White Eagle from 1919 – the ideal model of the Polish state eagle, or “heraldic misfortune”? Comments on the citizens’ initiative in the case to restore the “traditional” coat of arms of the Poland

Abstract

In 2018, a group of politicians submitted a proposal to change the coat of arms of Poland. They proposed that the coat of arms of the Polish state that is currently used replaced with the coat of arms from 1919. The coat of arms of the Polish state from 1919 resembled the emblem used in the 18th and 19th centuries. The crown on the head of the eagle from 1919 took the form of a closed crown with a cross. The eagle in the crown with the cross – according to the applicants – symbolizes both state sovereignty and national sovereignty. The eagle in the crown with the cross – what the applicants pointed out – has been a traditional eagle of Poland for centuries. The author of the article draws attention to the errors contained in the arguments for the change of the coat of arms of Poland. The author draws attention to historical, symbolic, political and aesthetic arguments, which together allow for a critical assessment of the application. The most important are historical arguments. The basic sources – the seals of Polish kings – from the coronation of Przemysław II to Stanisław August – have the image of an eagle in the open crown without a cross. The crown closed with a cross on the head of the eagle on the royal seals appeared in the 18th century. This observation proves that the eagle in the official coat of arms of Poland until the mid-18th century had an open crown without a cross. However, the crown closed with a cross on the head of the Polish eagle often appeared on the unofficial images of the White Eagle. In the 19th century, during the November Uprising, the National Government issued an important decision on the coat of arms of Poland. The eagle from February 1831 was crowned with an open crown. The eagle in the open crown replaced the eagle in a closed crown with a cross. The government‘s decision of February 1831 about the coat of arms was invoked by politicians who designed the emblem of Poland in 1919. However, they did not know that the official eagle of February 1831 had an open crown. They mistakenly believed that the Polish eagle had a crown closed with a cross throughout the November Uprising. The question remains open whether the Polish eagle of 1919 would be crowned with a crown closed with a cross if the politicians who designed it knew exactly what form the coat of arms of February 1831 was. Historians agree with the opinion that state emblems change their form, and the form of coats of arms changes with artistic and historical periods. The coat of arms of the Polish state in the following years may be changed. The question should be asked whether the new form of the coat of arms should closely repeat the pattern from previous historical periods. Many believe that the alternative to duplicating old eagle designs is to create an Polish eagle in „modernist“ stylization, appropriate to the aesthetics of the early 21st century.