Heraldic and Diplomatic Analysis of the Grants of Arms of Croatian and Slavonian Nobility granted by Rudolph II, Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III

Tema ovog diplomskog rada odnosi se na heraldičku i diplomatičku analizu šesnaest grbovnica hrvatskog i slavonskog plemstva izdanih od strane hrvatsko-ugarskih kraljeva Rudolfa II., Ferdinanda II. i Ferdinanda III. Radi se o dosad neobjavljenom dijelu građe koja se čuva u Hrvatskom državnom arhivu, u fondu Armales (Grbovnice), signature HR-HDA 885. Grbovnice su kronološki smještene u razdoblje 16. i 17. stoljeća, pisane su humanistikom, na latinskom jeziku, dok je materijal na kojem su nastale pergamena. U sklopu heraldičke analize provedeni su: opisi štitova grbova i likova na štitu, opisi kaciga iznad štitova, kruna i likova iznad štitova, kao i boje plašteva. Svi su grbovi zatim međusobno uspoređeni prema posebnostima koje su uočene prilikom heraldičke analize. U diplomatičkoj je analizi provedena raščlamba grbovnica s obzirom na vanjske (materijal pisanja, boja tinte, pečat…) i unutarnje karakteristike (invokacija, intitulacija, arenga…) te su kao i u heraldičkoj analizi sve grbovnice međusobno uspoređene po navedenim karakteristikama. Pri istraživanju je uočeno da određene grbovnice odstupaju od uobičajenih heraldičkih i diplomatičkih standarda, a neke su od njih bile znatno oštećene, čime ih je bilo teško detaljnije analizirati. Osim grbovnica, o navedenim obiteljima ima jako malo povijesnih podataka, osim pojedinih, gotovo pa nebitnih informacija iz fonda Mape plemstva (signatura HR-HDA 884). Općenito, unatoč navedenim nedostatcima i iznimkama, ipak se može reći kako većina grbovnica slijedi sva heraldička i diplomatička pravila.The thesis of this work relates to the heraldic and diplomatic analysis of 16 grants of arms of Croatian and Slavonian nobility issued by Croatian-Hungarian kings Rudolph II, Ferdinand II and Ferdinand III . It is a question of yet unpublished material which is being conserved in the Croatian State Archive, in the holding Armales under the call number HR-HDA 885. Chronologically, these grants of arms are set in the period of 16th and 17th century, written in humanistics, in Latin language, whereas the material on which they were created is the parchment paper. In the framework of heraldic analysis the basics that were carried out were: descriptions of shields of the coats of arms and figures on them, discriptions of helmets above them, crowns and figures above shields. All of the coats of arms were afterwards mutually compared one to another on the basis of particularities which were encountered during the heraldic analysis. In the framework of diplomatic analysis, the grants of arms were divided into joints on the basics of their external (handwriting material, the color of the ink, the seal…) and internal (invocation, intitulation, arenga…) features and all of the grants of arms were, as carried out in the heraldic analysis, mutually compared one to another on the basics of these features. During the research, it has been noticed that several of these grants of arms deviated from common heraldic and diplomatic standards and several of them were considerably damaged due to the poor conservation, which presented significant difficulties in further analysis. Except the grants of arms, no further information on historical background of these families has been found, apart from the holding Maps of nobility (call number HR-HDA 884), which also has not been much of the help. However, in spite of all of the mentioned drawbacks and exceptions, it can be clearly stated that most of the grants of arms abide by all heraldic and diplomatic rules