This book is a reprint from issue 31 of 1988 of the periodical of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece.
This Codex was donated to the Society in 1882 by a noted personality of Zakynthos named Sergio Christodoulou Raftanis.
The late Dr. Typaldos painstakingly went through the poor quality images of the Codex 17, indexed them, researched them and tried to match them to the appropriate names. The book has images of the original pages and it is easy to see the poor quality images as well as the round shields that distorts the charges a bit.
What makes this research work special is 1) the length the author went to tie the heraldry together and 2) that it lists burgher and corporate arms in addition to those of the nobility.
The original text had names written incorrectly or in a way that couldn’t be read clearly. Typaldos managed to make the links and used as a source the unpublished archives of count Alexander Merkatis. These archives contain a treasure trove of genealogical and heraldic information for the families of the island.
The book contains 296 shields with their blazons and names they are associated with. Not only are those of the local Greek populace listed but also that of Venetian nobles that were temporarily stationed on the island as governors, military chiefs, etc. Also, a unique occurrence in Greece, we find corporate arms such as those for the customs & duties office of the island. Moreover, the codex is the largest armorial ever discovered in the Greek language.
In reading the entries for each shield and name, one learns of the title of the person (if titled) or if the family is non-noble. We also learn what are the roots of the family (e.g. Crete, Constantinople, Morea, Athens, Chios, etc.), what is the first recording of the family on the island and in general. We also learn of when was the family first inscribed in the Libro d’Oro of Zakynthos, if applicable.
It should be noted that Zakynthos, along with the other Ionian islands, was under Venetian rule until 1797 when Napoleonic France took over. Thus, the customs, mannerisms and traditions very much mimicked Italy. To this day, the accent of those from Zakynthos has a distinct Italian “feel” to it.
The names covered are the following (in parentheses is the name in Italian):
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Source: http://www.idtg.org/archive/tag/heraldry-of-greece/



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