162 SZLACHTA
'extended family' or zadruga, but even to the Brehon Laws of Ireland and the
Highland clans of Scotland.^7
The theory of clans found considerable support from the specific features of
Polish heraldry. In Poland, coats of arms were never provided for individual per-
sons as in England, or for individual families as in Germany, but only for much
wider groups of people who shared the same blazon, motto, and device. A Polish
nobleman did not possess a coat of arms of his own. The arms he carried were
identical to those carried by scores of others to whom he may or may not have
been related. This wspolnosc herbow or 'holding of arms in common' was
unique in Europe. What is more, the usage of the word rod (clan) to describe the
heraldic group, inevitably strengthened the mistaken impression that it was
originally based on kinship. The Polish nobleman added the name of his clan to
his family name. In addition to the adjectival surname ending in -ski or -cki, the
Polish nobleman would customarily write: 'of such and such a clan'. The stand-
ard form, which was generally adopted by all noble families between 1350 and
1450, read, for instance: 'Piotr Lubomirski, herbu Sreniawa', that is, 'Peter of
Lubomierz of the Sreniawa clan'; or 'Jan Zamoyski, herbu Jelita', that is, 'John
of Zamosc, of the Jelita clan'. The adjectival surname replaced an earlier prepo-
sitional form of surname equivalent to the German 'von' or the French 'de'.
Piotr Lubomirski's grandfather, who died in 1398, still called himself 'Michal z
Grabi', that is Michael from Grabie - preferring to base his name on his birth-
place rather than on his territorial property.
The names of the clans are marvellously obscure. Boncza (Boniface) was one
of the many formed from personal names Sreniawa, Rawa, Leliwa are place-
names. Amadej from Hungary, or Rogala from Saxony were foreign importa-
tions, as also, presumably, were the founders of Sas (from Saxon Transylvania)
and Prus (Prussian). Dab (Oak) and Poraj (Wild Rose) are plants; Aksak ('Fox'
in Tartar), Lewart (Lampart), Rak (Crab), Gryf (Dragon), Labedz (Swan),
Swinka (Boar), and Wezyk (SnaOke) are animals; Krzywda (Injustice), Prawda
(Truth), Niezgoda (Discord), Madrostki (Wisdom) are moral qualities; Oksza
(Axe) and Lodzia (Boat) are everyday objects. These categories could be
extended many times over. Why these names should have been used in the first
place is impossible to say, and many are the subject of unlikely legends. Jelita
(Bowel) is said to derive from the battlefield of Ptowce in 1331, where the Polish
King is said to have found one of his knights, Florian Szary, disembowelled by
three Teutonic spears. In recognition of his heroism, the Jelita clan was formed
with three spears as its device. Writing in the fifteenth century, Jan Dlugosz
listed a total of 139 clans; Bartosz Paprocki in 1584 listed 107; modern genealo-
gies mention several hundred.
The heraldic clan remains some thing of an enigma. Detailed studies have
failed to establish any consistent pattern of membership. The old theory of kin-
ship has been discredited, but not supplanted. Members of the same clan usually
fought side by side in battle, forming the basic units of the feudal host. One line
of enquiry, which stresses this aspect, is corroborated by clan names like