The Heraldry of the Lithuanian Jews From the Late 15th to the Mid-17th Century

The practice of members of various sections of society using coats of arms is recorded in most regions of Europe in the late Middle Ages, including in the east, in the territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Written and visual sources, and especially sphragistic works, allow us to trace the gradual rooting of the heraldic tradition in the Lithuanian state, both among the upper echelons of society and among semi-privileged groups, in the second half of the 14th and the 15th century, with a particularly significant growth in the 16th century. Among the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy with semi-privileged status, a special place was occupied by Lithuanian Jews, whose communities existed in various cities in the state. They were especially numerous in the Lithuanian lands (the Vilnius and Trakai voivodeships), and in Volyn and Podlasie. In terms of their legal status, Lithuanian Jews were close to the urban population of communities that applied self-government based on Magdeburg Law. In the event of conversion to Christianity, people from a Jewish background could receive ennoblement, which meant being elevated to the nobility, to which they were accepted by members of the Lithuanian-Ruthenian nobility, and along with that they received the right to use noble coats of arms. This is why the coats of arms of neophyte Jews are mostly unrelated to Jewish heraldry itself. Purely Jewish heraldic practices are instead presented on monuments associated with people who followed the Old Law. First of all, we are talking about the impressions of heraldic seals, with which Lithuanian Jews certified various private acts in the 16th to the mid-17th century. The heraldic nature of the images on contemporary Jewish seals is indicated by the content of the relevant documents, which interpret these iconographic features precisely as coats of arms. Most of them are reproduced in heraldic shields on the corresponding sphragis. Among the various subjects present on sphragistic works, the most numerous are depictions of religious symbols indicating the ethno-confessional affiliation of the respective person. A special place among them is occupied by the figure of a six-point star, one of the most important signs of the Jewish community at that time throughout Europe. A subject which indicated not only the ethno-confessional affiliation but also the origins of the owner of the seal was the depiction of two hands. It reproduced the gesture of blessing by Jewish priests, the cohens, which is called the ‘raising of the hands’. Depictions of various heraldic figures, animals, plants, household items and weapons were common in the heraldry of Lithuanian Jews. They are also abundantly present in the family heraldry of the nobility and burghers of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The most obvious evidence of the influence of local heraldic traditions on the heraldry of Lithuanian Jews was their use in their coats of arms of iconic figures, which formed the basis of Lithuanian-Ruthenian heraldry from the second half of the 14th to the 18th century.