Familia Herlechini – motyw czarnych jeźdźców w kulturze średniowiecznego Zachodu (XI-XII w.), jego narodziny, znaczenie symboliczne i funkcje ideologicznze

Familia Herlechini – the Motif of Black Riders in the Western Medieval Culture (11th-12th Centuries): Its Birth, Symbolism and Ideological Functions The aim of the article is the historical and socio-cultural analysis of the phenomenon of the motif of black riders which functioned in the Middle Ages. In particular, the author tries to determine the symbolic and ideological role it fulfilled in those days. This problem has not been fully researched and described and many of its aspects still await description and analysis. Research on the topic is practically absent in Polish mediaeval historiography, with one exception of a study by Leszek Słupecki. The present article analyses these issues against a broad cultural background. The analysis of the phenomenon of the black riders leads the author to a conclusion that in high Middle Ages it played very important cultural and social functions and was a useful tool of describing the reality of those times.