czupryna

thumb|One of ''Sachsenspiegel's illustrations. A Wend stands at the left, gesturing that he does not understand the speech. He has a halfshaven head and characteristically wrapped legs, like all the Wends in the Sachsenspiegel''. thumb|Henry I the Bearded and [[Jadwiga of Andechs wedding, 14th century Poles are on the left, with halfshaven heads. Medieval Poles didn't like long hair: Henry's beard was so strange to them that he was even called "the Bearded".]] thumb|Stanisław Koniecpolski, 17th century|alt=Stanisław Koniecpolski thumb|The Last of Nieczujas The czupryna, also known as the Polish halfshaven head, is a traditional haircut of Polish nobility (szlachta), associated mainly with Sarmatism, but worn by Poles in the Middle Ages too. It is marked by shaving hair above the ears and on the neck at the same height, with longer hair on the top of the head. For hundreds of years it was typical of szlachta.

==History== The origins of the halfshaven head are not clear. It was probably worn before the 12th century until its slow disappearance in the 18th century. Some of the earliest mentions of the "Polish halfshaven head" from the Middle Ages were written by an anonymous Franciscan in 1308, Wincenty from Kielcza (half of 13th century), and Austrian poet Zygfryd Helbling (end of 13th century), In the chronicles of Mierzwa (beginning of 14th century) from Kraków, we can also read that Prince Leszek the Black (died in 1288) grew his hair to ingratiate himself with Germans, so it was a scandal both in his times and in the times of the chronicle. Graphic sources include the paten (half of 13th century) from Płock Cathedral commissioned by Konrad Mazowiecki, and the paten commissioned by Mieszko the Old (year 1195) for the Cistercian monastery in Ląd, and the floor from Wiślica (years 1175-1180).