NR/ARMS
The arms
The baronial arms of the Nikolić de Rudna family, read piece by piece: what the plate shows, and what the sources say.
The plate, point by point
Select a number on the plate, or a point below, to see what the plate shows and what the sources say.
The dove
Seen on the plate A white dove with open wings and an olive sprig in its beak, standing on the small coronet above the helm.
Stated in a source The crest of the 1694 arms is described as a white dove, ready for flight, with an olive twig in its beak.
The crest coronet
Seen on the plate A small gold coronet set with pearls and a red stone rests on the helm. The dove stands on it.
The helm
Seen on the plate A helm seen from the front, in blue-grey steel. Red lining shows through its gold-edged openings.
The mantling
Seen on the plate Scrolling acanthus leaves in gold and blue frame the helm and the shield on both sides and run down to the ends of the ribbon.
Stated in a source For the 1694 arms the source gives the colours as gold-and-blue and silver-and-blue, under the word ermine (хермелин). We read this as the mantling.
The coronet over the shield
Seen on the plate A gold coronet set with pearls and red stones, over a red cap, rests on the top edge of the shield.
Stated in a source The source captions the plate “Baronial arms of the Nikolić of Rudna family (second half of the 19th century)” (Appendix 2). It does not describe the coronet.
The shield and the lion
Seen on the plate A blue shield bearing a golden lion rampant, without a crown and with a single tail.
Stated in a source The 1694 arms show a crowned lion with a double tail. On the baronial arms the golden lion “does not wear a crown”, unlike on the earlier noble arms.
The sabre
Seen on the plate A curved sabre with a pale blade arches over the lion’s head. The lion grips its hilt in a raised paw.
Stated in a source The 1694 arms are described with the sabre in the raised right paw and the left paw “threateningly extended”. Serbian Wikipedia, citing Acović 2008, mentions a lion bearing a sabre.
The motto
Seen on the plate A blue ribbon under the shield, lettered VIRTUTUM NEXU in gold capitals. Its ends curl upward on both sides.
Stated in a source On the baronial arms, unlike the earlier noble arms, a Latin motto appears at the bottom: Virtutum nexu, in Serbian Врлином повезани (“bound by virtue”).
Two sets of arms
The noble arms issued with the 1694 grant are described in the 2021 paper as follows. In a blue field, a golden crowned lion with a double tail, standing and turned to the right; in the raised right paw it holds a sabre, while the left paw is threateningly extended forward. The crest is a white dove, turned to the right and ready for flight, with an olive twig in its beak. The mantling is given as gold-and-blue and silver-and-blue. The paper does not say where this description comes from.
| Feature | 1694 noble arms | Baronial arms |
|---|---|---|
| Shield | Blue field | Blue shield (plate) |
| Lion | Golden lion, standing, turned to the right; sabre in the raised right paw, left paw extended | Golden lion rampant, holding a sabre (plate) |
| Crown on the lion | Crowned | None |
| Tail | Double | Single (plate) |
| Crest | White dove, ready for flight, olive twig in its beak | White dove with an olive branch, on a small coronet (plate) |
| Mantling | Gold-and-blue and silver-and-blue | Gold and blue (plate) |
| Motto | None described | Virtutum nexu |
On the baronial arms, the paper says, the golden lion does not wear a crown and — unlike on the earlier noble arms — a Latin motto appears at the bottom: Virtutum nexu. The paper takes this from Lendvai (1905, p. 142), which this archive has not seen; it follows the paper’s account of it.
Serbian Wikipedia describes the family’s arms in fewer words — a lion bearing a sabre — and cites Acović’s Heraldika i Srbi (2008, p. 434), which this archive has not seen.
The motto
Virtutum nexu is Latin. It parses as virtutum, “of the virtues” (genitive plural), and nexu, “by the bond” (ablative of nexus): literally, “by the bond of the virtues”. That reading is the archive’s own. The 2021 paper renders the motto in Serbian as Врлином повезани, “bound by virtue”.
The grant of 1694
The arms were issued with the grant of nobility of 26 March 1694, an armales — a letter of ennoblement. King Leopold I gave it to the brothers Manojlo, Petar and Slavon Nikola and to Manojlo’s wife Ana, and it was published the same year at the assembly of Pest County. The author of the family manuscript never saw the letters patent; he knew their content from indirect sources, so the exact text of the grant is not known.
About the plate
The plate shown here is the baronial arms in colour. The same artwork is printed as Appendix 2 of the 2021 paper, captioned “Baronial arms of the Nikolić of Rudna family (second half of the 19th century)” and credited there to Lendvai (1905). The copy this archive uses was supplied by the family; where that copy comes from is not recorded.