DOI article:
Paszkiewicz, Borys: The Sicilian design on the Opole coin and the genesis of the white eagle
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.21230#0347
uity, as in the Physiologus' legend, but here - perhaps in the Ambrosian
interpretation - the eagle is Christ himself.29 Just such an eagle we ob-
serve on the coin, and it is no coincidence that this is a gold coin, corre-
sponding to the sun's disk. The King of Kings confirms the legitimacy of
the king. The king and the eagle look on the coin to the same right side
- towards the sun. Since the times of the famous augustales of Frede-
rick II, Sicilian gold coinage had served as a presentation of the sublime
ideology of power.
The occasion for contacts between Poland and Manfred's kingdom
could have been two southern Italian cults, those of Saint Nicholas of
Bari and Saint Vitus.30 However, the decision over the choice of symbol
for the coin, and the singled out with the name of the duke, must have
been politically motivated. If one were to accept that the figurę from
Manfred's coin was understood generally as the symbol of power of the
emperor's heir, one could accept its usage as a declaration on the side of
the Ghibellines. In the political camp of Pfemysl Otakar II such a decla-
ration was possible: on the broad Moravian bracteate of 1270-1278,
where is risible the motif of an eagle surrounding with wings a crowned
human head en face, exactly the same as we have seen on the coins of
Frederick II31 cited above, and as we have taken for the symbol of Stauf
power. The Czech king was on the distaff side the grandson of Frederick
Barbarossa, and this kinship he played on in Germany in building up his
party.32 It is adrisable, however, to think that the symbol from Manfred's
coin was understood on the Oder in all its depth - the parable about the
eagle cited by Latini belongs to the generał knowledge of educated
people of this period. The solar connotations of the eagle are risible in
the Legend of Saint Stanislaus.33 Władysław of Opole used the sign of
29 D. Forstner OSB, Świat symboliki chrześcijańskie], Warszawa 1990, pp. 240-243.
30 A. Paner, Z dziejów kultu Św. Wita na Slowiańszczyźnie Zachodniej (From the History
of the Cult of Saint Vitus in the Western Slavonic Lands), Studia Lednickie, II, 1991, pp.
43-50.
31 F. Cach, Nejstarśiceskemince (The Oldest Bohemian Coins), III, Praha 1974, no. 987.
32 A. Barciak, Ideologia polityczna..., p. 53.
33 Wincenty z Kielczy, op. cit., p. 278. For more on aąuilarian symbolism in medieval
Poland see J. Wrzesiński, Lednicka plakietka z orłem oraz kilka uwag na temat adaptacji i rozpo-
wszechniania się orla-symbolu (The Plaąuette from Lednica with the Eagle as well as Several
Comments on the Subject of Adaptation and Prevalence of the Eagle Symbol), Studia Led-
nickie, II, 1991, pp. 151-154.
347
interpretation - the eagle is Christ himself.29 Just such an eagle we ob-
serve on the coin, and it is no coincidence that this is a gold coin, corre-
sponding to the sun's disk. The King of Kings confirms the legitimacy of
the king. The king and the eagle look on the coin to the same right side
- towards the sun. Since the times of the famous augustales of Frede-
rick II, Sicilian gold coinage had served as a presentation of the sublime
ideology of power.
The occasion for contacts between Poland and Manfred's kingdom
could have been two southern Italian cults, those of Saint Nicholas of
Bari and Saint Vitus.30 However, the decision over the choice of symbol
for the coin, and the singled out with the name of the duke, must have
been politically motivated. If one were to accept that the figurę from
Manfred's coin was understood generally as the symbol of power of the
emperor's heir, one could accept its usage as a declaration on the side of
the Ghibellines. In the political camp of Pfemysl Otakar II such a decla-
ration was possible: on the broad Moravian bracteate of 1270-1278,
where is risible the motif of an eagle surrounding with wings a crowned
human head en face, exactly the same as we have seen on the coins of
Frederick II31 cited above, and as we have taken for the symbol of Stauf
power. The Czech king was on the distaff side the grandson of Frederick
Barbarossa, and this kinship he played on in Germany in building up his
party.32 It is adrisable, however, to think that the symbol from Manfred's
coin was understood on the Oder in all its depth - the parable about the
eagle cited by Latini belongs to the generał knowledge of educated
people of this period. The solar connotations of the eagle are risible in
the Legend of Saint Stanislaus.33 Władysław of Opole used the sign of
29 D. Forstner OSB, Świat symboliki chrześcijańskie], Warszawa 1990, pp. 240-243.
30 A. Paner, Z dziejów kultu Św. Wita na Slowiańszczyźnie Zachodniej (From the History
of the Cult of Saint Vitus in the Western Slavonic Lands), Studia Lednickie, II, 1991, pp.
43-50.
31 F. Cach, Nejstarśiceskemince (The Oldest Bohemian Coins), III, Praha 1974, no. 987.
32 A. Barciak, Ideologia polityczna..., p. 53.
33 Wincenty z Kielczy, op. cit., p. 278. For more on aąuilarian symbolism in medieval
Poland see J. Wrzesiński, Lednicka plakietka z orłem oraz kilka uwag na temat adaptacji i rozpo-
wszechniania się orla-symbolu (The Plaąuette from Lednica with the Eagle as well as Several
Comments on the Subject of Adaptation and Prevalence of the Eagle Symbol), Studia Led-
nickie, II, 1991, pp. 151-154.
347