National and historical symbols of Hungary

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Foktő

(The County of Bács-Kiskun)

Foktő is an ancient village, so when its coat-of-arms was designed, there were a great number of motifs that could have been applied together or separately.

Shield erect, azure, base curved to a point. A lion rampant or, langued and armed gules, queue fourché, on a scrolled stem-posted shipwreck sable sinking into waves vert, holding in his sinister paw a scimitar argent hilted gules, in his dexter paw a flag purpure, on the pole a cross and a scroll all or, the latter reading the date 1311 in Roman numerals (MCCCXI). Flag double-pleated, the middle voided circular, the field emblazoned azure; on a single tree proper issuing out of a base vert a stork, proper. In the sinister base a sack gules sinking into the waves and charged with a decrescent; a six-pointed star between the horns, all or.

Shield ensigned with a nine-pointed open baronial coronet or, lined vert, the points gorged with a pearl argent each, the headband purpure with nine pearls argent.

The coat-of-arms is not enfiled with mantling; however, it may be framed by a laurel branch on the sinister and an oak branch on the dexter.

This symbol is a canting arm, the most important motifs of which relate to the battle of May 1599 on the river Danube, in which the Haiduk (contemporary Hungarian foot soldiers) led by General Miklós Pálffy destroyed a Turkish army that outnumbered them by ten times. The Haiduk killed more than a thousand Turks, and captured or sank nearly a hundred vessels.

The water is also a reminder of the name of Foktő, since here was the point where the branch called Vajas, the busiest waterway as far as Apatin during the Middle Ages, broke away from the river Danube.

The golden cross on the purple flag indicates that the population follows the Christian faith as well as the fact that the village was owned by the Archbishop of Kalocsa for a long time. The date on the scroll means the first documented mention of the village in 1311. This was the year when the settlement went into the ownership of a new beneficiary; nevertheless, its former landowners are also mentioned in the document. The field names of Turkish and Slavic origin, recorded during the perambulation on the occasion, suggest that the area might already have been inhabited as early as the Avar age (9th century AD).

On the purple flag is borne the image of the settlement's first known seal, a tree with a stork turning to the right in the crown.

The red bag with the Turkish crescent relates to the landowner's manor, which might have been located here during the Turkish rule. A reference to this is the name Törökkepidülő, by now having been modified to Törökképi.

The baronial coronet is another reminder of General Pálffy.