History
Crests
Coat of arms of Báthory
The original appearance from the period of "living heraldry", when only colours and metals appeared on the shields, so that you could distinguish the fighting sides in the direct battle. The colours and metals were combined in clear geometric shapes (there are five colours in heraldry – azure, gules, purpure, sable and vert; and two metals – or and argent).
The arms of Bathory is a great example of living heraldry – three argent wedges in the red field.
Later the wedges became round a little; this shape is called a wolf's tooth – the wedges in the arms started to be considered wolf's teeth.
The coat of arms from 1483: the heraldic figure (wedge) joined with a legend – the arms reminds of a legendary story of Vid, one of the family ancestors, who killed a dragon in Ecsed swamps. As a reward, he got property in the district of Szabolcs. The dragon twisted around the shield symbolized the family membership in the Order of Dragon (founded by the Emperor Sigismund of Luxembourg on 12 December 1408).
The coat of arms in the decadent period of heraldry: the wolf's teeth are depicted with the dragon; this image also appears on the taler issued by Gabor Bathory in 1611.
Large coat of arms of Sigismund Bathory, Prince of Transylvania (1581-1597, 1598-1599, 1601-1602). In this arms, the effort of heraldic expression typical for the then period is noticeable – the arms referred to all the areas he ruled, i.e. Transylvania, Moldavia, Walachia (princedoms); the imperial eagle symbolizes dukedoms Oppeln and Ratibor.
Nadasdy family coat of arms
Record of the family's existence dates back to the 13th century. Their coat of arms appears on the family's seal and has remained mostly unchanged since the 15th century. This is unusual because it was typical for a family to express their social advance by supplementing heraldic elements of baron or count status on their coat of arms.
The Nadasdy coat of arms is a blue shield background with a silver duck raising its wings on the silver water surface between two green stalks of reed. The crown rests on a closed tournament helmet from which blue and silver mantling falls on each side. The crest is a standing silver duck in soar with wings wide open.
The imagery on the Nadasdy family coat of arms belongs to the heraldic category of canting arms, which express the name of their holders. The Nadasdy name originates from the Hungarian word "nadas," meaning covered in reed or reed bed or rather in the word "nad," meaning reed. This is why the stalks of reed are symbolically more important than the duck, which is only seemingly dominant.
The Nadasdys kept the basic form of their coat of arms, and on some seals the duck is shown taking off from the water's surface heading towards the opposite direction – otherwise the heraldic imagry does not change.
Also found on the Nadasdy coat of arms is this motto: Si Deus pro Nobis quis contra Nos? (When God is with us, who is against us?). Pavel Nádasdy Deo; Regi et Patriae (For God King and the country) – Ferenc II Nádasdy.