The culmination of city coats of arms in Western European tradition dates back to the 15th century. In Russia, we can only talk about city coats of arms as symbols of self-government since the 18th century. According to well-known experts in the field of heraldry, in Rus' in the pre-Mongol period there were emblems - the “progenitors” of city coats of arms.
The term “city coat of arms” first appeared in a royal decree of 1692 in connection with the coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl.
coat of arms of the city of Yaroslavl from the Great State Book - “Titular Book” of 1672:
The coat of arms depicted a bear with a protazan. It is believed that this image is associated with the ancient cult of the bear, characteristic of the Upper Volga region back in IX-X centuries. Perhaps the image corresponds to the legend about the founding of Yaroslavl on the site where Yaroslav the Wise killed a bear with an axe.
It has already been mentioned that the appearance of Russian city coats of arms dates back to specific period and their origin is associated with signs of property and princely dignity of the owners of the appanages. A typical diagram illustrating this situation is as follows:
Sign of the prince's property ---- Sign of the land ---- Sign of the main city of this land ---- Signs of princely families from this land.
Coat of arms of the city of Vladimir.
This ancient city coat of arms not only of Rus', but also of Europe arose in the 12th century.
In the 12th century, during the pre-Mongol period, the city of Vladimir became the first unifying center specific Rus'- the capital of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes. The inevitability of the appearance of the capital's coat of arms is due to the rise of this city. Grand Dukes of Vladimir Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod Yurievich Big Nest needed a symbol larger than the personal heraldic sign of the Rurikovichs of the previous (Kyiv) period - a trident and a bident. The new symbol was the lion. According to a number of researchers, the lion was the emblem of Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky.
A lion - personified power, courage, strength, mercy, generosity.
In Christian symbolism, the lion is a symbol of the Evangelist Luke and, according to biblical tradition, the tribe of Judah; a symbol of the royal, God-given power of the great princes; symbol of defeated evil; a symbol of a claim to royal power and a symbol of evidence of royal power.
This symbolism coincided both with the policy pursued by the Grand Dukes of Vladimir, which had a clear ideological design, and with their self-esteem.
Ancient coat of arms the city of Vladimir, the description of which is given in the Titular Book of 1672, represented a lion walking on its hind legs in profile, on its head - ancient crown, in the front paws there is a long 4-pointed cross. From the point of view of the rules of heraldry, the ancient Vladimir lion had an incorrect heraldic pose, since it did not “attack” the enemy, but “ran away” from him. This heraldic inaccuracy was eliminated in the 18th century.
The lion on the coat of arms of the city of Vladimir was not a single symbol. His cultural surroundings were the white stone carvings of the 12th-13th century cathedrals of Vladimir, Suzdal, and Yuryev Polsky.
Currently, some specialists in the field of heraldry give the Vladimir coat of arms the status of the first state emblem in the history of the fatherland.
Coat of arms of the city of Vladimir from the Great State Book - “Titular Book” of 1672:
Coat of arms of the city of Moscow.
All versions of the history of the coat of arms of the city of Moscow indicate a long period of its formation.
Originally it was an image of a white horse on a scarlet field. The horse will remain a permanent figure in the Moscow coat of arms.
Horse- a cult creature with many sacred functions, which include: the courage of a lion, the vigilance of an eagle, the speed of a deer, the agility of a fox. The horse is sensitive, loyal, noble.
It is known that the Moscow ideological tradition placed this city as the successor of Kyiv through Vladimir. Then the lion of Vladimir would be logical for the emblem of Moscow. He may have been the main figure or somehow featured on the coat of arms. Experts in the field of heraldry explain the absence of a lion for two reasons. Firstly, the Moscow princes under the Mongol-Tatar yoke were more modest than the pre-Mongol Andrei Bogolyubsky and Vsevolod Yuryevich the Big Nest. Secondly, Vladimir with the lion symbol still ended up under the Tatars, with whom Moscow and late XIV centuries learned to wage a successful fight.
Then in the coat of arms of the city of Moscow appeared rider on horseback. The rider saddled and subjugated to his will not just an animal, but a cult creature - a horse. Hence the status of the rider is very high. After the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380, the rider was personified with St. George on horseback, slaying the serpent. Later - with an equestrian warrior with a sword, then - with a horseman with a spear (rider), then - with an equestrian warrior striking a winged serpent or dragon with a spear, as a symbol of independence from the Tatars. At the same time, “portrait” princely features gradually began to appear in the silhouette of the equestrian warrior. During the reign of Prince Vasily II the Dark (1425-1462), who had the title “Sovereign of All Rus',” the horseman turns into a prince. Under Ivan III (1462-1505), a rider in armor, in a flowing cloak, stabs a snake stretched out under the hooves of his horse with a spear. This is already the coat of arms of the Moscow sovereigns, the sovereigns of all Rus'. It is very close to the state one. Heraldry experts believe that the Moscow princes were looking for a more state symbol than a dynastic one. During the reign of Ivan III, after his marriage to Sophia Palaeologus in 1472, a second, in addition to the horseman, image of a crowned double-headed eagle appeared on the state double-sided seal in 1497. Ivan III already had the title " By God's grace ruler of All Rus', Grand Duke. And the Grand Duke of Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Ugric, Vyatka, Perm, Bulgaria.” So the Moscow coat of arms came even closer to the state one. IN XVI-XVII centuries there was a clear interpretation of the horseman as a grand duke, king or heir.
What does Neptune do on the coat of arms of Veliky Ustyug? How did Peacock end up on the Serpukhov emblem? “Russia is a mystery, wrapped or shrouded in mysticism, inside a puzzle.” When you look at our coats of arms, you realize that Churchill was right.
Neptune in the Russian North
The state symbols of Russia have a complex, tangled past. We still don’t know where the double-headed eagle came from, why it was St. George the Victorious who was chosen as the “heraldic patron”, and not St. Andrew the First-Called or St. Nicholas the Pleasant, whose veneration in Rus' was much wider. But the genealogy of the coats of arms of Russian cities is even more confusing, the logic of the symbolism of which is sometimes simply impossible to comprehend.
From the point of view of heraldic science, the coat of arms is intended to represent main idea symbolized, its formula, its DNA. But when you look, say, at the emblem of Veliky Ustyug (Neptune holds two jugs with pouring water in his hands), you are unlikely to be able to decipher the heraldic code of this plot. The city officially received a coat of arms with a Roman sea deity in 1780. In fact, Neptune migrated from the “Znamenny Armorial” by Count Minich, published in 1730 and was intended, according to the thoughts of its creators, to symbolize beneficial geographical position Veliky Ustyug. It is interesting that the image was supported by a legend: supposedly a certain Aquarius-hero descended to Earth to drain the waters of two rivers, the South and Sukhona, into one - the Northern Dvina. There is a high probability that this legend was created in the same 18th century in order to somehow explain the phenomenon of Neptune in the Russian North.
Bestiary of Ivan the Terrible
In Russia city heraldry came quite late - under Peter I. Before that, the role of coats of arms was played by seals decorated with emblems. In the 1570s, the seal of John IV appeared, on which you can see 24 emblems - 12 on each side - of the principalities, lands, cities that make up Moscow kingdom. I wonder what the lion's share symbols consists of images of animals, birds, fish. The other part is weapons: bows, swords, sabers. Scientists claim that most of the emblems did not contain any identification code of the places or lands that they symbolized, but were a figment of the imagination of court isographers. They were guided not so much by the “genius loci” as by the Psalter and the Physiologist, then popular in Rus'. Thus Nizhny Novgorod began to symbolize a deer, Pskov - a leopard (or lynx), Kazan - a basilisk (dragon), Tver - a bear, Rostov - a bird, Yaroslavl - fish, Astrakhan - a dog, Vyatka lands - an onion, etc.
Hardly anyone thought seriously about the deep symbolism of cities back then. The main symbolic load on the seals of John IV was carried by the double-headed eagle with St. George located in the center on one side, and the Unicorn (the personal emblem of Grozny) on the other. The entire circle, the periphery, played the role of a sort of extras on the sovereign’s seal, whose task was not so much to correctly identify the place as to show the power of the king.
By a tragic coincidence, the Grozny press became a kind of program for the future - Moscow is everything, the periphery is nothing.
This does not mean at all that the territories represented on the seal did not have their own generic, authentic symbols. There were, and some of these symbols were centuries old. However, in John’s coordinate system they, of course, could not find their place. Thus, Grozny personally came up with the seal of Veliky Novgorod, which formed the basis of his future “bear” coat of arms, ignoring the existence for centuries of authentic Novgorod symbols on seals (Savior Almighty, St. Andrew the First-Called, horseman, lion). main reason was that local authenticity contradicted the policy of centralization of the Muscovite kingdom.
The first Russian brand book
A century later, in 1672, the “Big State Book”, or “Tsar’s Titular Book”, was born, which revealed a new heraldic version of the Russian lands. In the book we already see 33 coats of arms. The emblems of some lands that were present on the seal of Grozny have radically evolved.
Thus, Rostov the Great exchanged a bird for a deer, Yaroslavl - a fish for a bear armed with an ax, and Ryazan exchanged a horse for a foot prince. However, it is unlikely that these changes were preceded by any serious elaboration of the topic: most likely, the rebranding was based on all the free creativity of the isographers, and not on the original symbols of these lands. At the same time, the “Titular Book” formed the basis for future heraldic experiments, which finally led to the loss of the primary symbolic codes of the ancient Russian territories.
“We want a peacock!”
Peter I decided to systematize the Russian brand book and introduce real coats of arms, created according to all the rules of European heraldry. Interestingly, the decision was based on army objectives. To facilitate food supplies, the army had to be stationed in the cities and provinces of Russia. The regiments received the names of cities and localities of registration, and the coats of arms of these territories were to be placed on the regimental banners.
In 1722, the tsar established a special heraldry office, which was entrusted with the creation of coats of arms, including city ones. Count Francis Santi was invited to play the role of creative director. The Italian set to work with frantic enthusiasm: firstly, he “brought to mind” the emblems from Alexei Mikhailovich’s “Titular Book”, and, secondly, he created several dozen coats of arms for Russian cities “from scratch”. Before the creative process began, Santi sent questionnaires to local city officials asking them to talk about key features their cities. It should be noted that local offices treated “ technical specifications» Italian without the proper enthusiasm: the officials’ answers were very local and meaningless. True, there were also cities that took the task seriously. For example, Serpukhov officials reported that their city is famous for peacocks that live in one of the local monasteries. Soon the overseas bird took its place of honor on the city’s coat of arms.
Despite all the inertia of the city offices, Santi still managed to draw a register of 97 coats of arms (another question is how authentic were these symbols?). He probably could have done more, but already in 1727, Catherine I, who ruled after the death of Peter, sent the count to Siberia with charges of conspiracy.
Heraldic fever
The next heraldic boom in Russia occurred during the reign of Catherine II. This was due to the reform local government 1775. Over the course of a decade, several hundred coats of arms of Russian cities were created. Many of them, if not most, were of an absolutely far-fetched nature, being the fruit of the tastes of provincial city officials and the heralds’ poor knowledge of the history of cities. Thus, the coats of arms of the cities of Velikiye Luki (three bows), Sumy (three bags), etc. were born.
This moment marks the birth of many “heraldic” myths: local officials are involved in creative process and begin to compose legends about the origin of coats of arms. For example, the dignitaries of Kolomna told the story that their city was built in 1147 by a representative of the ancient patrician Roman family of Colonna, which is why the city is called that, and its coat of arms depicts a pillar.
But the people of Yaroslavl went the furthest, who claimed that the coat of arms in the form of a bear with an ax was invented by the greatest prince Yaroslav: “for the reason that, while marching to Rostov along the strait from Kotorosl to the Volga, he found a bear, and on it with the help of people killed his retinue."
In the 19th century, the authorities tried to somehow systematize the heraldic fever, since - in a fit of creativity - some cities ended up with several approved coats of arms. I had to give up the excess.
After the revolution, Russian city heraldry experienced a new boom in heraldry, but the “territorial stamps” created by Soviet artists were only suitable for signifying the circles of hell rather than for cities inhabited by living people.
After the collapse of the USSR, a heraldic renaissance began, which was expressed in the massive return of cities to “Catherine branding.”
What we have?
Several centuries of experiments in the heraldry of Russian cities ended in nothing. Thus, ancient Russian cities with centuries-old traditions, with light hand central government acquired empty, meaningless symbols and plunged into depression. The coat of arms, designed to unite citizens into a single community and reflect the essence and character of the city, remained in dreams.
It must be admitted that all the centuries-old work in the field of heraldry of Russian cities was done on the knees. All the true symbols of the ancient Russian lands were ignored even when the seal of John IV was created. And in the Tsar’s Titular Book, Moscow’s far-fetched coat of arms, when the capital’s clerks came up with beautiful emblems for the “rest of the world,” was introduced into the system. The Moscow elite’s passion for the “latest Western trends” played a fatal role.
Thus, the “Titular Book” was created by order of the head of the Ambassadorial Prikaz by the boyar Artamon Matveev, who, as is known, was one of the first Westernizers in Russian history. It is important to know that the book was created not as an official armorial, but as a souvenir publication that was shown to distinguished overseas guests. They say, look, we are no worse than you, we are also advanced, in trend. The trouble is that subsequent coat of arms creators began to use this souvenir as the main source on Russian heraldry, which it was not for a second, just like the seal of John IV.
Under subsequent sovereigns, the situation only worsened, the signs moved further and further from the signified, the original symbols lost all hope of being discovered by the court heralds. The real fate was that key roles Foreigners played a role in the creation of Russian coats of arms.
The symbol of the city plays extremely important role in establishing a strong connection between the city and the citizen. The city emblem is the connecting component between the personality of a resident and the city community, and the stronger and more meaningful the symbol, the stronger the person’s connection with the city.
Gilded bronze buckle with expressive relief princely coat of arms recently took its place in the heraldic collection of the Sheremetyev Museum among other exotic rarities. Classic proportions cast oval - 120x80 mm. - testify to the refinement of the customer’s taste and the skill of the performer. The thing is made well, not centuries old. And she was called upon to express, with all obviousness, extremely high status bearers of a magnificent coat of arms under the princely mantle and crown.
Whose coat of arms is this?
Among the princely coats of arms Russian Empire you won't find anything like it. Multipart coat of arms, composed of large quantity emblems and symbols on the shield are a European, more specifically a Germanic sign. Small principalities and their self-important sovereigns often acquired very intricate family and land coats of arms of their own.
Here, for example, is what the coats of arms of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach look like.
Armorial Austro-Hungarian Empire helps to determine that our buckle depicts the family coat of arms of one of the richest families in Austria of German origin, who at one time owned almost the entire Southern Bohemia and played a significant role in the history of Europe.
This is the coat of arms of the SCHWARZENBERG family.
The first documented mention of the ancestors of the Schwarzenberg family dates back to 1172. True, then the surname of the future princes was Seinsheim (under this name they acted in the European arena until the 15th century). From the 13th century, representatives of the family began to actively participate in European history. Gradually, the family, originating from Bavarian Scheinsfeld, expanded its holdings in Austria, the Czech Republic and Switzerland.
Erkinger from the Seinsheim family (1362-1437) took possession of the Schwarzenberg estate (translated from German as Black Mountain) and began to call himself Seinsheim from Schwarzenberg. Time has erased the first part of the name. In 1420-21, this owner of the Black Mountain took part in a military campaign against the Hussites. From Emperor Sigismund he received the cities of Žatec, Kadan and Beroun for his service. In 1429, Erkinger Seinsheim became a “free master from Schwarzenberg”, in other words, received a barony. The first Baron Schwarzenberg was married twice and had 14 children. All living Schwarzenbergs descend from him.
The family coat of arms then served as a simple knight's shield with white and silver stripes.
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Coat of arms of the Seinsheim family
This ancient heraldic element is still preserved on all the coats of arms of the family in the upper right part of the shield.
In 1599, his descendant Adolf Schwarzenberg received the title of Imperial Count for the victory over the Turks in the battle of Rab (today's Hungarian city of Gyor); he also acquired the right to add to the family coat of arms a field with the head of a dead Turk whose eyes were pecked out by a raven. Those were the times of active armorial creativity: a purely Schwarzenberg symbol had already appeared on the family sign: half a shield with a tower on a black mountain and three golden sheaves.
A year later, in 1600, the first Count of Schwarzenberg died during the siege of Budin. The Landsknechts, who suffered from lack of food and money, decided to surrender to the Turks. Adolf resisted and was killed. Emperor Rudolf II organized a magnificent funeral for Adolf Schwarzenberg in Vienna.
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The count's title was inherited by Adam Schwarzenberg (1583-1641), son of Adolf. He was 17 years old at the time. In 1613, Adam Schwarzenberg married Margarethe von Pallant, who died two years later while giving birth to the Count's second son, Johann Adolf. The Count did not remarry, but instead joined the knightly monastic order of St. John (Order of Malta) and in 1625 became its Grand Master.
Adam Schwarzenberg did political career first at the court of the Duke of Cleves, and after the death of the duke - as an adviser at the court of Georg Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, and even ruled Brandenburg as a stadtholder in 1638-1640 in the absence of Georg Wilhelm. The Catholic Schwarzenberg defended the imperial interests of the Austrian Habsburg monarchy in Lutheran Brandenburg, for which he was repeatedly accused by political opponents, in particular the Calvinist von Götzen.
Adam Schwarzenberg
Adolf's grandson, Jan Adolf (1615-83), was famous diplomat, who served in Vienna and Holland. Jan Adolf Schwarzenberg was very educated and knew several languages; he managed to collect rich collections of works of art, which became the basis of the family's wealth. The first permanent possession of the family in the Czech Republic was the Třebon estate (1660); then came Křivoklát and Krušovice, and in 1661 Hluboka nad Vltavou. Jan Adolf was a good businessman, he modernized his estates, introduced the cultivation of new crops and supported the development of crafts. He also worked to solve social problems and founded shelters for the poor.
In 1670, Count Jan Adolf Schwarzenberg became an imperial prince. He was married to Maria Justine von Starhemberg and had seven children with her.
Daughter of Jan Adolf Maria Ernestina
married Johann Christian Eggenberg, the owner of Cesky Krumlov: this is how the Schwarzenbergs became related to the Eggenbergs, which allowed them to subsequently claim the inheritance of the extinct family.
Johann Adolf Schwarzenberg
In 1688, the Schwarzenberg coat of arms looked like this:
The silver and blue stripes in the upper right quarter of the coat of arms come from the long-standing coat of arms of Erkinger of Seinsheim, from whom the Schwarzenbergs descend. In the lower left part of the coat of arms, a raven pecks out the eye of a Turk in memory of the victories of Adolf Schwarzenberg. The three red points in the upper left part of the coat of arms symbolize the dominion (patrimony) of Schulz, received as a dowry as a result of the marriage of Ferdinand, 2nd Prince of Schwarzenberg, to Maria Anna von Schultz. And finally, in the lower right part of the coat of arms there is a burning branch, symbolizing the Brandys dominion. In the center of the coat of arms are small images of two more dominions: on the right is Schwarzenberg Castle ( White Tower on the black mountain), on the left is the city of Cleggau (three golden sheaves). The princely crown above the coat of arms symbolizes the princely title of the Schwarzenbergs.
By buying up estates and concentrating the inheritance of the Eggenberg relatives in their hands, in the first quarter of the 18th century the Schwarzenbergs created a vast empire of their own in southern Bohemia (including Cesky Krumlov, Hluboká nad Vltavou, Netolice, Prachatice, Volary, Vimperk, Orlik, Zvikov, etc. .), annexing it to the land holdings in Bavaria, Austria and Styria. In 1723, the Schwarzenbergs also acquired the title of Dukes of Krumlov.
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Map of the Schwarzenberg possessions drawn up in 1710.
A significant event took place during the reign of Adam Frantisek (Franz) Schwarzenberg (1680-1732), grandson of Jan Adolf Schwarzenberg, married to Eleanor Lobkowitz. The couple were avid hunters, Hluboka nad Vltavou was great place for hunting pleasures. Adam Frantisek cared about the prosperity of his hunting grounds, harshly persecuted poachers, issued various regulations on forestry management, which made it possible to significantly increase the number of deer in the Gluboka region.
In the fifty-second year of his life, Prince Adam František died in a hunting accident - he was shot by Emperor Charles VI. The commission to investigate the incident found that the accident occurred due to the fact that the hunters mistakenly positioned themselves opposite each other, and when the deer ran into the meadow, the emperor fired a shot, missed, and the bullet hit the prince in the right kidney. The hunt was immediately stopped, the prince was transferred to the nearby Brandys castle, and the imperial surgeon Antonin Heusinger took care of the wounded, but the wound turned out to be fatal, and 12 hours after the incident the prince died.
Adam Frantisek Schwarzenberg
Eleonora Schwarzenberg with her son Josef Adam
ten-year-old Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece Joseph I Adam Schwarzenberg
After Charles VI mistakenly mortally wounded Prince Adam Francis of Schwarzenberg during a hunt in 1732, he honored his ten-year-old son Joseph I Adam (1722 - 1782) with the most high reward Habsburgs. Worried deep feeling Guilty, the emperor sent the orphaned prince the Order of the Golden Fleece. The awarding of the Golden Fleece to a child of this age and aristocratic rank was something out of the ordinary at that time. All these events in Krumlov Castle are reminded by the portrait of the minor Prince Joseph, performing an interesting symbolic gesture. The awarded princely son with the Order of the Golden Fleece and in the vestments of the order points with his hand to the pyramidal tombstone located in the background, which symbolically makes it clear to the viewer that this enormous honor should atone for the grief of his late father
This boy from the picture later became the fourth Prince of Schwarzenberg and was married to Maria Theresa von Liechtenstein, thereby strengthening the Schwarzenberg ties with the Liechtenstein family. Prince Joseph Adam Schwarzenberg served as Privy Councilor and Court Marshal, and then as chief steward of the court of Empress Maria Theresa and her heir, Emperor Joseph II.
Like many Schwarzenbergs before him, Prince Joseph Adam took care of his servants and employees: in 1765 he established a fund to pay pensions for elderly employees, which operated until 1950, when the fund's funds were transferred to the state pension system.
Under Joseph Adam, Cesky Krumlov was reconstructed in the Baroque style, the famous Masquerade Hall was painted, the chapel of St. George.
Joseph Adam Schwarzenberg
After the death of Joseph Adam Schwarzenberg, his eldest son Jan Nepomuk Schwarzenberg (1742-89) became the head of the family. He ordered a canal to be dug between the Vltava and the Danube in order to transport timber from his Krumlov and Vimperk forests to Linz and Vienna. Together with other aristocrats, he stood at the origins of commercial bank to stimulate trade and industry in the country.
IN late XVIII centuries, the coat of arms of the Schwarzenberg family looked like this
Apparently, there were so many princely possessions and merits that it was not possible to fit them all on the coat of arms, so the coat of arms was simplified.
The sons of Jan Nepomuk Schwarzenberg, Joseph Jan Nepomuk (1769-1833) and Carl Philipp Jan Nepomuk (1771-1820), divided the family into two branches - the Glubokoe and Orlicki majorates.
Karl Philipp zu Schwarzenberg - Landgrave of Klettgau, Count of Sulz, prince, Austrian field marshal and generalissimo during the Napoleonic wars.
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In 1787, with the rank of lieutenant, he joined the Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel infantry regiment (later the 10th Infantry). He took part in the war with Turkey, distinguished himself during the storming of Sabac (1788) and was promoted to captain. Served under the banner of Loudon. In 1789 he was at the Headquarters and showed great courage in the battles of Berbir and Belgrade. In 1790 he fought on the Lower Rhine and in the Netherlands and was promoted to major. In 1791 he was transferred to the Walloon Regiment of Latour (later the 14th Dragoons). For distinction in the battles of Jemappe and Neerwinden, he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on March 18, 1793. After the battle, he led part of the vanguard of the troops of the Prince of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In the same year he was transferred to the Uhlan Corps stationed in Galicia (later the 2nd Uhlan Regiment).
Since 1794, colonel and commander of the Ceschwitz cuirassier regiment, on April 26, 1794 at Chateau-Chambray, acting on the left flank, he carried out the famous cavalry attack and broke through the enemy’s positions. On this day, the Austrians took 3 thousand prisoners and 32 guns. He distinguished himself in the battle of Fleurus. In 1795–96, as part of the troops of Wurmser and Archduke Charles, he fought on the Rhine and in Italy. In 1796 he distinguished himself at Amberg.
For the victory at Würzburg (September 3, 1796) he was promoted to major general. In 1797 he again fought on the Rhine, where he commanded the army vanguard. In 1799, at the head of a division in the vanguard of the army of Archduke Charles, he successfully operated in Germany and Switzerland. In the battle of Heidelberg he successfully resisted the troops of the French general Ney and in September 1800 he received the rank of field marshal-lieutenant for his courage.
From 1800 he was the chief of the 2nd Lancer Regiment (which became known as the Schwarzenberg Lancer Regiment). In 1800, at the Battle of Hohenlinden against the French, he commanded a division and the 1st line of the right wing of the army, and after the defeat he covered the retreat of the Austrian army beyond Enns. In 1805 he was appointed vice-president of the Hofkriegsrat.
During the campaign of 1805, at the head of a division, he successfully fought at Ulm, and on October 14-15, 1805 he led the right wing of the Austrian army. After the defeat of the army, at the head of most of the cavalry (6-8 thousand people) in in perfect order went to Eger. After the Peace of Tilsit in 1807, he was appointed ambassador to St. Petersburg. The goal was to negotiate Austrian support in future war with France.
Returned to the army 2 days before the battle of Wagram. For his distinction at Wagram, where he commanded part of the cavalry on the left wing (and during the retreat of the Austrian army he commanded the rearguard), he was promoted to cavalry general. After conclusion Peace of Vienna appointed Austrian envoy in Paris. Negotiated the wedding of Napoleon and the Austrian Archduchess Marie Louise.
During Napoleon's Russian campaign, he commanded the Austrian auxiliary corps (about 30 thousand people) as part of the Grand Army. With his troops he crossed the Bug and stopped in the Pinsk area. On August 12, together with the corps of General. Jean Renier attacked units of the 3rd Army of General. Tormasov (about 18 thousand people), and was limited mainly to artillery shelling. In Russia, Schwarzenberg acted extremely carefully and managed to avoid major battles with Russian troops.
By political reasons On December 2, 1812, Napoleon requested a marshal's baton from Emperor Franz I for Schwarzenberg.
In September he was pushed back by the troops of P.V. Chichagov outside the Russian Empire. After the defeat of Napoleon in Russia, he did not participate in active hostilities, but covered the rear of the retreating French corps of Rainier.
As Austrian Ambassador On April 17, 1813 he arrived in France, where he tried to become a mediator in concluding peace between Russia and France. After the failure of the mission, he left Paris and was appointed commander of the troops in Bohemia. After Austria joined the anti-French coalition in August 1813, he was appointed commander-in-chief of the allied Bohemian army (about 230 thousand people), which half consisted of Austrians, and the other half was the Russian-Prussian army under the command of Barclay de Tolly.
In August 1813, in the battle of Dresden with Napoleon, the Bohemian army was defeated and retreated to Bohemia, where it remained until the beginning of October.
In the “Battle of the Nations” at Leipzig (October 16-19, 1813), the combined allied forces (the bulk of which were part of former army Schwarzenberg, and he himself continued to be considered the commander-in-chief of the allied armies) inflicted a decisive defeat on Napoleon. Awarded the Russian Order of St. George, 1st class, on October 8 (20), 1813 “for the defeat of Napoleon in a three-day battle near Leipzig on October 4, 6 and 7, 1813.”
During the campaign of 1814, he created a reputation for himself as an overly cautious commander. In February, Nogent attacked, but was repulsed by a garrison of only 1,200 men. Having undertaken a series of unsuccessful maneuvers, Schwarzenberg lost the initiative and on February 17 requested a truce, assuring that certain agreements had been reached at the negotiations in Chatillon (which was not true). On February 18, Napoleon defeated the troops of the Crown Prince of Württemberg at Montreux (allied losses amounted to 6 thousand people and 15 guns). Schwarzenberg decided to retreat to Troyes and at the same time ordered G. Blucher to join him in Mary-sur-Seine.
On February 21, the connection took place, and the next day Schwarzenberg, at a military council, achieved a decision to continue the retreat (at the same time, he exaggerated the enemy forces by almost 3 times). At the same time, on February 22, he again divided the Bohemian and Silesian armies. Only on February 26, yielding to pressure from Emperor Alexander I and King Frederick William III, Schwarzenberg launched a cautious attack on Bar-sur-Aube and drove back C. Oudinot.
After Napoleon's success at Reims, Schwarzenberg immediately stopped the attack on the Seine and on March 17 began to withdraw to Troyes. He successfully fought the battle of Arcy-sur-Aube and, despite the initial failure, was nevertheless able to turn the army around favorably. His slowness saved him French army from complete destruction.
On March 24, under pressure from Alexander I, Schwarzenberg was forced to agree to an immediate attack on Paris. On March 25, the French were defeated at Fer-Champenoise, and on March 28, both allied armies united near Paris.
On March 31, 1814, the Allied troops entered Paris, and on May 5, 1814, Schwarzenberg resigned as commander-in-chief.
After Napoleon's return to France, Schwarzenberg was entrusted with command allied forces on the Upper Rhine. Led by 210 thousand people. he had to set out from the Black Forest. When his troops began to cross the Rhine, they were detained at Le Souffelle by a small detachment of General J. Rapp, and Napoleon's second abdication soon followed. Upon his return to Austria, he was appointed president of the Hofkriegsrat, the Austrian War Council.
In January 1817 he retired after a stroke. During a visit to Leipzig in October 1820, he died of a second stroke.
SCHWARZENBERG, Felix(1800-1852)
Prince - Austrian statesman and diplomat.
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In 1824-39, Schwarzenberg held junior diplomatic posts in St. Petersburg, London, Paris and Berlin, from 1839 he was envoy in Turin and Parma, from 1844 to 1848 in Naples, and in November 1848 he was appointed Chairman of the Council of Ministers and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria.
Victory in the second Austro-Italian war (spring 1849) gave Schwarzenberg the opportunity. together with Louis Bonaparte, suppress the Italian revolution, return the exiled Italian monarchs to their possessions and occupy, under the pretext of protecting the papal possessions, Bologna and Ancona, that is, penetrate deep into central Italy.
In Germany, Schwarzenberg tried to use the desire for unity to unite the country under the leadership of Austria. At the beginning of 1849, he proposed dividing Germany into six districts, ruled by Austria, Prussia and four kingdoms (Bavaria, Saxony, Württemberg and Hannover). Schwarzenberg proposed dissolving the Frankfurt parliament, created as a result of the revolution of 1848, and forming an all-German military committee in Vienna. The Schwarzenberg plan was rejected in Berlin, Frankfurt and the smaller German states. In March 1849, the Frankfurt Parliament adopted an imperial constitution that excluded Austria from Germany. In response to this, Schwarzenberg stated that Austria does not recognize the constitution and retains all rights arising from the pre-revolutionary treaties on the structure of Germany.
After the suppression of the Hungarian revolution, Warzenberg's policy in Germany became more active. When the so-called convened by Prussia The Erfurt parliament adopted a constitution establishing Prussian rule in Germany. Schwarzenberg invited all German states to send their representatives to Frankfurt on May 10, 1850 to an extraordinary plenum of the Union Diet to develop a draft all-German constitution. The Prussian government scheduled a meeting of members of the Prussian Union in Berlin for the same day, May 10th. Many German states broke with the Prussian Union and sent their representatives to Frankfurt.
In September 1850, the Frankfurt Union Diet, convened on Schwarzenberg’s initiative, opened and was immediately recognized by Nicholas I. To the foreign policy isolation of Prussia, Schwarzenberg threatened to add a coalition within Germany. During the Warsaw meeting of the leaders of the Russian, Austrian and Prussian governments in October 1850, Nicholas I supported Austria. After this, Schwarzenberg sent an ultimatum to Prussia, which led to the signing Olmütz Agreement, according to which Prussia capitulated to Austria on all controversial issues relating to German affairs.
This success of Schwarzenberg was due primarily to the position of Russia. Nicholas I supported Schwarzenberg insofar as it was a matter of restoring the pre-revolutionary order in Germany. However, Schwarzenberg’s Great German aspirations did not meet with any sympathy from the Russian emperor.
My answer to the stuff about the coats of arms of Ukraine and Russia: Ukraine is a vassal of Novgorod and must pay tribute to him! April 20, 2014
Let's start with the "coat of arms" of Ukraine. Well, firstly, the “trident” or “diving falcon” is not the coat of arms of Ukraine and, moreover, not the coat of arms Kievan Rus.
This is the coat of arms of the Rurikovichs - ancient Russian princes, tracing their ancestry from Rurik, Prince of Novgorod since 862, whose relative Oleg conquered Kyiv in 882. Prince Vladimir the Red Sun (grandson of Rurik) began minting coins in Kyiv in the 900s. Naturally, he did not think about any coat of arms of Kievan Rus, because he simply did not know that such a state existed (historians later came up with this), but thought that everyone would know the Rurik family and therefore placed his family coat of arms on the coins (as Julius Caesar once placed his profile on the coins).
All. The topic with the coat of arms of Ukraine can be closed. Ukraine can recognize itself as a vassal of Novgorod.
Now with a hint that Russia borrowed the coat of arms of the Horde. I don’t know what kind of coin is in the photo, but in the work Silver Coins of the Golden Horde there is no such coin. There is not a single coin with a double-headed eagle AT ALL! But there are coins with the six-pointed Star of David! Does this mean that ukropaganda will now begin to make hints to Israel or will not take the risk so as not to run into sanctions from the financial lobby and sanctions from the Mossad?
Where did the coat of arms of the Russian Empire come from? Everything is described on Wikipedia. It is only necessary to add that the Palaiologan dynasty, whose family coat of arms was double headed eagle, reigned from 1261 to 1453. Those. Byzantium existed in parallel with the Golden Horde.
Coat of arms of Palaiologos
Grand Duke Ivan III married Sophia Palaeologus (who did not have rights to the throne of Constantinople, but had rights to the coat of arms) in 1467, the first image of the coat of arms dates back to 1497, 17 years after the fall of the Golden Horde.
And personally, I understand why Ivan III did this: it was a claim to recreate the Byzantine Empire on the lands of Rus'.
Indeed, during his reign the following were annexed to Moscow: Novgorod land, for a long time former rival of the Moscow principality Tver Principality, as well as the Yaroslavl, Rostov, and partially Ryazan principalities. Only the Pskov and Ryazan principalities remained independent, however, they were not completely independent. After successful wars with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Novgorod-Seversky became part of the Moscow state, Chernigov (what is there about Ukraine?), Bryansk and a number of other cities (which before the war made up about a third of the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania); dying, Ivan III transferred to his successor several times more lands than he himself accepted. In addition, it was under Grand Duke Ivan III Russian the state becomes completely independent: as a result of the “standing on the Ugra”, the power of the Horde khan over Russia, which had lasted since 1243, completely ceases.
Portrait of Ivan III from a book of 1575.
I walked here and there and found it.
After one of the old people died, this set of badges was thrown away. Right in its entirety, in the cover. The cardboard cover, of course, is somewhat damaged; even the footprint of someone's shoe is visible.
But the badges themselves are intact, not even the pins are bent.
If anyone doesn’t know (or has forgotten), the “Golden Ring” is a tourist route developed in Soviet times through cities with traditional Russian architecture, mainly from the 15th to 18th centuries (although in some places there are also older buildings and younger ones - if they are architecturally interesting). The architecture is represented by churches, monasteries, less often - boyars' or merchants' chambers, ancient fortifications (kremlins) in varying degrees of preservation. This route was called “Ring” because the cities offered for visiting were located approximately in a ring around Moscow, in modern Moscow, Ivanovo, Vladimir, Tver, Kostroma and Yaroslavl regions. Classically, eight cities belong to the “Golden Ring”: Sergiev Posad (from 1930 to 991 - Zagorsk), Pereslavl-Zalessky, Rostov the Great, Kostroma, Yaroslavl, Ivanovo, Suzdal, Vladimir. Moscow was usually not included in the list of cities of the Golden Ring, being, as it were, the center of this ring.
The term itself appeared thanks to art and literary critic Yuri Aleksandrovich Bychkov, who in 1967 published in the newspaper " Soviet culture" a series of articles under the general title "The Golden Ring of Russia".
However, it quickly became clear that it was difficult to limit ourselves to just the eight cities named, since ancient cities with interesting story and much more architecture. This is how an “extended” list of cities of the “Golden Ring” appeared, which is often discussed. The extended list includes the following cities and towns Central Russia: Abramtsevo, Alexandrov, Bogolyubovo, Gorokhovets, Gus-Khrustalny, Dmitrov, Kalyazin, Kashin, Kideksha, Kineshma, Krasnoe-on-Volge, Murom, Myshkin, Nerekhta, Palekh, Ples, Pokrov, Rybinsk, Tutaev, Uglich, Shuya, Yuryev -Polsky, Yuryevets. This list is in different sources varies, including more or less cities, and is sometimes ranked according to the degree of significance or interest from the point of view of history and tourism.
Even later, the concept of the “Great Golden Ring” appeared, which included more than a hundred different cities and towns in Central Russia. Of course, it was impossible to fit all the cities of the “Great Golden Ring” into one route; accordingly, a whole network of routes was developed, varying in duration of the trip and its intensity. The trips were usually by bus, of varying duration - from three or four to ten days.
With the collapse of the USSR, active tourist activity on the Golden Ring routes almost ended, architectural monuments in some places fell into disrepair and were even destroyed without maintenance, and in others they were “restored” quickly and cheaply. However, travel agencies still offer tours to the cities of the Golden Ring - both according to the classic list of eight main cities, and in individual regions.
Now it’s time to move directly to the found set of icons.
This is what the cover looks like with all the icons:
1. Moscow. The image of the coat of arms of Moscow is interesting. This is not an image of the coat of arms of Moscow during the Soviet era, but also not an image of pre-revolutionary versions of the coat of arms. Rather, this is some kind of free fantasy on the theme of the “kopeyts” of ancient Russian coins or seals. Let me remind you that the city of Moscow was usually not included in the classic list of cities of the Golden Ring, being the “center” of this ring and the beginning of tourist routes: 
2. Zagorsk (before 1930 and after 1991 - Sergiev Posad). A city from the main list of the Golden Ring. The coat of arms is depicted quite accurately, with a red field in the corner of the shield; the coat of arms of Moscow should have been located in it, as a sign of belonging to the Moscow province. However, on the small badge the coat of arms of Moscow is indistinguishable: 
3. Kineshma. A city usually included only in the "Great Golden Circle" list. Nowadays it refers to Ivanovo region, however, before the revolution belonged to Kostroma province, which was reflected in the coat of arms granted to the city in 1779: in the upper part of the shield there is a golden ship in a blue field (the coat of arms of Kostroma), and in the lower part there are two bundles of linen, as a symbol of the linen manufactory that existed in the city: 
4. Vyazniki. Also usually included in the “Great Golden Ring”. Now part of Vladimir region, before the revolution - part of the Vladimir province. In the upper part of the coat of arms there is a golden lion in a red field, in the lower part there is a tree (elm) on a yellow field: 
5. Murom. Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". City of Vladimir region (province). In the coat of arms in the upper part there is again the Vladimir lion in a red field, in the lower part of the shield there are three rolls in an azure field, “for which this city is famous”: 
6. Plyos. Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". Now a city in the Ivanovo region, before the revolution it was in the Kostroma province. In the upper part of the shield there is a Kostroma golden ship in a blue field, in the lower part in a silver (light gray) field there is a river with a reach that gave its name to the city: 
7. Rybinsk. Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". City of Yaroslavl region (province). In the upper part of the shield there is a golden bear with an ax in a red field (the coat of arms of Yaroslavl), in the lower part there is a river with a pier and two sterlets in the river on a red field. There is something faintly visible on the pier icon: 
8. Kostroma. A city from the main list of the Golden Ring. City center Kostroma region, before the revolution - Kostroma province. The coat of arms of Kostroma was granted by Catherine II in 1767. On the coat of arms, in an azure field, a golden galley sailing on blue waves with silver crests - for the empress arrived in Kostroma on the Tver galley: 
9. Shuya. The city now belongs to the Ivanovo region, previously belonged to the Vladimir province. Included in the "extended" list of cities of the Golden Ring. The coat of arms is a shield divided in two, in the upper part on a red field there is a golden lion with a crown holding a cross in its paws (the coat of arms of Vladimir), in the lower part there is a bar of soap in a red field, in memory of the fact that soap making was the most ancient craft of the city: 
10. Yaroslavl. A city from the main list of the Golden Ring. The city's coat of arms is not depicted quite correctly. There should be a black bear on the silver (gray) field, holding a golden ax (or protazan) in its left paw. However, the bear is also depicted in gold: 
11. Gorokhovets. City of Vladimir region (province). Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". The coat of arms is a shield divided in two, in the upper part on a red field there is a golden lion with a crown holding a cross in its paws (the coat of arms of Vladimir), in the lower part there are pea sprouts on poles in a golden field: 
12. Carpets. The city was usually included in the “Big Golden Ring”, Vladimir region (and province). The coat of arms in the upper part contains the coat of arms of Vladimir, in the lower part there are two silver hares with red eyes and tongues in a green field. It is believed that the governor of Catherine II, Count Vorontsov, highly valued hare hunting in those parts: 
13. Pereslavl-Zalessky. Included in main list"Golden Ring". A city in the Yaroslavl region, formerly in the Vladimir province. The coat of arms in the upper part of the shield contains the coat of arms of the provincial city of Vladimir, in the lower part there are two golden herrings in a black field, as a sign that herring smoking was one of the notable city crafts: 
14. Vladimir. The city is included in the main list of the Golden Ring. One of the most interesting and monument-rich cities of the Ring. On the coat of arms of Vladimir there is a golden lion in a red field, wearing a crown and with a cross in its paws. The lion was the family sign of the Vladimir-Suzdal princes: 
15. Alexandrov. A city in the Vladimir region, formerly a province. Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". The coat of arms consists of the coat of arms of the city of Vladimir in the upper part of the shield, and in the lower part - in a red field - a bench vice and two anvils, "as a sign that very fair metalwork work is carried out in this city": 
16. Uglich. The city of the Yaroslavl region (formerly a province) is included in the “extended” list of the “Golden Ring”. The coat of arms of the city of Uglich reflects the tragedy that took place here: under unclear circumstances, the young Tsarevich Dmitry, the son of Ivan the Terrible, died (was stabbed to death). The people of Uglich considered two clerks guilty of the murder of the prince and killed them. The coat of arms contains in a red field the image of the faithful Tsarevich Dmitry with a knife (murder weapon) in his right hand: 
17. Tutaev. Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". Until 1918 it was called Romanov-Borisoglebsk and was formed by the merger in 1822 of two independent cities- Romanov and Borisoglebsk, located on both banks of the Volga. The coat of arms of the united city was also obtained by combining their original coats of arms: "In a golden shield beveled to the right at the top there is an azure wavy baldric, accompanied on the sides by narrow black baldrics; below is a wreath of thirteen red roses with green stems and leaves, tied with an azure ribbon and having inside in the silver field of a black bear holding a golden ax on his shoulder with his left paw." But the badge shows the coat of arms of only one city of Romanov: 
18. Yuriev-Polsky. City of Vladimir region and province. Included in the "extended" list of the "Golden Ring". His modern name somewhat disorienting, since the city has nothing to do with Poland, but has something to do with the “field” - the second part of the name was added in order to distinguish it from other cities with the name Yuryev. Its coat of arms in the upper part contains the coat of arms of Vladimir, in the lower part - two boxes filled with cherries, “with which this city abounds.” However, the boxes on the icon are empty: 
19. Galich. The city of the Kostroma region and province is included in the list of the "Great Golden Ring". The coat of arms of Galich consists of unequal parts of the shield. In the upper, mostly red field, there are military trophies - armor, ten banners, an ax and the Cross of John the Baptist crowning them. In the lower, smaller part, on a silver field, two drums, two timpani and a pair of drum sticks are placed tilted apart: 
20. Suzdal. The city of the Vladimir region and province is included in the main list of the Golden Ring. Along with Vladimir, one of the most interesting cities of the Ring. The coat of arms of Suzdal is a shield divided into two fields, azure at the top, red at the bottom, with a falcon in a princely crown in their background: 
21. Rostov the Great. The city of the Yaroslavl region and province is included in the main list of the Golden Ring. The third of the most interesting cities of the Ring. On the coat of arms of Rostov there is a silver deer in a red field, golden horns, mane and hooves: 
And in the end - general impression from the set.
The idea seems good, but the execution...
The cover is made of low-quality cardboard, like the kind used to make shoe boxes; it’s a stretch to call printing as such.
The composition of the emblem badges in the set also causes some confusion. The coat of arms of the city of Ivanovo - the eighth city from the main list of the "Golden Ring" - is missing; the coats of arms of the cities of the "expanded" list and the list of the "Great Golden Ring" are randomly included.
The badges themselves are small, about 2 cm in diameter, because of this, the images of the coats of arms are very conventional and simplified, some of the coats of arms are given with errors.
The execution of the badges itself is quite crude, which is partly explained by the material - aluminum, but often simplifications cannot be explained only by this. Enamels and the varnish covering the badges have different shades, which makes it difficult to perceive the set as a single whole.
The images of coats of arms adopted at the end of the 18th century, during the reign of Catherine II, were mainly used, since in Soviet times There was no city heraldry as a system.
I will make assumptions that the sets were generally completed according to the principle “we collect what is available.” Perhaps the specific composition of the icons was also slightly different in different sets. They were apparently sold at points on the Golden Ring tourist route as souvenirs.