Prince Rohan's Button

The finds of the average detectorist are almost never anything particularly valuable, but occasionally there is a piece that is interesting, especially if one does a little digging about it. One such find is my recent discovery of an Earl's, or coat of arms, button. Seemingly, it's a very ordinary button, but the coat of arms embossed on it hides a lot of interestingof history because it was worn by a member of a well-known and distinguished noble family.

Coat of arms buttons are an interesting category of artefacts that detectorists often find. It was a great fashion in its time and every proper nobleman had to have a button with the coat of arms of his own family on his clothing, and of course preferably a large and gilded one. Every detectorist finds such a button from time to time, and the best part is the subsequent search and search for what coat of arms it is. Often these are smaller or lesser known families, which are then hard to trace. In this case it was easy, because it is the coat of arms of the well-known Rohan family, which has a long, rich and interesting tradition in our territory.

The Rohan family originates from France, specifically Brittany, and has several branches: Rohan-Guéméné, Rohan-Soubise, Rohan-Gié, Rohan-Chabot, Rohan-Gué-de-l´Isle, Rohan-Polduc, Rohan-Montauban, Rohan-Rochefort and also Rohan-Choustník, which is named after the South Bohemian castle Choustník. The Rohan family was a prominent family and among its members we would find, for example, several cardinalsdukes, marshals, but also the Grand Master of the Knights of Malta and many other important personalities.

The 1983 Czech film As Prince Rohan starring Vladimir Mensik.

Link to the film: https://www.csfd.cz/film/158498-jako-knize-rohan/prehled/

Apart from Choustník Castle, however, the name Rohan is most often encountered in Prague, where it is found in several important places. First of all, there is Rohanský ostrov - a former Vltava island, now part of Karlín in the Prague 8 district. Next to it is the busy Rohanské nábřeží street, which is no longer a waterfront, because Rohanský island is no longer an island. In Karmelitská Street in the Lesser Town, just a short walk from the Charles Bridge, in the very historical centre of Prague, we can find the magnificent Rohan Palace. But it is not only in Prague that we meet the Rohan family, their coat of arms can be found on the facade of Svijany Castle and they were also associated with Sychrov Castle. Just for the record, however, the Sychrov lady, i.e. Countess Marguerite Rohan, did not seek restitution of Sychrov Castle after 1989, and yet she was verygenerously financed its reconstruction without any claim to ownership - the castle is still owned by the state. She died on 19 September 2012 in Austria.

Richard Müller / Heart Like Prince Rohan- thanks to this song, the name Rohan is quite well known in our country.

But we can also encounter this well-known name in culture. The Slovak singer Richard Müller, who is also very popular in the Czech Republic and sings in both Slovak and Czech, is probably the most famous. His song Heart like Prince Rohan, released in 2014, was a big hit at the time. Another interesting fact is the lesser-known Czech film Like Prince Rohan from 1983 starring the famous Vladimir Mensik. It is a television adaptation of the novel Špáta by Karel Václav Rais, directed by Zdeněk Kubeček. This successful dramatic work deals with the tragic fate of Špáta, a poor villager who suddenly and unexpectedlyHowever, his easily acquired big money did not bring him any happiness, quite the opposite.

There you have it - one simple button and what a story it can tell. Well, that's what I like most about detectorism, that it's not necessary to find a pile of gold, because the real treasure can be found even in such ordinary things as a button.

Still, for the sake of argument, I'll add that the button is 25 mm in diameter and that it has absolutely no financial or collector's value, it's just an interesting button. Nevertheless, in time I will offer it with other junk to the local museum.