Sas (coat of arms)

Sas (Saxon) coat of arms
Versions
Gules tincture variation (in Orbis Polonus 1641–43). Referred to as Sas II in Siebmacher's Armorial Book
Details
Adopted	ca. 13th century
Escutcheon	gold (Or) crescent with its horns pointed upwards; on each horn a gold (Or) star. In its center a gold (Or) or silver (Argent) arrow pointed upwards.

Sas or Szász (origin: Slavic for "Saxon", Polish: Sas, Hungarian: Szász, Romanian: Saş) is a Central European coat of arms. It was borne since the medieval period by several Transylvanian-Saxon Hungarian, Ruthenian, Ukrainian, and Polish-Lithuanian noble families. The house was once a mighty princely and ducal house with origins in Saxony, Transylvania, Hungary and Ruthenia.

Ancient Polish-Lithuanian historians like Szymon Okolski say that the origin of these arms is derived from Saxony, where during the mid-12th century King Géza II of Hungary invited Germanic peoples of Saxony to settle in, establish trading centres and defend relatively sparsely populated Transylvania in the Kingdom of Hungary, upon which the Transylvanian Saxons were later given a privileged status in the "Diploma Andreanum" (Golden Charter of Transylvanian Saxons) issued by King Andrew II of Hungary (see Transylvanian Saxons).

The origins of the dynastic House of Sas or Szász vary depending on the source. According to the chronicles of Albertus Strepa; the outstanding military leader Comes Huyd of Hungary (a Transylvanian-Saxon), entered Galicia in 1236 with his mighty army of allied mounted warrior knights to the service of Daniel of Galicia King of Ruthenia, and each was rewarded with lands in Red Ruthenia that Huyd and his allied noble knights settled, being referred to as the Sas/Szász (Saxon) due to their Transylvanian Saxon dialect and origin.