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The GRIFFIN bird
An animal from the human
fantasy, much used in coats of arms and flags>
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 The
griffin, Grijp
in Dutch, Grip
in Swedish and Griep
in the old Low-German language, is an animal that
only exists in the mythology: it's half a lion
and half a bird of prey. He mostly is portrayed
as a winged animal, the upper part of the body
being an eagle, and the lower part of the body
being a lion.
In
the middle ages, the griffin was considered to be
one of the symbols of Christ (two natures in one
person), of the Church (the religious and the
secular power) and the pope (the king of all
priests).
In
the heraldry the griffin is very often used,
especially in the countries around the Baltic
Sea.
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THE
GRIFFIN
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The griffin was already known as
a mythological animal in the old ages. Aristeas
(7th century before Christ), the first one to
mention it, called him the guard of the gold of
Northern Europe and the adversary of the one-eyed
Arimaspes in Scythie. In ancient Greece the
griffin was considered to be an attribute of
Apollo. Portrayed as a gigantic bird with the
head of an eagle and the body of a lion, the
griffin appeared on Attic vases and in the relief
art of Anatolia, Babylon and Rome.
The
griffin combines the strength of a lion with the
speed of an eagle. His shaggy legs have sharp
claws. According to the ancient Greek the griffin
came from India, and later from the far North. In
the middle ages these myths get a quite different
character, when people tend to believe in its
real existence. In 1587, Lonicern the
following description of this animal:
"The
Griffin is a feathered, four-legged animal. His
body is that of a lion, with the wings and the
face of an eagle. The Griffins from Asia and
Scythie, who guard the gold and silver, are
savage and cruel birds who hardly allow anyone to
enter their territory. Every human being they see
will immediately be torn to peaces, as if their
main task in this world is to kill their desire.
The Arimaspi, a tribe from Scythie, fights them
because of their precious stones: in every nest
lays an agate. They hate horses and men, and in
battle they will beat an armed man. When they
have killed a cow, horse or human being, they
carry it away flying. Their nails are as big a
ox-horns and their feathers are strong enough to
use them as strong arrows or lances."
 In ancient times
the griffin is also said to have nested in
Pomerania. When the city of Greifenberg was
founded, an old legend tells, the first plan was
to build it on the Lübzow mountain. When they
had all the building material transported to that
spot, a griffin that had his nest nearby took all
the materials and brought it to the place where
the city now is situated. The griffin played a
similar role when the city of Greifswald was
founded.
According to the
old legend, on the place where now Greifswald is
situated there used to be a big and densely grown
forest. When the monks of monastery of Eldena
wanted to found a city in that forest, they first
send out some scouts to look for a proper place.
The scouts sailed off the River Ryck and surveyed
both sides of the river. At a certain moment they
spotted a huge four-legged griffin with two
tails, sitting to brood on a tree-stump. The
monks thought this to be a good omen and they
decided to build the city on that spot. The place
where the griffin-nest was found is now called
Schubhagen. From the earliest times on many
terrible things has happened over there: the
expelled griffin used to rob children to swallow
them; later on people spotted horrible ghosts
that were wandering around at nights: a big wife,
rattling with a bunch of keys, driving a herd of
pigs or snow-white goose in front of her; the
appearance of a black horse or a grey that jumped
on peoples shoulders and pushed them unto the
ground that hard that the blood came out of their
noses and their mouth. In recent times that kind
of ghostly apparitions have however stayed away.
These and other saga's are based
on very old tales and stories. The oldest one is
in Pomerania from Joh. Bugenhagen:
„It has been
told that in old days Griffins used to live in
our region, and to proof this people point at the
names of some cities that have pesumably been
named after the Griffin bird. Some of those are
Gripeswald, or the wood of the Griffins,
Griphenberg and Gryphenhagne. To make this legend
more credible, one adds this and the other that.
On one spot people tell that the Griffin had his
nest in the middle of the market place, somewhere
else another location is indicated. People also
point at a tree-stump on which the Griffin is
said to have been sitting."
In 1593 the magistrate Lukas
Takke made a stand against the old legends
about the Griffin bird. He did this is a lecture,
published in Latin, about the city of Greifswald:
"The first
part of the cities name isn't, as often has been
told, derived from the Griffin bird that would
have nested here, but goes back to the coat of
arms of the famous 'Greifen' family, the
ancestors of the Dukes of Pomerania. "
 The legend about
this ancient noble family is also written down by
Temme. It says that a noble family by
the name of Gripes used to live nearby
the present location of the city of Greifswald.
When the members of this family started
plundering around, the were finally eradicated.
Because the part of the forest where the city was
founded was owned by this family, the city was
named Gripeswald, later Greifswald. At the bottom
of the coat of arms a tree-trunk is shown, with
green leaves. A Griffin is sitting on it, holding
a branch with his claws. The tree-trunk points at
the location where the city was founded. In 1249
duke Wartislaw III of Pommern-Demmin
granted the city the right to carry a Griffin on
the coat of arms, and when this duke died in 1264
without a successor and Greifswald fell to duke
Barnim I. of Pommern-Stettin, a branch was added
because of that name. About the origin of the
city of Greifenhagen, no legends are known with
regard to the Griffin bird. Maybe he has been
replaced by the dragon, who would have lived on
the Bahner gate, and is still haunting there.
Griffins do appear in the old
legends of Pomerania on two other locations.
Close to the southeastern corner of the Klützer
forest, between Binow and Wittstock (Kreis
Greifenhagen), there is a small lake called Rotte
Griep. Near the southern shore of the lake
there is an ancient wall, subject of numerous old
legends. According to the saga the lake got his
name because of the Griffin that nested along his
shores. Another explanation is, that members of
the Greifen-family was buried near the
lake, sometime before the year 1124. The true
origin of the name however derives form the
Slavic word gribu, which means fungus or
mushroom.
 On the island of Usedom there is
a recently made-dry swamp called Thurbruch, also
Auerochsenbruch. Much of the area used to be
covered by forest, in which griffins were said to
be living. Once a herdsman took his little son
with him in the forest, while grazing his herd.
When he had to leave his son alone for a while, a
griffin came and took his son with him to his
nest, where he put him between his own young.
When the herdsman returned and didn't find his
child, he immediately knew what had happened. He
hurried to the griffin's nest, and found the old
griffin already flown out again. The father
bravely climbed into the mighty fir-tree, and
saved his son who had managed to keep clear from
the griffin's young. When they stood on the
ground again, he put the fir-tree on fire to
destroy the griffin's nest. In that he succeeded,
but unfortunately the whole forest was set on
fire. So, until recent years, peat-diggers will
sometimes find carbonized tree-trunks in the
swamp, that remembers them about that big
wood fire.
The historian Schmidt
points to the fact, that cities that are named
after the Griffin bird are almost always situated
in or nearby area's that were formerly Slavic. In
Silezië we find the cities of Greifenberg,
Greifental, Greifenstein and Greifenhahn, in
Lausitz and in Saksen there are Greifenhain,
Greifenberg and Greifen and in Austria
Greifenstein and Greifenburg. The legends and
saga about the Griffin are still vivid among the
population of Pomerania. And also in another way
their memories are living on; in the Treptow
region the inhabitants of Pomerania and those of
Mecklenburger are calling each other names
according to their mutual coats of arms: Mecklenburgische
Ossenköpp (ox head from Mecklenburg)
respectively Pommersche Aasvögel
(carrion bird from Pomerania).
Source:
A. Haas (1922): Der Vogel Greif in der
pommerschen Volkssage, in: Unsere Heimat.
Heimatbeilage der Kösliner Zeitung, Jg.1922,
Heft 12.
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GRIFFIN
COATS OF ARMS
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 On
this map is shown, which towns, villages and
regions do have a griffin on their coats of arms.
The purpose of it is, to
find out whether there is any relation between
that and the places where names like Griep, Grijp
and Grip originate.
Each
red dot on the map represents a local community
that has a griffin on their coats of arms, and
the pink area's do the same for a country,
province or region.
A great help by drawing
this map has
been
the Civic Heraldry Special Pages:
http://www.ngw.nl
by Ralf Hartemink,
on thewebsite of the Bank of the
Dutch Municipalities.
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A conclusion that can be drawn on
the basis of this map is that, besides the
concentration of griffins in Pomerania, there is
no clear relationship between the appearances of
griffins on the coats of arms in the region and
the surnames Griep, Grijp and Grip. On the
contrary. In Scandinavia the surname Grip appears
frequently, but there are hardly any griffins on
the coats of arms. But in the middle and the
south of Germany the opposite is the case. The
appearance of the surnames Griep, Gryp and Grip
in Flanders, Ostfriesland, Emsland and Holstein
also doesn't have its reflection on the regional
coats of arms. |
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THE
BALTIC COAST OF POMERANIA
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 Before
World War II, the German province of Pomerania
had centuries long a griffin on his coat of arms.
That province doesn't exist anymore, its area has
been divided between a German and a Polish part.
The west became a part of the German state of
Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The centre and the
eastern part now form the Polish provinces
Pomorze Zachodnie en Pomorze. All these regions
still carry the griffin on their coats of arms,
and also does a lot of the lower regional and
local authorities in the Pomeranian area. |
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 THE
GERMAN STATE OF MECKLENBURG-VORPOMMERN
The members of the obotritic
dynasty of Mecklenburg have always, with
pride, emphasized their Wendic origin.
Probably, the presence of the griffin as
the first heraldic symbol of Mecklenburg
has something to do with these roots. The
griffin, being a mystic fable animal,
could have been the symbol of all the
Christianized slavic peoples, especially
the Wends, and would ultimately have
become the symbol of the winds. |
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THE
COUNTIES IN AND AROUND VORPOMMERN
Vorpommern has four counties,
and three of them have a griffin on their
coat of arms: Nordvorpommern,
Ostvorpommern and Ücker
Randow. With regard to the color
of the griffin: the golden griffin is the
symbol of the Rostock region, while the
black griffin is a variation of the red
griffin of Pomerania. Vorpommern is
situated in that part of Pomerania that
was governed by a branch of the ducal
family that had the black griffin in his
coat of arms. Finally, the coat of arms
of the county Uckermark,
in the state of Brandenburg just
underneath Vorpommern and for centuries
long disputed between Pomerania and
Brandenburg, shows a Pomeranian griffin
as well as the eagle from Brandenburgs. |
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Nordvorpommern
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Ostvorpommern
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Ücker
Randow
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Uckermark
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  TWO
POMERANIAN PROVINCES IN POLAND
At left the coat of arms of Pomorze
Zachodnie and right that of Pomorze.
Also in this case the different colors
reflect the different branches of the Greifendynasty
that for centuries long rules the area. |
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COATS OF
ARMS OF POMERANIAN MUNICIPALITIES
It is not a surprise that the
mythological griffin also appears on many
coat of arms of regional and local
authorities in the Pomeranian region.
Most of them already last for many
centuries long, some of them even from
the 13th century. |
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Altentreptow
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Bialogard
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Dargun
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Demmin
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Franzburg
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Greiffenberg
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Greifswald
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Gryfice
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Gryfino
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Jarmen
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Nowe Warpno
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Okonek
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Penkun
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Platy
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Polanow
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Pyrzyce
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Slawno
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Slupsk
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Swinoujscie
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Szczecinek
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Tczew
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Trzebiatow
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Wolgast
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Wolin
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OTHER
REGIONS AROUND THE
NORTH AND BALTIC SEAS
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Along the coast of the
North an Baltic seas the griffins appear, outside
Pomerania, more sporadically. There isn't really a
patron that can be recognized. Each appearance
seems to have its own specific origin. |
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NORWEGIAN PROVINCE
All the way on the top of
Norway, rather more along the Ice Sea
than the North Sea, the province of Troms
fylke is situated. The
griffin in its coat of arms came from the
Bjarkøyætten family, in the 13 century one
of the most wealthy and powerful
families of the country. They also ruled
over big parts of Troms fylke, which made
the province to chose the griffin, who
combines the courage of an eagle with the
strength of a lion, to be shown on their
coat of arms. |
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 SWEDISH
PROVINCES
In Sweden there are three
provinces with a griffin on their coat of
arms. All of them are derived from Bo
Jonson Grip, the mighty governor who in
the 12th century ruled this land and
lived in these provinces. He had the
griffins head, at the right, for his coat
of arms. This symbol didn't find its way
into much municipal heraldry, besides the
Saab factories who named their fighter
plane Gripen after it and placed the
Griffin logo on their cars. |
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Östergötland
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Skåne
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Södermanland
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Stockholmslän
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LATVIA
On the national coat of arms of Latvia
here below, a griffin and a lion are
facing each other.  The same
goes for the shield supporters. The
griffin seems to be introduced in  Latvia
after count Friedrich of Kurzeme, who in
1590 founded the city of Serene, died.
When he was killed the war in 1647, his
widow grants her coat of arms -- derived
from her birthplace Stettin -- to the
city. This town is now called
Jaunjelgava and is situated in
the centre of Latvia. The griffin in the
national coat of arms of Latvia found its
way into that of the provinces Latgale
and Vidzeme and the
municipalities Ainazi
and Rezneke. |
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Latgale
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Vidzeme
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Ainazi
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Rezneke
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 TWO
BOROUGHS IN ENGLAND
There are only two English
boroughs with a griffin on their coat of
arms: Solihull (left)
near Birmingham and Trafford
(right), part of the conurbation of 
Manchester. The griffins on both coats of
arms are derived from noble families
living in the region. The one from
Solihull comes from the earls of
Aylesford and the one from Trafford from
the family with the same name. Apart from
these two, there are in England several
coats of arms with griffin as supporters
of the shield: Alderley Edge, Barnsley,
Broadland, Camden, Dorking and Horley,
Elmbridge, Holborn, Knowsley, Malton,
Oldham, Rotherham, Stoke Newington,
Swamsea, Tandridge and Whitehaven. |
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MUNICIPALITIES
WITH A GRIFFIN IN THE NETHERLANDS
The four griffins on the coats
of arms of municipalities in the
Netherlands all have a different
background. The former municipality Grijpskerk,
founded in 1474 by Nikolaas Grijp, honors
its founder with a wrongly drawn griffin
(without wings). The coats of arms from Ooststellingwerf
and Weststelingwerf
are derived from the old seal of
Stellingwerf, that made itself free from
the bishop of Utrecht during the 14th
century. On the oldest seal, from 1350,
some obscure animal is shown, his tail
between the legs, and a five point star
within a circle. On later seals it
becomes clear  that this
animal is a griffin. The coat of arms of Wolphaarsdijk
lastly is derived in 1817 from the
polder-board Oud-Wolphaartsdijk, founded
in 1577. Besides that there are also
coats of arms with griffins as supporters
of the shield. Two of them flank the coat
of arms of Dordrecht
(right), dating from the 13th century. It
is derived from the coat of arms of count
Jan van Beieren. Also the coat of arms of
the municipalities of Heemstede and
Vlaardingen are supported by two
griffins. On the one of Heilo the griffin
shares his task with a lion. |
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Grijpskerk
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Ooststellingwerf
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Weststellingwerf
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Wolphaarsdijk
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DENMARK
AND NORTHWESTERN GERMANY
The griffin on the coat of arms
of Gram, a town in the
south of Jutland, was already shown on an
old seal daring from 1600. It was
probably derived from Erik von Pommern
who was ruling the area in the 16th
century. So this red griffin is related
to the Pomeranian greif. The
griffins along the German coast --
outside Pomerania -- of the Baltic sea
however are golden griffins, for many
centuries the symbol of the city of Rostock.
This city started as a settlement near a
Wendic fortress, received city-rights
from Lübeck in 1218 and was in the later
middle ages one of the most important
trading cities in Northern Germany. The
golden griffin is also shown on the coat
of arms of nearby Ribnitz
and on that of the county Bad
Doberan, that surrounds Rostock.
Also the golden griffin on the coat of
arms of the county Nordvorpommern is
derived from Rostock. |
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Gram
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Rostock
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Ribnitz
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Bad Doberan
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THE
GERMAN SPEAKING AREAS IN CENTRAL EUROPE
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In the rest of Europe,
outside the coastal area along the Baltic Sea,
the griffin mainly appears on coats of arms in
the German speaking areas in central Europe:
central and southern Germany, Luxemburg, the
French Alsace, Switserland, Zwitserland,
Liechtenstein and Austria. These griffin coats of
arms are rather evenly distributed over this
whole area. In many cases the coat of arms has
been derived from a noble family that played a
role in the history of the municipality. |
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 THREE
VILLAGES IN LUXEMBURG
  The first
one (left) is from the village of Dippach
in the south of Luxemburg. Then Kayl
(right), whose coat of arms seems to be
derived from the Lords of Kayl, a family
that for centuries long rules the
village. Finally Mertert
(far right) along the eastern border of
Luxemburg. The coat of arms is the same
one as from the Billig family, who has
been living in the area form the 14th
century. |
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FOUR
VILLAGES IN THE FRENCH ALSACE
There are four villages
in this originally German speaking part
of France with a griffin in their coat of
arms: Furdenheim, Munwiller,
Pfulgriesheim and Uhlwiller.
With respect to their origin, there is
probably a relationship with the Seigneurs
de Greifenstein, one of the oldest
noble families from the Alsace and
already mentioned in 1165. They lived at
Greifenstein castle at Saverne.
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Furdenheim
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Munwiller
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Pfulgriesheim
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Uhlwiller
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 MUNICIPALITIES
IN CENTRAL GERMANY
One can expect that Greifenstein,
a village in the German state of
Hessen and now part of a greater
municipality with the same name but a
different coat of arms, traditionally had
a griffin on his coat of arms (right).
Greifenstein castle, build in 1352 and
now in ruins, has for many years been in
possession of the count of
Solms-Greifenstein, who had a griffin for
his symbol. The griffin on the coat of
arms of the nearby Holzappel (below)
dates from the 17th century and is
derived from the county with the same
name. Next is Obbornhofen
also in Hessen and a part of the
municipality of Hungen. The village of Kella
and the market town Niederorschel
are both in Thüringen. This
last town first appears, in a charter
from the Beuren monastery, under the name
'Asla'. The village could be very old, it
maybe founded in the 5th century. Petersberg
is situated in the state of
Rheinland-Pfalz, just like the two
villages Clausen en
Rodalben, now
both incorporated in the new Rodalben
municipality. Schramberg finally,
in the state of Baden-Württemberg,
started as a few buildings around the
local castle. It changed possession a few
times, and one of them were the counts of
van Bissingen-Nippenburg, from which the
griffin on the coat of arms was derived. |
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Clausen
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Holzappel
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Kella
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Niederorschel
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Obbornhofen
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Petersberg
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Rodalben
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Schramberg
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MUNICIPALITIES
IN THE SOUTH OF GERMANY
  Both
villages Neuburg am Inn
(left) and Neuhaus am Inn
(right) are situated along the river Inn,
south of Passau. The griffin on their
coats of arms is derived from the noble
Vornbach family, founders of Neuburg
castle and for many centuries the rulers
of the region. The griffin on the coat of
arms of Jengen (right
below), also in Bavaria,
is derived from the Steingaden monastery,
in the old days the large landowner of
the area.  On the
row below, the first coat of arms is that
of Freystadt in Bavaria.
The town was founded in 1300 by the Lord
of Hilpoltstein. The oldest seal dating
from 1332 shows the griffin of the Lords
of, who on their turn derived it from the
counts of Peilstein. Next is Neckarzimmern,
situated east of Heidelberg. Then Niederaudorf,
in the south of Bavaria near the
Austrian border. The griffin on the coat
of arms is derived from Johann von
Messener, the founder -- in 1721 -- of a
castle in the village. Finally, also in
Bavaria, Rot an der Rot. |
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Freystadt
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Neckarzimmern
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Niederaudorf
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Rot an der Rot
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SWISS
MUNICIPALITIES WITH A GRIFFIN
The first one is Donath,
a farmers village with less than 200
inhabitants -- 3000 feet high -- in the
mountains of Graubünden in the southeast
of the Graubünden region. Next one is Feldis,
with just 140 inhabitants. Greifensee
is a village near
Zürich,
with a coat of arms already mentioned in
1473, and to conclude
Wiggiswill
in the Bern region. |
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Donath
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Feldis
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Greifensee
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Wiggiswill
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 LIECHTENSTEIN
Balzers, in the south of the
mini-state Liechtenstein, has 4400
inhabitants. The griffin on the coat of
arms is derived from the Lords of
Frauenberg, from Graubünden in
Switzerland, who owned the local castle
around the year 1300. |
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MUNICIPALITIES
IN AUSTRIA
The municipality of Gerlos
is situated near the border
between Tirol (with an eagle on the coat
of arms) and Salzburger Land (with a
lion). The griffin does symbolize that by
combining both animals. In 1130 count
Ekbert II of Formbach choose Grafendorf
, in Steiermark, for its residence. The
village that grew around his castle took
over the coat of arms of this mediaeval
noble man. Leonding
finally, situated near Linz, derived the
griffin from the Painherren,
large landowners in the area. |
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Enzenkirchen
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Gerlos
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Grafendorf
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Greifenburg
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Innervillgraten
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Leonding
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Tumeltsham
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Windhaag bei Perg
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GRIFFINS
IN THE REST OF EUROPE
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In the rest of Europe,
coats of arms with griffin on it do appear much
more sparsely. Where they do, there is often some
relationship with German speech or heritage, like
in the south of Poland (which has been under
German or Austrian rule), the north of Italy
(close to southern Tirol), the Czech Republic
(the former ethnic German Sudetenland), Hungary (a
ethnic German enclave)) and Romania (the former
ethnic German region Siebenbürgen). One of the
few exceptions is central Italy. The griffins in
that area seems to have Etruscan roots. |
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 A
SMALL TOWN IN FRANCE
Anse is
situated along the river Saône, a bit
north of Lyon. The place has been
inhabited since prehistoric times. In the
11th century, the city of Lyon build a
fortress on this spot. There is no clue
yet about the origin of the griffin on
this coat of arms. |
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FIVE
MUNICIPALITIES IN THE REST OF POLAND
 Away from
the coastal area along the Baltic Sea,
there are another five municipalities in
Poland with a griffin on their coat of
arms. The first one is Brzesko
(rights), a small town in southeast
Poland, with city-rights dating form the
year 1385. Here below is at first the
coat of arms of Choroszcz,
situated in the northeast of Poland and
founded in the 16th century. Next is Debica,
a town in southeast Poland, named Dembitz
in the period that it belonged to
Austria. This coat of arms dates from the
16th century. The griffin in the coat of
arms is derived from the Gryfow family,
who ruled the area for many centuries.
Then Gryfow Slaski
(Greiffenberg in German times), a town in
southwestern Poland. The griffin is
already shown on the oldest seal of the
town, in the year 1353, at first in
combination with a rising moon. The
present layout dates from 1562. Finally Swidnica,
a town in southwest Poland. |
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Choroszcz
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Debica
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Gryfow Slaski
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Swidnica
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 THE
CZECH REPUBLIC
 Radvanice
and Bartovice are two former villages,
now incorporated in the city of Ostrava.
One of them had a griffin in his coat of
arms, which is now also shown on that of
the new rural district Radvannice
a Bartovice (left).
The coat of arms at the right is from Greifendorf,
till 1945 a village inhabited by Germans.
The village now has another name (Hradec
nad Svitavou) and another coat of arms. |
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 TWO
HUNGARIAN MUNICIPALITIES
 In
Hungary there are several griffins that
act as a supporter of the shield. This is
also the case in the capital Budapest.
Besides that, there are two
municipalities with a griffin on their
coats of arms itself. The first one is Ganna
(left), a village in the Veszprém
region, near the town of Pápa, and
populated with etnic Germans. The golden
griffin is the symbol of the Esterházy
family, that once ruled the village. The
second one is Héviz
(right), a spa with thermal baths west of
Lake Balaton. |
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 A
FORMER HONGARIAN PROVINCE IN ROMANIA
Küküllö is a former German
speaking province of Hongary, dating from
the period of the Austrian-Hongarian
monarchy. The area, in Siebenbürgen, is
now situated in Romania. The coat of arms
of the region is on the right.
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 A
CROATIAN VILLAGE
The coat of arms at the left is
from Zabok, a village in
Croatia just north of Zagreb. Its
background is that in 1335 the town has
been granted to a noble family, who
subsequently took the town's name as
their own: Zaboky. In 1575 this was their
coat of arms, and the present
municipality has chosen to take it over. |
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 ITALY
At right the coat of arms of Cloz,
a small village in the partly German
speaking North Italian region of Alto
Adige. But also more to the south
griffins do appear in the local heraldry.
It seems that the griifin is an old
Etruscan symbol. Underneath, the first
coat of arms is that of Perugia,
the capital of the Italian region of
Umbria. The second one is Narni,
in the south of Umbria. Moreover there
are the two Tuscans cities Volterra
and Montepulciano, both
with their roots in the Etruscan past,
who show a griffin in their coats of
arms.
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Perugia
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Narni
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Montepulciano
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Volterra
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