Adolf Maximilian Ferdinand Gritzner (29 July 1843 – 10 July 1902) was a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 expert on heraldry

Heraldry

Heraldry is the profession, study, or art of creating, granting, and blazoning arms and ruling on questions of rank or protocol, as exercised by an officer of arms. Heraldry comes from Anglo-Norman herald, from the Germanic compound harja-waldaz, "army commander"...

 and a herald in the Ministry of the Interior in Berlin

Berlin

Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...

. His reference book on orders of knighthood was still in print in 2000. Gritzner was born in Sorau (Żary)

Zary

Żary is a town in western Poland with about 39,900 inhabitants , situated in the Lubusz Voivodeship...

 and died in Berlin.

Bruno Bernard Heim calls Gritzner the authority who, in 1889, "coined the definitive terms of the German heraldry". In 1893 Gritzner published his authoritative book on faleristics

Faleristics

Faleristics is an auxiliary science of history which studies orders, medals, decorations and their systems . The field also studies the medals' accessories, such as ribbon bars, award certificates, and statutes...

 and as a herald in the Prussia

Prussia

Prussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...

n Home-Office he was involved in exposing several phoney noblemen.

Gritzner was "Königlich Preussischer Kanzleirat und Premierleutnant ausser Dienst" (German for " Royal council to the Chancellery and First Lieutenant on leave"). Gritzner's son, Dr. Erich Gritzner, was also a herald and a publicist.

Publications

• Briefadel in Preußen 1873

• BAYERISCHES ADELS-REPERTORIUM DER LETZTEN DREI JAHRHUNDERTE, nach amtlichen Quellen gesammelt und zusammengestellt durch Maximilian Gritzner, Gorlitz, Verlag von C.A. Starke, 1880;
• Gründsätze der Wappenkunst verbunden mit einem Handbuch der heraldischen Terminologie. Verlag: Nürnberg, Bauer & Raspe, 1889-1890.

• Amyntha. Ein Rheinischer Sang Verlag:Leipzig, Elischer Nachf. 1892

• Handbuch der heraldischen Terminologie in zwölf Zungen. Nürnberg: 1890.

• Handbuch der Ritter- und Verdienstorden aller Kulturstaaten der Welt innerhalb des XIX. Jahrhunderts. Auf Grund amtlicher und anderer zuverlässiger Quellen zusammengestellt. Verlag:Leipzig., Verlagsbuchhandlung von J.J.Weber, 1893.

• J. Siebmacher Grosses Wappenbuch
  Siebmachers Wappenbuch
  Siebmachers Wappenbuch refers to two heraldic multivolume book series of armorial bearings or coats of arms of the nobility within the Holy Roman Empire .The Old Siebmacher...
  
  . Die Wappen und Flaggen der Herrscher und Staaten der Welt.

• Die Altpreussischen Aufgehobenen Dom-Kollegiate, Deren Innere Verfassung Und Ihre Orden Und Ehrenzeichen (reprint) ISBN 3-7648-1073-4 / 3764810734