How Was Fabulous Genesis of the House Being Created? The Evolution of Legend of Topór Coat of Arms in the Works of Szymon Paprocki, Szymon Okolski and Kasper Nasiecki (16th–18th Centuries)

After years of existence of the Polish People’s Republic, when research on the ennoblement of the entire heraldic culture could not be said, at present the heraldry draws the attention of researchers again. In my research, I decided to focus on one dimension of the heraldic tradition built over the centuries, also touching on the sciences close to history. The aim of my reflections was the coat of arms legend, which was treated negligently for a long time, which is clearly seen in the poor literaturę discussing this phenomenon. So I decided to ask myself: How were the beginnings of the family in former centuries really created? I chose the most popular, three armorials created during the glory times of the heraldic culture as the basis of my research. So there is the legend of the coat of arms in the Gniazdo cnoty of Bartosz Paprocki, Orbis Poloni of Szymon Okolski and the Korona Polska of Kasper Niesiecki, At the workshop of my considerations, the Ax arm was invoked, which thanks to its seniority appears in the chosen by me armorials. The coat of arms legend appears on the pages of the sixteenth-century Paprocki’s coat of arms, telling the courageous Miller, who in a rather unique way reminded the legendary ruler of Lech The Fourth who strayed in the forest, and the adventure ends with giving the coat of arms to Miller. The creator of the armorial wants to emphasize the old age of the coat of arms, and thus the family. Okolski also does not forget about the character’s mark, although he points out that the beginnings are not known. The description in the armorial of Niesiecki looks completely different. On the one hand, the heraldry quickly accuses Paprocki of the inaccuracy of research, and on the other, it seems to emphasize the ancient origin of the Ax coat of arms. However, the story itself is changing, because the progenitor of the family is not a humble miller, and a knight who came to the Polish lands together with Lech The Fourth. As you can see in the examples, the coat of arms legend can bring a lot to the study of heraldic culture, but also the history of mentality at that time. It is evident in them that the trends appearing in successive epochs, the way of perceiving one’s origin, and the evolution of patterns praised in aristocratic circles.