The Cracow Cathedral Chapter » The Seal of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter
The greater seal of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter
with the image of the south façade of Wawel
Cathedral (1273)The earliest known seal of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter dates from 1212 and represents the Romanesque church which was under construction at that time, in the form of a two-tower basilica with an apse and a cross surmounting the chancel. The next surviving seal originates from 1234 and also features Wawel Cathedral.
In the 13th century, the image of the Virgin Mary with Child also appeared on the seal, while in 1264, the effigy of St Stanislaus. In the 14th century under the reign of Queen Jadwiga, two types of chapter seals were in use – the large seal and a smaller one. The smaller Chapter seal from 1373 represents half-figures of St Stanislaus and St Wenceslaus – patron saints of Wawel Cathedral, with a bishop and two canons praying in the arcades below. The great seal of the Chapter appeared in the last years of the 14th century; its oldest imprint dates from 1403. It features a coat of arms with Three Crowns laid out following the system called rostrój, i.e. two crowns above and one below. Over the coat of arms are the busts of St Stanislaus and St Wenceslaus.
A seal of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter(Contrasigillum)
with the image of St Stanislaus (1273)The Three Crowns in the emblem of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter originate from Cologne, the city to which allegedly relics of the Three Magi were transferred to rest in the 12th century. Therefore the emblem of the Cracow Chapter was believed to have been associated with Bishop Aron, who came to Cracow from Cologne with Duke Kazimierz the Restorer. In his Polish armorial from the mid-19th century, Kasper Niesiecki wrote that ”the emblem originates from Aron, a Benedictine monk who came from Cologne to Tyniec, to later become Bishop of Cracow; since no one from his family had survived in Poland, the Cracow Chapter assumed it as its own to commemorate this good shepherd when he passed away.” The Three Crowns as a coat of arms may also be seen on two seals of Bishop Jan Muskata: the majestic seal and the secret seal. The secret seal bears an identical emblem as that of the Chapter. The question of how the emblem on the seal of Bishop Muskata wandered to the Chapter coat of arms from the late 14th century, as well as the question of who was accountable for the fact that, in the 14th century, the Three Crowns replaced the former emblem and whether that person wanted to make a reference to Aron, who had organised the chapter as a corporate body in the mid-11th century, remains still open to research. Sufficient to say that, since the 15th century, the Three Crowns have been the symbol of the Cracow Chapter and its coat of arms.
The coat of arms of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter on a keystone
at the Czartoryski family Chapel -2nd quarter of the 15th century (detail)Since that time the Three Crowns have appeared not only on seals but also in illuminated manuscripts, in printed liturgy books connected with Wawel Cathedral, on liturgical vessels, liturgical robes, and on buildings commissioned by the canons and the Cracow Cathedral Chapter.
Jan Długosz was the first to describe the colours of the Cracow Cathedral Chapter in his work Insignia seu Clenodia Regis et Regni Poloniae. They are three gold crowns on a blue background symbolising heaven.
The colours were confirmed by Pope Clement XII on the 26th of September 1733. He granted the canons of the Cracow Chapter the right to wear golden crosses with the image of a white eagle and St Stanislaus on their obverse side, and three crowns on a blue background on the reverse.
When Wawel Cathedral became a parish church, three crowns began to be appear on cathedral parish seals. They are also used in the coat of arms of Wawel Cathedral itself.