or and argent; Gurowscy as argent and azure with an escutcheon. Malecki (Studya Heraldyczne, 1890, vol. i, p. 141, No. 156) gives the same coat of gold and silver for Wczele. Other post-mediaeval variants of the coat are given in Count Uruski's Notices sur les Familles illustres et titrées de la Pologne, Paris, 1862, p. 72, as chequey of or and azure and or and sable, in which latter connection the reader is reminded of the fact that one of the membrets of the spur under consideration is gilt, and enamelled black in place of white.
It may be urged that these spurs are too elaborate for a simple Polish knight, but we must bear in mind that during the XIVth and early XVth centuries Marienburg in Eastern Prussia, the headquarters of the Teutonic Order, was the artistic centre of North-eastern Europe, and there would be nothing surprising in the presence of a Polish noble in the ranks of that illustrious Order, armed and equipped with a richness befitting his rank and the cause in which he served. Henry of Bolingbroke, afterwards Henry IV, served in this Order, after his exile from England. There is a mention in the accounts of the expenses of the Order for the years 1402-1404, of a Bertolt von Wczeleyn in Sattler's Handelsrechnungen des Deutschen Ordens, Leipzig, 1887.
There is in the collection of Mr. S. J. Whawell a sword which the author had intended to illustrate and describe in this book. The sword (Fig. 1014A) is one of extraordinary beauty and romantic feeling. The hilt is of gilt copper, chased with conventional scrolls and Gothic lettering on a matted ground. On one face of the guard the inscription runs: PUNGE PER MIVM (?), and on the other face MEDIO REGE. On the upper band of the grip is the lettering COLLIGE: on the lower band, SVM: VE: REGE. On one side of the circular pommel is a shield of arms in champlevé enamel, chequey or and azure, and the ground upon which the shield is borne in the pommel is gules; on the other side is a hollow to receive a relic. The blade is 33-1/2 inches long and double edged. It is inscribed and bears an armourer's mark, a shield surmounted by a crown. The hilt appears to be of French origin, and dates from about 1340.
The heraldic bearing on the pommel would therefore point to this sword having belonged to a great knight of the House of Dreux, probably John de Dreux, a family especially interesting to Englishmen, through the marriage of Aylmer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke, with Beatrice, granddaughter of Robert de Dreux. We are unable to offer any explanation of the mottoes.[1]
- ↑ The Editor is indebted to Mr. Charles Beard for the information contained in this note, who has also referred him to: K. Niesiecki, Korona Polska, 1728-43; J. S. Dunin Borkowski, Rocznik Szlachty Polskiej, 1881; W. W. Wieladek, Heraldyka azlachty Polskiej, 1794-96; Adels-Matrikel: Polen; Adolf Krosnowski-Tabasz, Almanach historique, 1846; Hans Maercker, Ges. des Schevetser Kreises, 1880-88; Feodor von Zychlinski, Zlota Ksiega Sylachty Polskiej, 1879.
