About the coat of arms of the House of Ruthard Lore Books

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A legend about the origin of the noble coat of arms of the Ruthard family.

Text

About the Ruthard’s family coat of arms

During the reign of the good King Wenceslas II of the Premyslides, a fever for precious metals broke out in Kuttenberg. Many people came every day to Gang and Kukliek to seek their fortune on the surface and underground. There was so much pure silver flowing out of the furnaces that even the last miner could get rich if he had not drunk it all before or had not met with misfortune in the mine. And those who didn’t return were not few. But nothing could discourage the profit-hungry mine owners from opening new shafts.
Along with the mine owners, rich merchants also came to Kuttenberg, who rented the mines from the king to extract white metal from them at their own expense and thus increase their wealth even more. Proving that they were successful in their work, the patricians began to build great houses and palaces, and soon a large town with several markets and a town hall was established. A little later, high walls were also erected to guard the peace and wealth of the upper town.
One of the first to come to Kuttenberg to try their luck was the German Ruthard family, who established an estate on Kolmark above the river Vrchlitz, where silver in the fissures rose to the surface in abundance and had therefore been mined here for ages. Jan Kunzlin Ruthard was a well-known mine owner and erckaufier in Kuttenberg, so when King Wenceslas II himself visited Kuttenberg, he offered him hospitality in his house. The king, impressed by the selection of food and the wealth of Ruthard’s house, realised that Jan must be well versed in silver mining, since he was doing so well. Imagine the king’s astonishment when, after a good meal, Jan took him into the cellar, where the silver bars lay on top of each other like ears of silver wheat in a sheaf. Then the king asked Jan for the first time: ‘Whose silver is all this, Ruthard?’ And he answered him wisely: ‘Yours, King, if ever thou hast need of it from me.’ The king, pleased with these words, shook his head and told Jan that he had no need of it yet, but would remember it.
Later Jan accompanied King Wenceslas to vespers in the monastery of Sedletz. On the way, the king asked his guide who owned the meadows they were passing through, and Jan told him: ‘You, gracious King! But I manage them, and I pay every year ten white groschen to the abbot of the monastery for their use. Please plead with him, so I pay less.’
The king promised to plead, and in good humour turned his horse to a willow tree that grew by the roadside. He broke off a branch from it and handed it to Jan, saying: ‘Let this sprig be a reminder to posterity of My Grace for the sincerity with which you have shared your treasures with me.’
Ruthard understood the king’s words, and while Wenceslas stayed in the monastery, he hastened to the city, where he had the royal arm and the sprig painted on his shield. When Wenceslas saw the new decoration on his shield, he confirmed the coat of arms and with it the dignity Ruthard had achieved for his family that day.