Henry II the Pious — The Silesian Eagle

Silesia · c. 1224–1241

Or, an eagle displayed Sable, on its breast a crescent Argent and in its hollow a cross pattée Argent

…ut fidelis ac strennuus miles Cristi, Tartaris pro populo dei constanter se opposuit.
…like a faithful and valiant knight of Christ, he stood firm against the Tartars for the people of God.

The Life of Saint Hedwig, his mother, c. 1300

Who He Was

Henry II the Pious (Henryk II Pobożny), son of Henry I the Bearded and Hedwig of Andechs, took part in government in his father’s lifetime and succeeded him in 1238 in Silesia, Kraków and parts of Greater Poland. A high duke, not a crowned king, he was killed fighting the Mongols at the Battle of Legnica on 9 April 1241.

No shield known to have belonged to him survives. His seal, recorded from 1224 to 1239, shows an elongated shield bearing an eagle with a crescent and a small cross on its breast: his father’s device, set on the eagle.

The Evidence

Tinted lithograph of a round brown wax seal hanging from cords: a duke in a flat helmet and long garment stands facing forward, a raised sword resting on his right shoulder and an elongated shield with a spread eagle in his left hand, with a curling plant stem on one side and a palm branch on the other, inside a legend ring beginning with a cross. — Henry II's standing seal on plate II, no. 9 of Alwin Schultz's Die schlesischen Siegel bis 1250 (1871). The sword, the elongated shield, the eagle, the plant stem and the palm branch are clear. The crescent can be discerned as a band across the eagle's breast and towards its wings; the small cross that SFRAGIS records is not clearly distinguishable in this reproduction.Image: Alwin Schultz (ed.), Die schlesischen Siegel bis 1250 (Breslau, 1871), plate II, no. 9; scan via SFRAGIS, John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin Public domain Cropped to the seal and converted to WebP for site use.

Black-and-white line drawing of a round seal: a bearded duke in a flat cap-like helmet raises a sword and holds a pointed shield bearing an eagle with a crescent-and-cross device on its breast, the small cross set within the crescent, between a curling stem and a palm branch, inside a Latin legend. — A line drawing of Henry II's seal, attached in SFRAGIS to Kazimierz Stronczyński's 1888 description; its draughtsman and original publication are not recorded. Here the crescent and the small cross on the eagle's breast are drawn distinctly. It is a drawing, not a photograph of an impression.Image: Drawing attached to the SFRAGIS record of Kazimierz Stronczyński, Pomniki książęce Piastów lenników dawnej Polski (Piotrków, 1888), p. 183; John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin Public domain Converted to WebP for site use.

What Is Proven, and What Is My Reconstruction

This interactive shield is a historically informed interpretation of mine. The eagle with a crescent and cross on its breast comes from Henry's seal; the colours follow the later arms of Silesia, and the shape, construction and rear fittings are documented reconstruction choices, not recovered details of his own shield.

In plain words: no shield of his survives. Only what is marked as evidence comes from the sources; everything else, which is most of the build, is my interpretation.

What the evidence shows

Emblem: An eagle with a crescent and a small cross on its breast, as on his standing seal (SFRAGIS, 1224–1239).

What is my reconstruction

Drawing: The eagle is drawn in the later heraldic style, with a crescent spanning its breast and a red tongue, not copied line for line from the seal's simpler bird.
Colours: A black eagle on gold with a white crescent and cross, the colours of the later arms of Silesia. No contemporary source records Henry's own colours; this follows later tradition, as the article explains.
Shape and size: Short Kite Heater, 56 × 88 cm across the flat board, with the workshop's standard 10 cm bow. The seal shows an elongated shield tapering to a point; its exact outline and size cannot be measured from the seal.
Core: Linden planks, 10–12 mm thick, glued edge to edge with animal glue and shaped to the curve. Shields of his time were built from glued boards (Seedorf, Szczecin: alder); linden was a shield wood of the thirteenth century (Konrad von Thüringen, Marburg).
Front: Two layers of linen glued over the face and turned round the edge onto the back, standing in for the parchment of surviving shields; gesso, paint and a beeswax finish.
Back: Two layers of linen dyed blue. A workshop colour choice: the reverse of his shield is not recorded.
Guige: An adjustable shoulder strap on two riveted mounts. Unlike his father's, Henry II's seal shows no shoulder strap; the guige is a workshop addition.
Fittings: Leather enarmes for the left arm (crossed forearm straps and a hand grip) and a leather-covered arm pad. The seal does not show the reverse; their layout is mine.

Made as an Artefact

I paint and weather every shield of the series by hand, so each one differs a little from the preview and from every other. The preview shows the design; the shield you receive is its own.