Polish Family Crests and Coats of Arms

Polish family crests are interesting in the fact that Polish heraldry follows a clan system similar to the Scottish system. In the Polish system of heraldry, a family crest does not belong to a single family.

A number of different families with different names are entitled to use the same coat of arms.

When looking at Polish family crests one becomes aware of the prediminance of red (gules) fields on the coats of arms. Among the earliest coats of arms in Poland, almost half use a red shield.

Some charges commonly found on Polish coats of arms or family crests ars horseshoes, arrows, stars, crescents, Maltese crosses and acythes.

The following web sites will show you the different Polish family crests and also what Polish families have the right to use them.

Clenodium

http://www.clenodium.eu/en/armorials/Polish-armorial.html 

There are 879 Polish family crests here. A must see.

DynasticGenealogy

http://genealog.home.pl/gd/szablony/herbarz.php?lang=pl
 
Enter Polish name into the search box and hit enter.
 A list of associated coats of arms will be displayed.
 Just click the appropriate one.

Polonium

Polish clan arms and families allowed to use them.

http://www.polonium.de/docs/ciekawostki/herby/win/index.html

Polskie Herby Szlachecki by Adam Kromer

http://akromer.republika.pl/herby_szlach.html

Nice illustrations of Polish clan arms.

Herby Szlachty Pomorskiej

http://herbypomorskie.lo2.slupsk.pl/

A collection of family crests of the Polish gentry or Szlachty. Thay are in black and white but make a nice reference for you.

Herbarz Polski
http://herbyszlachty.pl/herbarz/herby_alfa.php 

Use this alphabetical list to search for your Polish coat of arms.

Polish Wikipedia

A huge list of Polish coats of arms and the various families associated with them.

http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herb_szlachecki_%28lista_herb%C3%B3w%29

List of Polish nobility coats of arms

A great collection of Polish Family crests. The coats of arms are listed under their most popular name, which is followed by their alternate name in brackets. Also listed for each coat of arms are the families entitled to use the arms.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Polish_Coats_of_Arms