Symbols of medieval Queens and Royal Families

I found a photograph of one of King Tvrtko II Kotromanic's symbols. He was Bosnia's King and Queen Katarina Kosaca-Kotromanic took most of these tablets and symbols with her to Italy when she was exiled during the Ottoman conquest.



The snake is unusual in my mind, I've not seen much with that particular symbolism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian Lily on the crown, though, is a clear symbol of the Kotromanic family and other Bosnian nobles. The star and crescent have nothing to do with Islam - but pagan Bosnians worshipped the sun (not a star) and moon and the symbols endured in Christian Bosnia under the Bosnian Church for quite some time. They're still important today, really - though this is mainly Islamic in nature.

I have no idea what the sideways heart refers to. This symbol is obviously Bosnian but the snake really throws me off. I've seen it in reference to Kotromanic with a flag pole-type symbol, wrapped around it, but never on its own. Until shown otherwise, I'm going to assume this is actually the symbol of an aristocratic Bosnian family, but not the Kotomanic family. I'd say a branch of the Kulenovic family or something?

I'd be interested to hear violentjack's and Bosniakum's views!

the lilly symbol has been presented in Europe for 1000s of years. (can you tell me why the bosnian muslims adopted lilly as "their national symbol" of Bosnia??)
btw. the star and crescent have been always symbols of islam.

p.s. -  first time i see this photograph.

it is not correct, mila!

as we know Bosnia is historically Serbian land, and the so-called "bosniaks" (or however it's spelled) are the Serbian descentants who adopted lillies from the Serbian coat of arms - 4C.

Oh God, they're saying the sun, dragon, and moon = the pyramids of the sun, dragon and moon. 

Originally posted by Mila I found a photograph of one of King Tvrtko II Kotromanic's symbols. He was Bosnia's King and Queen Katarina Kosaca-Kotromanic took most of these tablets and symbols with her to Italy when she was exiled during the Ottoman conquest. The snake is unusual in my mind, I've not seen much with that particular symbolism in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Bosnian Lily on the crown, though, is a clear symbol of the Kotromanic family and other Bosnian nobles. The star and crescent have nothing to do with Islam - but pagan Bosnians worshipped the sun (not a star) and moon and the symbols endured in Christian Bosnia under the Bosnian Church for quite some time. They're still important today, really - though this is mainly Islamic in nature. I have no idea what the sideways heart refers to. This symbol is obviously Bosnian but the snake really throws me off. I've seen it in reference to Kotromanic with a flag pole-type symbol, wrapped around it, but never on its own. Until shown otherwise, I'm going to assume this is actually the symbol of an aristocratic Bosnian family, but not the Kotomanic family. I'd say a branch of the Kulenovic family or something? I'd be interested to hear violentjack's and Bosniakum's views!

It has some similarity with the Garay coat-of-arms (a crowned wriggling snake with an golden apple in its mouth).

Edited by Raider - 19-May-2006 at 07:24