Charakterystyka „herbarzy kaflowych”
A characterization of “Armorial Tiles”

Author(s): Karol Łukomiak
Subject(s): History, Language and Literature Studies, Literary Texts, Studies of Literature, Philology
Published by: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Śląskiego
Keywords: stove tiles; material culture; late Middle Ages; heraldry; archeology
Summary/Abstract: For centuries, a stove has remained an extremely important element within a home.It served primarily as a source of heat, but with the development of pottery, stove-makingevolved. In the late Middle Ages, there appeared a stove tile with representations of religiousscenes, everyday situations and heraldic motifs, known in literature as gothic. Researchersbecame interested in stove tiles as early as in the 19th century. This kind of artifacts has anextensive body of literature. In spite of this, the topic still poses a lot of questions. So farno stove in situ has been found. Tiles were mainly uncovered in the cultural layers as rubble after demolition of stoves. It has not been established yet how the tiles were arranged relativeto one another on the stove surface. Heraldic motifs constitute over a half of the discoveredgothic tiles. The heraldic depictions themselves are varied. The aim of this article is a classification of the heraldic patterns on the face of tiles dated to the second half of the 15thcentury, which were found at the sites in Gniezno, Jarocin and Janków Dolny (Great Polandvoivodship). A great number of coats of arms found at one site may be indicative of familyrelations and political connections of the owner of the stove.

• Details
• Contents