learning is fun

I spent 2 hours yesterday reading about Polish heraldry.
Rather fascinating, actually.
Link is here:
http://www.szlachta.org/heraldry.htm#introduction

What it boils down to is that:
a) the Poles did a crap job of maintaining their heraldry (though to be fair, due to how the heraldry was attained in the first place, it wouldn't have been to easy to begin with.)
b) there are some really cool symbols found in Polish heraldry found nowhere else, like the cross osmorog.
c) Unlike most European cultures, the person belonged to the heraldry - the heraldry didn't belong to the person. (Which is where things started off murky)
d) there was an interesting stratification within the single noble class (or szlachta.) Structure reminded me more of Italian mobs than noble houses. THough I guess the line between the two could get a touch blurry...


Yea, as you can probably tell, I'm wicked busy...
- K.