The following items are a direct translation from the classical genealogical and heraldic reference "Herbarz Polski" by Kasper Niesiecki, S.J., Lipsk (Leipzig) edition, 1839-1846.

K

KORAB ARMS

Arms: gules, within a double prowed ark, or, a stonernasoned tower proper with a top embattled. For a crest, the charge of the arms.

There should be an ark of gold in a red field, with a gray mast; the same is seen in the crest. Thus it is described in Paprocki's Gniazdo cnoty [Nest of Virtue], p. 509; in 0 herbach, p. 462; in Bielski, p. 113; in Okolski, volume 1, p. 413, and volume 2, p. 179; in Klejnoty, p. 56; and in the manuscript of Kojalowicz. At one time there was a sail on the mast, such as is commonly seen on ships; later, for new services, a tower was inserted in place of the mast, with a crenelated (embattled) top.

Paprocki says in Gniazdo that these arms were brought to Poland from Germany, by a knight named Miorsz; but in his later book on arms he states that the arms came from England with that same knight. Bielski also speaks of England; others say Robert, Bishop of Krakow, first brought them to Poland. Parisius surmises that these arms were acquired by descendants of Sarmatian Vandals when they devastated France with Prince Krok in the 5th century and overran many port cities. St. Prosper added that they did so by "good judgment. The cities were not located on rivers to the sea; the barbarians overcame artifices, and their arms grew mighty in their fury." From this Parisus concludes that those who took part in this expedition were given Korab as their arms... Or it may have happened in the time of Emperor Justinian, of whom he says, based on Cedrinus, that when the Slavic Huns [sic] attacked Thrace, always successfully, he had great ships built and put in the river Danube, to bar the way for the invaders. The Slavs, however, sank some of the ships, and captured others; perhaps those most re

sponsible for this received the Ark in their arms in commemoration. From all this one can conclude that in dealing with such ancient events we can surmise more than we can prove. What is sure, as Bonnani wrote in Ordines Equest. [Knightly Orders], p. 85, is that once King Louis of France established a new cavalry for a holy war; each member was to wear around his neck a ship on a golden coin, and the order was called Equites Navis [Knights of the Ship].

Of this family Dlugosz expresses his opinion that members of the Korab clan were "upright and moderate."

Forebears of This House

Robert was castellan of Sieradz circa 1081. His son Robert, or as some spell it, Rupert, oversaw several monasteries of Wroclaw, Silesia (in Vitae Episcoporum Cracov. [Lives of the Krakow Bishops], Starowolski erred by writing Vladislaviensis [Wladyslaw] instead of Vratislaviensis [Wroclaw]); he was chosen by the Wroclaw chapter to be bishop of Wroclaw. That he discharged that office worthily is shown by the fact that in 1142 - in an example rarely seen in those times - he was unanimously elected and invited by the canons of Krakow to take over their diocese. He administered it, too, with pastoral solicitude, devotion to church discipline, and humility, as if he held no high office; he was particularly generous to the poor, and was beloved in the eyes of all. He enlarged the Krakow cathedral from the very foundation, and consecrated it; and with all this he served only two years in that position before he paid his debt to mortality, in 1144. See Starowolski, loc. cit., and Paprocki.

Mrokota oversaw monasteries of Poznan, and the Poznan chapter elected him bishop of that diocese; having tended the flock entrusted to him in a saintly manner for ten years, he passed on into eternity in 1196 and was buried in the Poznan cathedral; see Dlugosz, Vitae Episcoporum Posnan. [Lives of the Bishops of Poznan]. Others include Jan Radlica, bishop of Krakow, among the forbears of this house, but I will speak of him under the Radlickis.

Zbislaw was wojewoda [royal governor] of Sieradz in 1242. Piotr was a castellan in 1400, but Paprocki does not say of what district. I spoke of Zbislaw in volume one. Okolski includes Baldwin, Bishop of Krak6w, among the members of clan Korab, but Starowolski associates him with the Aichingiers, which is where I spoke of him.

Sedziwoj or Sandek of Korab arms was rector of the Academy of Krakow and Gniezno canon, a man devoted to God. It was he who, when King Kazimierz lost a battle at Chojnice, prayed ardently before the crucifix and begged God with tears in his eyes to reveal to him the reason for this unfortunate war. All night long he persisted, wearing a hair-shirt, sighing to God, and it was revealed to him that none other than the King was to blame for the army's defeat in this time of need - the King's sins were the sole reason. He was ordered to go to the King and remind him of the if the King mended his ways, God promised better success from then on. If not, he was to foretell certain doom and the vengeance of God. Sandek went in simple clothes, barefoot, to Brzesc; there he went before the King, rebuked him for his disobedient life, and proclaimed his sins, which God had revealed to him. This Sandek died in Klodawa. Dlugosz, book 13, p. 162. Pruszcz, no. 83, from Acta Academ. Cracov. [Records of the Academy of Krakow], Vosdasius in Ethica 1. 3, 1453. In Archiepiscopi Gnesn. [Gniezno Archbishops] Damalewicz says later this Sedziwoj became a regular canon in Klodawa, and was rector of the monastery there in 1476, and there many of his manuscripts remained.

Bearers of These Arms

[Added by the 19th century editor, Bobrowicz.] In addition to the families listed here, Duriczewski, Kuropatnicki, Malachowski, and Wielqdek and others give these families in their armorials as also using these arms:

Translated by Leonard J. Suligowski; first appeared in the May 1999 issue of  "Rodziny, The Journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America".