Stemmatografia, known by its full name Stemmatographia sive Armorum Illyricorum delineatio, descriptio et restitutio (English: ''Stemmatography, or the sketch, description and revival of the Illyrian coats of arms'') is a

heraldic 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 branc ...

essay written and illustrated by Pavao Ritter Vitezović, and originally published in 1701.

Publication history

Its first edition was published in 1701, most likely in

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

, considering the place of printing was never explicitly named. The second edition was published by Vitezović in

Zagreb Zagreb ( ) is the capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Croatia#List of cities and towns, largest city of Croatia. It is in the Northern Croatia, north of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the ...

(1702). In the foreword to the second edition he notes that "the first edition was printed and published in many numbers, was sold out and that there exists a great interest, which led to publishing the second edition of the work".Ljubović, pp. 32 It is regarded as among Vitezović's most popular works.Mitev, pp. 88 There he also claims that the work is a "testament to his dear homeland, because in the published arms the glow of the homeland radiates", personally hoping that a luckier progeny will embrace "Croatia in all its parts again whole" and "all of Illyricum which will unite with Croatia in love and devotion", demonstrating patriotic and somewhat Romanticist tendencies.

Description

The original work contains a total of 56 coats of arms from various lands drawn by Vitezović, which are arranged alphabetically. Each page of the book contains an engraving of the coat of arms, along with its name in decorative letters and two Latin

couplet In poetry, a couplet ( ) or distich ( ) is a pair of successive lines that rhyme and have the same metre. A couplet may be formal (closed) or run-on (open). In a formal (closed) couplet, each of the two lines is end-stopped, implying that there ...

s describing or interpreting the coat of arms. The featured territories range from

Muscovy Muscovy or Moscovia () is an alternative name for the Principality of Moscow (1263–1547) and the Tsardom of Russia (1547–1721). It may also refer to: *Muscovy Company, an English trading company chartered in 1555 *Muscovy duck (''Cairina mosch ...

, to

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 ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

Illyria In classical and late antiquity, Illyria (; , ''Illyría'' or , ''Illyrís''; , ''Illyricum'') was a region in the western part of the Balkan Peninsula inhabited by numerous tribes of people collectively known as the Illyrians. The Ancient Gree ...

Albania Albania ( ; or ), officially the Republic of Albania (), is a country in Southeast Europe. It is located in the Balkans, on the Adriatic Sea, Adriatic and Ionian Seas within the Mediterranean Sea, and shares land borders with Montenegro to ...

and

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. The book contains both historical, fictional and contemporary coats, including those of former

Roman provinces The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as gover ...

. In creating his work, Vitezović used a variety of sources, such as seals, coins, stone monuments. At the end of Stemmatografia, he lists short description of every coat of arms featured.Ljubović, pp. 35 Vitezović himself stated his intentions are to disclose every individual coat of arms of each kingdom, province, notable city and fortress of the Illyricum, as well as their customs, nature, and movement of clans. He intended to publish a separate book detailing every noble lineage, including those who have descended from them in other European lands.

Hristofor Žefarović edition

Forty years after its original Vienna release, the book was translated by the monk

Hristofor Žefarović Hristofor Žefarović (, sr-Cyrl, Христофор Жефаровић, ''Hristofor Zhefarovich'') was an 18th-century painter, engraver, writer and poet and a notable proponent of early Illyrian movement, pan-South Slavism. Biography Born at ...

Velchev, pp. 20 into the

Slavo-Serbian Slavonic-Serbian (славяносербскій, ''slavjanoserbskij''), Slavo-Serbian or Slaveno-Serbian (славено-сербскiй, ''slaveno-serbskij''; , ''slavenosrpski''), was a literary language used by the Serbs in the Habsburg Em ...

,Clarke, Hupchik, pp. 99 under the orders of

Serbia , image_flag = Flag of Serbia.svg , national_motto = , image_coat = Coat of arms of Serbia.svg , national_anthem = () , image_map = , map_caption = Location of Serbia (gree ...

n patriarch

Arsenije IV Jovanović Arsenije ( sr-cyr, Арсеније; ) is a Serbian given name, a variant of the Greek name ''Arsenios''. Diminutives of the name include ''Arsen'', ''Arsa'' and ''Arso''. It may refer to: *Arsenije Sremac (died 1266), second Archbishop of the Se ...

. The copper engravings of the coats of arms were done by the young Viennese artist Thomas Messmer. According to

Ivo Banac Ivo Banac (; 1 March 1947 – 30 June 2020) was a Croatian-American historian, a professor of European history at Yale University and a politician of the former Liberal Party in Croatia, known as the Great Bard of Croatian historiography. , Bana ...

, this edition had a strong influence on the development of heraldry in Bulgaria, Serbia and

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

. The book is also regarded as the first "Serbian book" published in the 18th century.

Gallery

Stematografija prva strana.jpg, Title page of the 1741 translated edition (see below) Dedication-stem.jpg, Dedication page of the same edition File:Dalmatia-stematografija-color.png, Page for Dalmatia File:Moscovia-stematografija-color.png, Page depicting and describing coat of arms of

, File:Istria-stematografija-color.png, Istria File:Romania-stemmatographia.png, Rumelia File:Scythis-colorized-stemmatographia.png, Scythia Coat of arms of Moldavia in Stematographia 1702.jpg,

Moldavia Moldavia (, or ; in Romanian Cyrillic alphabet, Romanian Cyrillic: or ) is a historical region and former principality in Eastern Europe, corresponding to the territory between the Eastern Carpathians and the Dniester River. An initially in ...

File:Wallachia-stemmatographia.png,

Wallachia Wallachia or Walachia (; ; : , : ) is a historical and geographical region of modern-day Romania. It is situated north of the Lower Danube and south of the Southern Carpathians. Wallachia was traditionally divided into two sections, Munteni ...

File:Japodia-stemmatograpfia.png, Japodia Coat of Arms of Serbia from Stemmatographia by Hristofor Zhefarovich (1741).jpg, Serbia Coat of Arms of Bulgaria from Stemmatographia by Hristofor Zhefarovich (1741).jpg, Bulgaria Coat of Arms of Bosnia from Stemmatographia by Hristofor Zhefarovich (1741).jpg, Bosnia Coat of Arms of Macedonia from Stemmatographia by Hristofor Zhefarovich (1741).jpg, Macedonia

References

Literature

Grbovi Senjskih Rittera Vitezovića
E. Ljubović
The pen and the sword: studies in Bulgarian history
James Franklin Clarke, Dennis P. Hupchick, East European Monographs, 1988
Paissi of Hilendar: Father of the Bulgarian Enlightenment
Velcho Velchev, Sofia Press, 1981
Empires and Peninsulas: Southeastern Europe Between Karlowitz and the Peace of Adrianople, 1699-1829
Plamen Mitev, LIT Verlag Münster, 2010

External links

{{Commons category, Stematographia
Full photocopies
on

National and University Library in Zagreb National and University Library in Zagreb (NSK) (, NSK; formerly , NSB) is the national library of Croatia and central library of the University of Zagreb. The Library was established in 1607. Its primary mission is the development and preservat ...

website
Second edition colorized version
1701 non-fiction books 1701 essays 18th-century books in Latin 18th century in Vienna Literature on heraldry Illustrated books Works by Pavao Ritter Vitezović