Marcin of Wrocimowice (, ; died 1442) was a Polish

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

and

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

from the Półkozic clan. He served as

Starosta Starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', ) is a community elder in some Slavic lands. The Slavic root of "starost" translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has designated an official in a leadersh ...

(prefect) of

Łowicz Łowicz is a town in central Poland with 27,436 inhabitants (2021). It is situated in the Łódź Voivodeship. Together with a nearby station of Bednary, Łowicz is a major rail junction of central Poland, where the line from Warsaw splits into ...

and as Standard-Bearer of the Territory of Kraków. In the latter capacity, he carried the banner of the Territory of

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

— which was, at the same time, the Banner of the Kingdom of Poland – under which a unit consisting of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

's elite knights, including such chivalrous celebrities as Zawisza the Black, went to the

Battle of Grunwald The Battle of Grunwald was fought on 15 July 1410 during the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War. The alliance of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, led respectively by King Władysław II Jagiełło (Jogaila), a ...

(Tannenberg) on 15 July 1410. According to

Jan Długosz Jan Długosz (; 1 December 1415 – 19 May 1480), also known in Latin as Johannes Longinus, was a Polish priest, chronicler, diplomat, soldier, and secretary to Bishop Zbigniew Oleśnicki of Kraków. He is considered Poland's first histo ...

, during the course of the battle, the national banner slipped out of Marcin's hand and fell on the ground, but it was quickly picked up and saved from destruction by Polish army's most valiant knights, which gave the Poles even more motivation to strive for victory over the

Teutonic Knights The Teutonic Order is a Catholic religious institution founded as a military society in Acre, Kingdom of Jerusalem. The Order of Brothers of the German House of Saint Mary in Jerusalem was formed to aid Christians on their pilgrimages to t ...

.The Battle of Tannenberg or Grunwald in 1410, according to Jan Dlugosz
retrieved on August 12, 2007. Marcin also served as a royal envoy to the

pope The pope is the bishop of Rome and the Head of the Church#Catholic Church, visible head of the worldwide Catholic Church. He is also known as the supreme pontiff, Roman pontiff, or sovereign pontiff. From the 8th century until 1870, the po ...

. In 1399, he lost the village of Wrocimowice, but continued to sign himself "of Wrocimowice". In 1430, he acquired the village of Dębowiec.

References

Ludzie Ziemi Proszowickiej "Marcin z Wrocimowic herbu Półkozic"
retrieved on August 12, 2007. 1442 deaths Medieval Polish knights 15th-century Polish people Polish diplomats People in the Battle of Grunwald Year of birth unknown 15th-century diplomats {{Poland-bio-stub