, 1370, contains a female figure crest, a specific feature of Mac-

edonian heraldry in the 14th century as a new type of crest in the shape of a queen.27 Ibid.28 Ibid., 217.29 Aleksova, Prosek-Demir Kapija.30 Gabelic,Lesnovo, drawing 12 and 3.31 Marica Shuput, O kapitelima i njihovom ukrasu u srpskim crkvama 14 veka, Saoptenja XXXIV

(2002): 145-154.32 Branislav Todich, Staro Nagorichino (Beograd, 1993).33 The material has not been published yet, except for the catalogue from the exhibition of the

excavations on the site Kale, Dragi Mitrevski, Kale, Catalogue, Skopje 2008.

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Figure 8. Kesar Duka, Old St. Clement, Ohrid


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Analoguous feature is included in some coats of arms in the Zurich Collection of coatof arms dated in 1340.34

Finally, I will mention late 17th century church seals that have been made for andused by the Monastery of St. Naum in Ohrid, where also a medieval western type ofsoldier is represented with a shield, sword and crest, kneeling on one knee in front ofSt. Naum. It is presented on the left side of the seal. The inside inscription that tellsus it is the man, in Turkish, might be related to some miracle performed by the saintand completely covers the image, once put inside the shield in the older versions ofthe seal presentation.35

The church iconostasis (1711) also has an interesting real or imaginary coat ofarms, discovered for the first time by the author of this article. It is painted under theGreat cross, between the two dragons/snakes that flank it. It is painted on a shield thatis made of wood, as the whole iconostasis, only its position is upside down, if weconsider the animals as shield supporters. What can be seen without further explora-tion, on the golden background there is some red vegetative motif. This coat of armsmight be the same once presented on the seals of the same monastery, later covered byTurkish words meaning here is the man. It is dated in the end of the 17th or the begin-ning of the 18th centuries as terminus ante quemnon because of the inscription thatmentions the patriarchate of Ohrid.36 Only one is kept in the Archive of Ohrid, whilethe others are exhibited in the Sinodal Museum of Sophia.37

There are maps and engravings, as well as some historical documents that reveal tous some details on mediaval flags used in Macedonia. On one of the 14th century Ital-ian map of Angelin Dulcerts map, 1339, the flag with a double-headed eagle is pre-

sented hoisted on Skopje fortress, when Skopje was the capital of the Serbian State.The flag of Georgi Kastriot-Skenderbeg contained the golden lion on red back-ground that was a new one since the Venetians and the Anjous insisted the old one tobe changed, containing 16-armed sun put on three coloured bands two red ones upand down and white in the middle.

Some of the coat of arms of noblemen that emigrated or originated from Macedo-nia can be traced or has been at least mentioned in some sources. One of them hadthe wolf as the main element, another one an eagle.38 For many of them we have to

34 Ivanishevich, Razvoj, 219.35 Petar Miljkovich Pepek, Eden vo naukata nepoznat pechat od manastirot Sv. Naum [An Unknown

Seal Unpublished Yet, from the Monastery of St. Naum], ZFFSK (1987): 161-170. He interprets thesoldier as a Roman or Turkish offi cer.

36 Pepek, Eden vo naukata, 162. He cites the previous misinterpretations of the soldier as Turkishbeg or even paralytic.

37 Cvetan Grozdanov, Portreti na svetitelite od Makedonija od 9-18 vek, Kulturno istoriskonasledstvo XX(1985): 205-206. He interprets wrongly the soldier as a farmer villager from the regionof western Macedonia, member of the Miak tribe. The crest over the helmet he has in his arms gives nopossibility for this.

38 Aleksandar Matkovski, Grbovite na Makedonija (Skopje, 1990), 181-183. Indigenati: Danch Macze-doniai mentioned in 1439 g., Ladislaus Maczedoniai 1525, bishop of Veliki Varazdin, Nikola Makedone-cot (Nicholas the Macedonian) from Hungary mentioned in 1526., Daniel von Zefarovich (1734-1806)(nephew of the famous painter Xristofer), who became Ritter von Edler in 1782. Here belongs also Kar-posh, a Macedonian king crowned in Kumanovo, his crown being sent to him by Emperor Leopold, are

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start the marathon to look after. Recently, a silver wolf rampant can be added to thisshort list, belonging to the Macedonian nobleman Makedon of Ematia, from the bookof John Fern The Glory of Generositie, printed in London 1586, today in the privatecollection of Derek Hauard from Brussels.39

There are funeral caskets that bear the coat of arms of the nobleman, as the one ofNikola Stanjevic from Konce, near Prilep. He was the founder of St. Steven in the vil-lage of Koncha (1346-1355), where this casket was found. The coat of arms presentedhas Byzantine-type helmet and crest.40 This is very rare example of the Byzantinearmour to be used in the western way as coat of arms.

These artefacts and works of art are precious documents and the echo of the heral-dic society and as such inspire us to make further researches to reveal now still anoni-mous medieval noblemen and the way they associated themselves with the territorythey lived on. The specific features in Macedonian medieval heraldry noticed so farprove the uniqueness of the region and its place in history as being a complex blend ofboth Western and the newly-born Byzantine heraldic traditions. Also the crusades andthe travels and political contacts brought along members of certain monastic or mili-tary orders, and together with intermariages, were a factor for bringing together theEast and the West. We can only have a foggy picture of the development of heraldryin Macedonia, but its inhabitants continued to use their heraldic symbols even afterleaving the country with the establishment of the Turkish goverment and claimed theirrights to their inheritance, as shown from the above mentioned historical evidence.Those who stayed used their coat of arms, or monograms, as heraldic tool on the jew-ellery further on. The archaeology continues to open new pages to give us an inside

view into the heraldic society of medieval Macedonia.primi acquierentis. Wolf Maczedoniai, was of Macedonian origin , zupan of Kraso and ban of Sherenji,and his heraldic eagle looked rather harmless.

39 Jovan Jonovski, Srebreniot volk na Ematija,Makedonski Herald 1 (2005): 1.40 Ivanishevich, Razvoj, 219.



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