Stamp piston

After the end of the Griffin dynasty and the Thirty Years' War, the area of the Duchy of Pomerania was divided between Sweden and Brandenburg in 1654. The capital of the duchy, along with the neighbouring territories, were taken over by Sweden. However, the Brandenburg rulers treated this division as temporary, and wanted to drive the Swedes out of Pomerania and to incorporate Szczecin into their state. They made their first attempt in 1659. This is commemorated by the city seal of Szczecin from 1660. Carefully engraved in bronze, the seal features a field with a crowned municipal coat of arms with lions to its sides. The whole is surrounded by a laurel wreath. The seal field is separated from the inscription around the rim by two concentric circles, one continuous and the other consisting of a series of trefoils. The outer border near the edge of the seal is also a laurel wreath. The lions, as well as the crown above the escutcheon – previously unused in Pomeranian heraldry – were taken from Swedish state heraldry. Szczecin received the right to decorate its coat of arms with such elements from the Swedish king Charles X Gustav (1622-1660). This was the token of appreciation for the city’s support of the Swedish side, as well as its heroic defence against the Brandenburg and Imperial armies in 1569. The laurel wreath symbolised this victory and had a strong symbolic meaning. In the years 1676 and 1677 Elector of Brandenburg Frederick William I (1620-1688) laid siege to Szczecin twice more, and the city eventually surrendered in 1678. Before a year had passed, the Elector had to return the city to Sweden. Eventually, the Hohenzollern dynasty bought Szczecin together with the surrounding lands in 1720.

Mieszko Pawłowski