Mar e k Wa l c z a k : O n H e r a l d i c St y l i s a t i o n i n 14 t h C e n t u r y A r c h i t e c t u r a l S c u l p t u r e
Hungarian Chapel at Aachen Cathedral. The feet of two candlesticks and two reliquary ostensories bear coats of arms alternating with crested Angevin helmets. On the splendid clasps, an escutcheon is surmounted by helmets with the crests of the Angevins and of the Dobrzyń region which was part of the Polish Kingdom. Finally, on the frames of pictures, among escutcheons there appears not a crest but a whole ostrich with a horseshoe in its beak.58 The helmet with an ostrichhead crest, originally decorating one of the tomb walls, has been preserved among the relics of the tomb of Louis the Great in Székesfehérvár (about 1370–1380). However, considering the vestigial condition of the object, we cannot rule out a possibility that there was once a shield beneath the crest.59 As for architectural sculpture, we can point to one of the bosses in the churches at Szászebes and at Keszthely, and in the following century one of the bosses in the castle of Vajdahunyad.60 Early in the 15th century helmets with the crest of the Berzeviczy family appeared on bosses in the churches founded by members of that family at Veľká Lomnica in Spiš (Zips) and at Niedzica (today in Poland).61 In addition, we can point to the earlier-mentioned seals and coins of the dukes of Silesia as models for the Cracow bosses. This is a tempting thesis, especially if we accept the identification of the woman in a Kruseler as Hedvige, daughter of Henry V of Żagań. In Wrocław’s monumental sculpture, heraldic bosses of particular interest include those in the churches of St Mary Magdalene (the Lady Chapel ?) and of St Elizabeth (the chapels of the Dumlose and Domping families, and the so-called chapel of Otto of Nysa/Neisse), which are dated to the 1380s.62 Bohemia certainly stayed on the sidelines of the tradition discussed here; in that country a crest without a shield appeared rarely in the miniatures of manuscripts for Wenceslas IV, and especially in the great Bible, bearing his name (Vienna, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek, cod. 2759-2764). It is traditionally dated to the close of the century, though in recent years the beginning of the work on this exceptional manuscript has been linked with the turn of the 1370s and 1380s.63 In the title initial of The First Book of Samuel (vol. 2, fol. 33r.) Wenceslas is shown in throno, the winged helmet of the Luxemburgs above his head, supported by a pair of ‘savages’.64 In the text of The Book of Judges (vol. 2, fol. 1r.), the border of one of the pages contains a helmet with the same crest, flanked by kingfishers – the emblematic animals of Wenceslas IV. On another page (vol. 2, fol. 15 v.) the helmet is flanked by shields with the Bohemian lion and the eagle of the German Reich.65 In the Historia plantarum manuscript of ca 1395 (Rome, Biblioteca Casanatense, cod. 459) Wenceslas is depicted seated on the throne and surrounded by the Electors of the Reich, with the personifications of virtues around them. The whole composition is closed at the top by two crowned and winged helmets of the Luxemburgs, turned towards the centre.66
All the same, we cannot rule out a different direction of influence. As we have already seen, a crested helmet played an essential role in the armorial bearing of Ladislas the Short as early as the first quarter of the 14th century. In addition, it appeared regularly in the buildings connected with Casimir the Great. It suffices to recall the decoration of the churches at Stopnica and Wiślica, and particularly the remarkable antependium of the high altar of the former.67 [ill. 10] It is im58
ŚNIEŻYŃSKA-STOLOTOWA, Ewa: Andegaweńskie dary złotnicze z herbami polskimi w kaplicy Węgierskiej w Akwizgranie. In: Folia Historiae Artium, 11, 1975, pp. 21-36; MAROSI (ed.) 1987 (op. cit. note 5), ill. 768-771, 790, 792-793; GRIMME, Ernst Günter: Der Aachener Domschatz. In: Aachener Kunstblätter, 42, 1972, cat. 76, 77, 79, 81, 82-84, ill. 91, 92, 95-98; Idem: Der Dom zu Aachen. Architektur und Ausstattung. Aachen 1994, pp. 236-238, ill. 92-94. 59 ŚNIEŻYŃSKA-STOLOTOWA, Ewa: Uwagi na temat ikonografii nagrobka Ludwika Wielkiego z bazyliki w Székesfehérvár. In: Biuletyn Historii Sztuki, 30, 1968, pp. 45-51; MAROSI (ed.) 1987 (op. cit. note 5), ill. 635; VARGA, Lívia – LŐVEI, Pál: Funerary Art in Medieval Hungary. In: Acta Historiae Artium Academiae Scientiarum Hungaricae, 35, 1990–1992, fasc. 3-4, pp. 132-134. In addition to the above-mentioned examples, cf. also: MAROSI (ed.) 1987 (op. cit. note 5), ill. 327/1, 860. 60 ENTZ, Géza: Erdély építészete a 14–16. Században. Kolozsvár 1996, ill. 54; MAROSI (ed.) 1987 (op. cit. note 5), ill. 458, 1651; GÜNDISCH, Gustav – KRASSER, Harald – STREITFELD, Theobald: Dominium, Kirche und Burg von Weingartskirchen. In: Studien zur Siebenbürgischen Kunstgeschichte. Köln 1976, p. 163, ill. 65 (Siebenbürgisches Archiv, Bd. 13). 61 ŽÁRY, Juraj: Dvojloďové kostoly na Spiši. Bratislava 1986, pp. 6162, cat. 6, ill. 67; MAJEWSKI, Alfred: Zamek w Niedzicy. Kraków 1987, ill. 3; WALCZAK, Marek: Zwornik z dekoracja heraldyczna w kościółe św. Bartłomieja Apostoła w Niedzicy - drobny przyczynek do monografii budowli. In: Kościół św. Bartłomieja Apostoła w Niedzicy. Ed. Zdzisław KLIŚ. Kraków 2006, pp. 8196. 62 KACZMAREK, Romuald: Rzeźba architektoniczna XIV wieku we Wrocławiu. Wrocław 1999, p. 51, cat. K, chapels, h, no. 2; cat. L, chapels, a, no. 3; c, no. 1; f, no. 2; pp. 173, 192-194, ill. 255, 294, 296, 299 (Acta Universitatis Vratislaviensis, no 2015, Historia Sztuki, XII). 63 HLAVÁČKOVÁ, Hana: The Bible of Wenceslas IV in the Context of Court Culture. In: The Regal Image of Richard II and the Wilton Diptych. Eds. Dillian GORDON – Lisa MONNAS – Caroline ELAM. London 1997, pp. 223-231; Eadem: Kdy vznikla Bible Václava IV.? In: Ars Longa. Sborník k nedožitým sedmdesátinám Josefa Krásy. Eds. Beket BUKOVINSKÁ – Lubomír KONEČNÝ. Praha 2003, pp. 65-80. 64 KRÁSA, Josef: Rukopisy Václava IV. Praha 1974, p. 14, ill. 8, col. pl. 5. 65 Ibidem, pp. 151-152, ill. 118, 120. 66 Ibidem, ill. 4. 67 GADOMSKI, Jerzy: Funkcja kościołów fundacji Kazimierza Wielkiego w świetle heraldycznej rzeźby architektonicznej. In: Funkcja dzieła sztuki. Materiały Sesji Stowarzyszenia Historyków Sztuki, Szczecin, listopad 1970. Warszawa 1972, pp. 103-117; SKUBISZEWSKI, Piotr: Die Kunst in den Ländern in der polnischen Krone während der zweiten Hälfte des 14. Jahrhunderts. In: Die Parler und der Schöne Stil 1350–1400. Europäische Kunst unter den Luxemburgern. Resultatband zur Ausstellung des Schnütgen-Museums in der Kunsthalle Köln.
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