Heraldic clan

A heraldic clan (ród herbowy), in Poland, comprised all the noble (szlachta) bearers of the same coat-of-arms. The members of a heraldic clan were not necessarily linked by consanguinity. The concept of heraldic clan was unique to Polish heraldry.

The Polish word "herb" derives from the German "Erbe", "inheritance" or "heritage", and denotes a coat of arms or family crest. Unrelated families could be inducted into the same crest and thus become co-armorials sharing the same "herb". Bearers of the same coat-of-arms were variously called "herbowni", "współherbowni" (co-armorials), or "klejnotni", from "klejnot", "jewel". The numbers of such individual families often reached several dozen; several hundred were not uncommon.

The heraldic-family tradition constitutes one of the hypotheses about the origins of the Polish nobility: the unique feature of Polish heraldry being the practice of inducting unrelated families into the same coat-of-arms, sometimes with minor variations of tincture. In time, all those families were integrated into the Polish nobility, the szlachta. The number of families within a particular "heraldic family" varied over time and could be affected by heraldic adoption. Entire noble classes from other nations, for example from Lithuania, were incorporated by adoption—granted an indygenat—into the Polish nobility and its heraldic system. Removal from the heraldic system was also possible, by vituperatio nobilitatis, a legal procedure for revocation of nobility.

Polish nobility, the szlachta, originated in the Middle Ages from chivalric heraldic clans which provided military support or resources to king, duke, or overlord. Over the centuries, membership in the nobility was extended to those who served their localities or towns as deputies or senators at sejmiks or sejms or as judges and other civic officials. Members of the nobility could be further rewarded with honorary functions at the royal court.

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