The image above shows the rear view of a lion with a forked tail.
This lion decorates the most beautiful headstone of the old Jewish cemetery in Prague. Not one lion, but two, one at each end of the sarcophagus, which includes four tails all in all...An earlier post at Poemas del rio Wang documents the extensive use of the double- or forked-tail lion in Prague and surrounding areas.
This pose of the lions and their double tail is really quite unusual in a Jewish cemetery. We have already mentioned that the lion on Jewish tombstones mostly refers to the tribe of Judah or those of Davidic descent, or the name of the deceased as Judah, Aryeh, Leb or Löw. Sometimes it supports, together with a fellow lion, the crown of the Torah, which symbolizes the protection of the faith. But it never holds a nobleman’s coat of arms – as a Jew could never have such a thing –, nor is it ever double-tailed, which has served as the heraldic device of Czech kings, ever since Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in15581158 bestowed it, together with the title of king, upon the Czech prince Wladislaw II, for having supported his Milan campaign.
The Wikipedia entry on the Lion in heraldry depicts the basic creature and its variants: "The tail also may be knotted (nowed), forked (queue fourchée) or doubled (double-queued); as in the arms of the kingdom of Bohemia."But why double? Or forked? I know of no legendary creatures with such an attribute. If I were to bet a nickel, I would guess that the original artist drew a double tail as an artistic convention to depict a tail in motion, and thereafter the tradition was established. Some readers with actual knowledge may be able to offer a more definitive explanation.
"ever since Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1558 bestowed it"
ReplyDeleteThat date is off by 400 years or so. The coat of arms does date back to Barbarossa, but he reigned in the 12th century (1155-1190).
It's a typo -- Frederick Barbarossa bestowed the coat of arms upon Wladislaw II in 1158.
DeleteThank you. My wife also noticed the error and emailed me about it. I've amended the post and will notify the blogger at the source link.
DeleteI'm delighted to have so many proofreaders for TYWKIWDBI. :.)
You’re absolutely right, it was a typo in my original article ( http://riowang.com/2014/11/a-jew-of-three-emperors.html ), 1558 instead of the correct 1158. Thank you for the correction. And thanks to Minnesotastan for referring to my humble posts on the history of Bohemia :)
DeleteI know that a mistranslation caused Michelangelo to put horns on Moses. So who knows just how simply a mistake (if it was a mistake) might be at the root of this?
ReplyDeleteI don't know the answer myself, but I will ask some other heralds in my living history group.
ReplyDeleteNo leads on the origin yet, but one of them brought up that heraldry is very static (they show snapshots in time, eg., courant=running, salient=jumping), so drawing two tails for that purpose isn't likely. People also designed heraldic charges with multiple body parts that make no sense as representing motion. Look up "tricorporate" for an example.
DeleteCzech sources of heraldry state that in the original coat of arm, donated to Prince (and hereafter King) Wladislaw by Emperor Frederick Barbarossa in 1158 (!!! ;) ) the imperial lion only had one tail. This is how we see it in the Czech royal sigils until the mid-13th century. According to the early 14-th c. Chronicle of Dalimil, the second tail was added to it, when the greatest ever Czech king, Ottokar II (1233-1278) assisted the Emperor – this time Otto IV – again, in his campaign against the rebellious Saxons, just like his predecessor did a century before. However it happened, it is a fact that the two-tailed lions first appears in Ottokar II’s coat of arms in 1247.
ReplyDeleteDouble-membered animals are in general quite frequent in heraldry. Apart from the Austrian and Russian double-headed eagle (both heirs of their Byzantine grandfather), I should mention as a striking contemporary example the double-tailed dog, the symbol of the very sympathetic Hungarian mock party, see Wikipedia, as well as my own post here: Unite! :)
Your last link doesn't work for me. I think this is the post you are referring to:
Deletehttp://riowang.com/2009/05/unite.html
I found a discussion of fork-tailed lions at this link:
ReplyDeletehttp://history.stackexchange.com/questions/12661/symbolism-of-lion-with-forked-tail
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Regarding the meaning of the forked tail -- John Bossewell's Workes of Armorie (1572) had this to say:
"Here the Lyon his tayle is forked. For by the taile his boldenesse, and harte is knowne, as the horse is knowen by the eares. For when the Lyon is wrothe, first he beateth the earthe with hys tayle, and afterwarde as the wrathe increaseth, he smiteth, and beateth his own backe."
Nice find, anonymous. I note one comment at the link does make note of the Bohemian heraldry (and also suggests that forked=moving).
DeleteAt the risk of getting too far off topic, the Old Jewish Cemetery in Prague is the supposed meeting place of the "Elders of Zion" according to that hateful (and repeatedly debunked) conspiracy theory.
ReplyDelete