Illyrian Armorials
The Illyrian Armorials are a group of armorials compiled from mainly fictional medieval coats of arms, among which there can be found several actual coats of arms, during the late 16th to mid 18th century. They are all copies based on alleged lost original of the Ohmučević Armorial, commissioned by Petar Ohmučević, a person of Ragusan origin, who went to become an admiral of Spanish court and navy at some point between 1584 and 1594. It is an example of the earliest form of Illyrism idea and notion of so-called "Illyrian Empire", which formed the ideological basis for both the later rise of nationalism in the Balkans among its South Slavs, and the idea of unification.
The armorials combine historical with fictional coats of arms to construct the notion of an "Illyrian Empire". This fictional Empire happened to coincide exactly with the sphere of interest of the Spanish Empire in the Balkans at the time, and hence also Petar's own. Petar Ohmučević personal goal was to confirm his own "Illyrian" noble origins, after he rose to the rank of admiral in the Spanish navy, and in order to qualify for the greater chivalric orders of Hapsburg Spain at the time, for which was necessary to prove descent from eight noble and purely Catholic great-grandparents. Ohmučević was granted the status of nobleman in 1594, which is taken as the terminus ante quem of the armorial.
Ohmučević's armorial can thus be considered a personal project in inventing and probing one's origin, or even a hoax, as he invented genealogy in order to defraud a Spanish court and qualify for the coveted title. However, its immense influence in becoming the foundation of South Slavic or "Illyrist" heraldry in general, can't be denied. An important source for Ohmučević's heraldic inventions was the Wappenbüchlein by Virgil Solis, which itself contains fictional arms of "foreign kingdoms".
The Illyrian Armorials includes the following armorials, with estimated dates in brackets:
| Armorial | Date | Description |
| Ohmućević Armorial | 1584–94 | |
| Belgrade Armorial II | 1574–1603 | in Latin, one of the oldest and finest of the Illyrian Armorials. |
| Korenić-Neorić Armorial | 1595 | in Slavic and Latin. |
| Tasovčić Armorial | 1596–1623 | |
| Berlin Armorial | ||
| Palinić Armorial | end of 16th, beginning of 17th | in Slavic and Latin |
| Althann Armorial | 1614 | based on an older armorial, copied in Vienna, made for Austrian feldmarschall Althann. |
| London Armorial | 1637 | |
| Skorojević Armorial | 1633 | in Latin, based on Altan Armorial. |
| Fojnica Armorial | 1675 | made for the younger branch of the Ohmućević for Austrian nobility status. |
| Split Armorial | 1740 | |
| Kevešić Armorial | 1740 | in Latin. |
| Saraka Armorial | 1746 | in Latin, made by Ragusan Miho Pešić for 'P. M. P'. |
| Olovo Armorial | end of 17th | in Latin, uncoloured, copy of the Korenić-Neorić Armorial, likely by Ivan Benigni. |
| Vukoslavić Armorial | 1700 | in Latin, likely copied along with the Olovo Armorial, made for the Split clergyman Petar Vukoslavić. |
| Pašković Armorial | 1820–25 | |
| Festetić Armorial | 1837 | in Latin, copy of the Ohmućević Armorial. |
| Šafarik Armorial | 1845 | in Cyrillic, copy of the Fojnica Armorial, made for Janko Šafarik. |
| Pašalić Armorial | 1842 | good copy of Fojnica Armorial, made by Filip Pašalić for Ljudevit Gaj. |