Commandeurskruis en Ster Franz-Josephs-Orde Oostenrijk

Adolf Maximilian Ferdinand Gritzner (29 July 1843 – 10 July 1902) was a German expert on

heraldry Heraldry is a discipline relating to the design, display and study of armorial bearings (known as armory), as well as related disciplines, such as vexillology, together with the study of ceremony, rank and pedigree. Armory, the best-known bran ...

and a herald in the Ministry of the Interior in

Berlin Berlin is Capital of Germany, the capital and largest city of Germany, both by area and List of cities in Germany by population, by population. Its more than 3.85 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European U ...

. His reference book on

orders of knighthood An order of chivalry, order of knighthood, chivalric order, or equestrian order is an order of knights, typically founded during or inspired by the original Catholic military orders of the Crusades ( 1099–1291) and paired with medieval concept ...

was still in print in 2000. Gritzner was born in Sorau (Żary) and died in Berlin. According to

Bruno Bernard Heim Bruno Bernard Heim (5 March 1911 – 18 March 2003) was the Vatican's first Apostolic Nuncio to Britain and was one of the most prominent armorists of twentieth century ecclesiastical heraldry. He published five books on heraldry and was respons ...

, Gritzner "coined the definitive terms of the German heraldry". In 1893 Gritzner published his authoritative book on

faleristics Phaleristics, from the Greek mythological hero Phalerus ( el, links=no, Φάληρος, ''Phaleros'') via the Latin ('heroics'), sometimes spelled faleristics, is an auxiliary science of history and numismatics which studies orders, fraternitie ...

and as a herald in the

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...

n Home-Office he was involved in exposing several phoney noblemen. Gritzner was "Königlich Preussischer Kanzleirat und Premierleutnant ausser Dienst" (German for " Royal council to the Chancellery and First Lieutenant on leave"). Gritzner's son, Dr. Erich Gritzner, was also a herald and a publicist.

Publications

*Briefadel in Preußen 1873 *BAYERISCHES ADELS-REPERTORIUM DER LETZTEN DREI JAHRHUNDERTE, nach amtlichen Quellen gesammelt und zusammengestellt durch Maximilian Gritzner, Gorlitz, Verlag von C.A. Starke, 1880;
Gründsätze der Wappenkunst verbunden mit einem Handbuch der heraldischen Terminologie
Verlag: Nürnberg, Bauer & Raspe, 1889-1890. *Amyntha. Ein Rheinischer Sang Verlag:Leipzig, Elischer Nachf. 1892 *Handbuch der heraldischen Terminologie in zwölf Zungen. Nürnberg: 1890.
Handbuch der Ritter- und Verdienstorden aller Kulturstaaten der Welt innerhalb des XIX. Jahrhunderts. Auf Grund amtlicher und anderer zuverlässiger Quellen zusammengestellt
Verlag:Leipzig., Verlagsbuchhandlung von J.J.Weber, 1893. * J. Siebmacher Grosses Wappenbuch. Die Wappen und Flaggen der Herrscher und Staaten der Welt. *Die Altpreussischen Aufgehobenen Dom-Kollegiate, Deren Innere Verfassung Und Ihre Orden Und Ehrenzeichen (reprint) / 3764810734 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gritzner, Maximilian 1843 births 1902 deaths People from Żary 19th-century German historians German-Nordic heraldry German heraldists Officers of arms People from the Province of Brandenburg German male non-fiction writers