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Herbarz Miast Polskich Polish Civic Heraldry

GRYFICE
(Greifenberg)

Origin/meaning:
The arms show the canting griffin (Greif in German) of Pommerania, as the city is part of Pommerania. The oldest 14^th century seals already show a griffin, or a fleur de lis. But already from a later, but still 14^th century seal the symbols are combined. On some seals the grioffin stands in or above a river, the Rega. The main arms thus never changed since.
In the late 18th or early 19^th century the arms were augmented with two savages as supporters and on top of the shield a helmet, with as a crest a fleur-de-lis between two banners. In the end of the last century these additions were no longer in use.
The now Polish city still uses the old arms. In 1963 the arms were shown on a blue field, just as the arms of Szczecin, the capital of the province and of Pommerania. A hand-written footnote in my sourcebook hover mentions that this is a mistake and that the field should be silver as in the old arms.

Literature : Hupp, O : Königreich Preussen. Wappen der Städte, Flecken und Dörfer. Reprint von 1896 und 1898. Kulturstiftung der deutschen Vertriebenen, Bonn, 1993; Polskie Herby Miejskie, Warzsawa, 1963.

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