Women’s Heraldry in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from the Late Fourteenth to the Eighteenth Century

Abstract

The heraldic practices of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania pertaining to the use of female coats of arms were distinguished by considerable diversity against the backdrop of the heraldic traditions of the neighbouring countries in Central Europe. From the late Middle Ages, female representatives of the Lithuanian-Ruthenian aristocracy used not only their fathers’ coats of arms but also those of their husbands, and inherited heraldic symbols through the female line from their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. Similar patterns persisted in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the early modern period, both among members of the titled aristocracy and among the untitled knighthood and semi-privileged classes, in particular among the bourgeoisie and the Tatars and Jews of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The most common practice during the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries was for daughters to use their fathers’ coats of arms. At the same time, there were quite a few examples of women inheriting coats of arms from their mothers, grandmothers, and great-grandmothers. There were also cases of women using their husbands’ coats of arms. However, examples of men using the coats of arms of their mothers and wives are quite exceptional in Lithuanian-Ruthenian heraldry.