Last modified: 2002-11-23 by jarig bakker
Keywords: poland | eagle | crown |
Links: FOTW homepage |
search |
disclaimer and copyright |
write us |
mirrors
Well, the banner is indeed similar to this
one. So it's possible that the vertical layout was influenced by the
colors of Bari. However, the white/red colours of Poland are much older,
probably since 1295, see eg. this
webpage.
Mariusz Borkowski, 18 Nov 2002
The legend is that Lech, Czech and Rus were three brothers, each of whom set off in a different direction. Czech founded the Czech nation, Rus the Rus' (i.e. East Slavs) and Lech the Poles. He camped in a spot where he saw a white eagle nesting at dusk in a nest in a tree against the red sunset. Thus, the Polish white eagle on a red field, and thus also the name of the first Polish capital, Gniezno (perhaps an old form of gniazdo, the current word for nest).
Of course, this is but a legend. I have a Polish book on the Polish
symbols at home, and it says that in the 13th century, Polish knights were
going into battle with a black eagle on a white or yellow field. In fact,
prior to the 1 or 2 Czech kings Poland had, there is no evidence of the
white eagle. So, in some likelihood, it may well be an adopted symbol.
Robert Czernkowski, 19 May 1998