Łodzia Coat of Arms
Łodzia - is a
Polish Coat of Arms. It was used by several
szlachta families in the times of the
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. One of its versions is used as the
Coat of Arms of the city of
Łódź.
Łodzia is one of the oldest Polish Coats of Arms. The earliest example of its usage is on a stamp of Wojciech of Krośno, the
voivod of Kalisz, from
1303. The first
blazon description dates back to
1411.
The first Coat of Arms of the Łodzia clan had a golden M letter on the shield and a symbol of a boat in the crest. That version was used for instance by Mikołaj of Łodzia in 1301. However, by 1315 all of the clan adopted the version of Wojciech of Krośno. Initially the Coat of Arms had a checkerboard background, which was replaced with plain red by
1382.
Until
16th century various shapes of the boat depicted were used. Since the publication of
Bartosz Paprocki's
Herby rycerstwa polskiego in
1584, most authors adopted the present version. Paprocki was also the first to mention the
crest as composed of
peacock feathers with the symbol superimposed on them.
The Łodzia Coat of Arms was used by more than 150 families, mostly in areas of
Kalisz,
Poznań and
Sieradz. After the
Union of Horodło several Lithuanian families also adopted it.
Gules, a rudderless and mastless boat Or.
Notable bearers of this Coat of Arms include:
*
Stefan Czarniecki*
Andrzej Opaliński*
Lukasz Opaliński*Zygmunt
Kurnatowski*
Polish heraldry*
Heraldry*
Coat of Arms
