„Франкски“ герб от фамилната гробница в манастира „Св. Богородица Пантанаса“ в Мелник
“Frankish” coat of arms from the family tomb at the Panagia Pantanassa Monastery in Melnik

Summary/Abstract: The presence of a ceramic bowl with a heraldic sgraffito decoration representing an image of a triangular knightly shield with a coat of arms, which was recently discovered in the founder’s family tomb at the Holy Trinity Chapel of the Panagia Pantanassa monastery in Melnik, is remarkable and raises a number of important issues. The numerous analogues and parallels of similar images of armorial crests depicted on 13th–14th century heraldic sgraffito pottery from the Latin East, the Eastern and the Central Mediterranean and the Balkans (i.e. the Kingdom of Jerusalem, the Principality of Antioch, the Kingdom of Cyprus, the Principality of Achaea (Morea), the Genoese colonies along the Ionian coast of Asia Minor, and the lands of Southern Italy under the Hohenstaufen and Angevin rule), which became also popular in Western Europe during the 14th–16th centuries, leaves no doubt of the heraldic nature of the image depicted on the sgraffito bowl from Melnik and emphasizes its armorial origin. The archeological context of the find used as a burial inventory in one of the graves of the founder’s family tomb at the Panagia Pantanassa monastery, and even more the identification of the deceased with despotes Alexios Sthlabos (Slav) and his family, raises further some reasonable questions regarding the symbolism and the origin of the “Frankish” coat of arms from Melnik and its connection with Slav’s family and estates. The detailed analysis of Henry of Valenciennes’s History reveals that Alexios Sthlabos (Slav) might be the first and probably the only autonomous Bulgarian ruler of this era to be invested with a knighthood and to acquire a personal, family and seignorial coat of arms, thanks to his investment as a vassal and a son-in-law of the Latin emperor in Constantinople. In any case the presence of heraldic sgraffito ceramics in a contact zone such as Melnik is an extremely interesting fact that raises the issue of the impact of the Western European feudal traditions, chivalric symbolism and courtly culture on the despotes Alexos Sthlabos (Slav)’ court and offers some new perspectives on the Bulgarian-Latin relations during the first decades of the 13th century.

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