The following items are a direct translation from the classical genealogical and heraldic reference “Herbarz Polski” by Kasper Niesiecki, S.J., Lipsk (Leipzig) edition, 1839-1846.
JASTRZĘBIEC ARMS
The blazon or verbal description of this shield is given in its proper form as a herald of ancient times would announce or describe what he saw upon the knight’s shield. Following the correct verbal description of the shield, the English translation of the actual Polish text pertaining to this clan is presented.
Arms: azure, a horseshoe reversed, between its branches, a small cross patee en abime, both or. Upon a wreath of the colors mantled of his liveries whereon is set for a crest: out of a ducal coronet, a hawk proper, wings surgent, belled and jessed, holding in its dexter talons, a charge of the shield.
On a shield in a blue field is a gold horseshoe, with its heels pointed straight up, and in its center a cross; on the helmet over a crown is a Goshawk with its wings slightly raised for flight, facing the right side of the shield. On its legs are small bells and a leather strap, in its right talon it holds a horseshoe with cross, like those on the shield. Thus it is described by Paprocki 0 herbach, f., 115; Okolski, vol. 1, fol. 315; Potocki, Poczet herbów, fol. 117; Bielski, fol. 83; Kojalowicz, in MS.
According to Paprocki, this armorial bearing has the name Jastrzebiec because the clan’s ancestors, while still pagans, bore on the arms only a Goshawk (Jastrzab). But later, in the days of King Boleslaw the Brave, circa 999, when pagan foes were masters of Lysa Gora – two miles from Bozecin, now called Swiety Krzyz [Holy Cross] and stood secure upon it as if in a fortress, they hurled abuse upon our forces, saying: “Send forth one from among you who is willing to fight for Christ in a challenge against one of our men.” Having heard this a knight, one Jastrzebczyk [scion of the Jastrzebiec clan], moved by the fervor of faith and the praise of God, invented shoes for the horses’ hooves and, having shod a horse with them, succeeded in forcing his way up the mountain. He fought the Pagan, who had hitherto been jeering haughtily, captured him, and brought him to the King. After he had given the other soldiers of the Polish cavalry this method, when they had shod their horses and made their way up the slippery mountain, covered with ice, they destroyed and defeated the enemy. As a reward for his ingenuity he received from that King a variation of his arms, adding a horschoe with a cross to the shield and elevating the Goshawk to the helmet. This is what Paprocki and all others who wrote about these arms say. I, however, can not verify these authors’ notion that this Jastrzebczyk in 999 was the first among us in Poland to invent the horseshoe and shoeing horses. For it is clear from antiquity that as early as Poppea (whose death in the days of Nero is described by Tacitus, an. 16 Ulyss. Aldr. de quadrup. lib. 1) she had her horse shod with silver shoes, and it is known that others before her used iron shoes, and I have mentioned vol 2, fol. 95 of Balbin, Czech Historian, that in Bohemia around the year 278 A.D. there was a house which used a seal with three horsehoes, and as he says, came with Czech to that country. And here in Poland Leszek the traitor, vying on the Pradnik field covered with barbs to get to a crown hung on a pillar, had his horse shod, Cromer lib. 2, and a foreign author also takes him to be the inventor of horseshoes, Szentivani in Curios. It is true, one might say that our people did not use shoes for horses up to that time (which Cromer explicitly says of the days of Leszek II), and this Jastrzebczyk renewed this practice on the occasion already mentioned. Except it was Paprocki – who in Gniazdo cnoty was the first of the authors to give this origin of the Jastrzebiec arms, about which it has been told ever since – who dated those origins in the days of Boleslaw the Brave. But in a later book he produced, to which he gave the title of Stromata, it was quite different: the first author of Belina arms was survived by three sons, who agreed among themselves that the oldest of them would use three horseshoes in his arms, as we see in Belina arms; the second would use two, in the form seen in Lzawa arms; and the third would use one, as in Jastrzebiec arms. But he supports neither the first nor the second version by citing any author. It would be better to say that these arms came to Poland with Lech, and after one of the earlier members of his house was baptized he added the cross to it.
Nonetheless, as to the antiquity of this house, and the fact that it flourished in pagan times in the Poland of the monarchs, all the authors agreed, and some add that one of the Jastrzebczyks was among the twelve voivodes who at two different times ruled the whole country. In Stromata Paprocki affirms that one member of this family was in foreign lands and converted to Christianity there, and this was the cause of the Polish prince Mieczyslaw’s [Mieszko] conversion. The antiquity of the Jastrzebczyks is also evident in that no arms have more families using them than all the ones using Jastrzebiec: and Paprocki says in 0 herbach that several hundred years ago they called themselves simply Jastrzebczyks, and it was not until after the days of Archbishop Wojciech of Gniezno that the foremost ones of this house began to write z Rytwian [from Rytwiany], and others named themselves after whatever [estate] they possessed. The antiquity is also evident from the fact that many other arms took their origin from Jastrzebiec, such as Dabrowa, Zagloba, Pobog, and others. These arms are also called Boleszczyc, in Silesia and in Mazovia Lazanki; in other places Jastrzebczyks are called by names from what they call the goshawk, Kaniowa or Kudbrzowa. In Paprocki’s day there was a Jastrzebiec castle, in the inheritance of the Zborowskis; Piotr Zboroski from Rytwiany, Kraków voivode and general, tore it down, dug it out, and had a large pond put in its place.
Ancestors of this House
Based on a grant of privilege to a monastery, Paprocki cites as the most ancient member of this house Mszczuj, Sandomierz castellan, in 999, the time of Boleslaw the Brave; his two sons Mszczuj and Jan, who signed their names as “from Jakuszewice,” were Krakow canons, made such by Bishop Lambert in 1061. Other historians write of this as well. Dlugosz in 1084 recalls those Jastrzebczyks who came from Hungary, with Mieczyslaw, son of Boleslaw the Bold, based on the writings of the monarch Wladyslaw, his uncle – that is Borzywoj, Mszczuj’s son, Zbylut, Dobrogost, Zema, Odolaj, Jedrzej – and he returned all the estates confiscated from them for the killing of St. Stanislaw the Bishop.
Derszlaw was cupbearer for King Boleslaw Wry-mouth in 1114, and Boleslaw the Curly granted a title to the villages Jakuszewice and Kobelniki to his sons Wojciech and Derszlaw, of whom Wojciech was the Sandomierz standard-bearer. Paprocki cites a fragment of his in 0 herbach, but the long stretch of time between them and their father, i. e., 166 years, does not permit me to believe that they were sons of Derszlaw the cupbearer. Paprocki cites a monastery grant of privilege given in 1199 for Borzywoj and Derszlaw Jastrzebczyk, heirs to Jakuszowice. He also includes Piotr, son of Wojciech, Sandomierz standard-bearer.
Swentoslaw, from the post of Poznan pastor and Gniezno canon, was chosen to be bishop of Poznan; and in truth already of an advanced age, he had broken free of his pastoral burden, but he yielded to those urging him and with his knowledge and by his example ruled the flock entrusted to him. But he spent only a year at this see before departing from this world in 1176 and was buried in the church. Nakiel. w Miechov. fol. 66, praises the good works of this Swietoslaw for his monastery, which he saved at its beginnings with his generous alms; he ascribes to him the Pobog arms; yet Dlugosz in Vitae Episc. Posnan. and others call him a Jastrebczyk. Paprocki tells that in Jedrzejów is a grave from the year 1206 covered with a stone on which the Jastrzebiec arms are still visible, but the letters can no longer be read.
Piotr Brevis [brevis is Latin, “short”] called Maly [small], nineteenth bishop of Plock, a Plock scholastic chosen by the chapter for that office, moved in the fifth year of his see to another, in 1254. Lubienski in Vitae Episc. Plocens, however, ascribed no coat of arms to him, and said of him only that he lived of a noble clan, but Paprocki in 0 herbach writes explicitly of him that he was a Jastrzebczyk.
Bishop Jan of Wroclaw in Silesia, was the first of the Poles to ascend the episcopacy, inasmuch as only Italians had governed it previously; he was a Wroclaw canon elected to that dignity in 1062, presided over it for 10 years, and went to his reward for his pastoral labors in 1072, as Dlugosz attests in his Kronika where he writes of him explicitly as of the Jastrzebiec clan. Jakób of Raciborowice, Sandomierz castellan, died at Chmielnik in 1241.
Michal, Krakow castellan 1225. Mistuj, Krakow voivode 1242. Scibor, Leczyca voivode 1242. Msciug, Sandomierz voivode 1342. These were discussed in the first volume in their own place. A letter of Kazimierz the Great, King of Poland, given to the Strzelno monastery, mentiones inter praesentes Mszczuj, Krakow chamberlain. Pawel Koszcziena, who signed himself “z Sendziszowa,” is in Dlugosz under 1899, and I will speak of this below. Jedrzej, Bishop of Wilno, called “Vasilo” by the Lithuanians, truly an apostolic shepherd, in the days of King Wladyslaw Jagiello in 1399 preached the Christian faith in Lithuania, at that time still unbelieving. Kromer calls him a learned and God-fearing man. Marcisz, brother of Bishop Jedrzej, endowed the Franciscan Fathers with a monastery made of brick in Nowe Miasto, and he also bought Zborów, from which came the Zborowskis.Wojciech the Archbishop of Gniezno; his father was Derszlaw and mother Krystyna, and he was born in the village Lubnica among numerous other offspring. When his father, possessed of a meager fortune, accompanied him to the Bensowa parish church for instruction, and gave him up to the institution, according to the Dlugosz in Vitae Episcop. Posnan., he spoke thus to him. “I give you up, my son, not into the ranks of students but of bishops. Remember, when you have become a bishop, do not forget your current standing, in which you see both your mother and me, your brothers and sisters: this lack of means in which you were born is greater than could fade from your memory if you had the greatest fortune. When you become a bishop, do this for me, make a church of brick in this place where I give you up for schooling.” His son listened to all of this and promised to fulfill the exhortation as a paternal order. The hopes of both did not deceive them, for Wojciech, rising in rank, became a priest, and soon from being a Kraków scholastic, as Dlugosz says, or from being a Kraków dean and Poznan pastor, he became the mitred prelate of Poznan in 1399; tearing down the wooden church in Bensowa, he had a brick one built in 1407, and later settled the friars of St. Paul the Hermit there, and gave it the villages of Bensowa, Bensowka, Bydlowa, and Bystronowice. Besides this he founded the collegiate church in Warszawa, and cathedral. Thus for 14 years he held that post at that church in a laudable manner, so that he was held in high regard by all, both for his wisdom, which appeared at its best in every chancellory function, and for the piety of his life. But he put himself under great strain when, having moved Piotr Wiss of Leszczyc arms from the Kraków episcopacy, he recalled him to that of Poznan through various practices and himself occupied his bishopric in 1412, although he had many quarrels because of it: for as soon as the matter arose at the Council of Konstanz it moved all the priests assembled there with compassion for Peter, and surely Wiss would have returned to his bishopric if he had not been taken by death at that point. Wojciech, more secure after his death, founded a city, having cut down the woods, and called it Jastrzebie, and he endowed and gave to it parish churches in Sandomierz province, one in Wysokie in Lublin district, the other in Kortynica in Sandomierz district. He designated a tithe for the Altar of St. Agnes in Kraków diocese. Then in 1423 he was elevated to the rank of metropolitan and primate, and left behind there a memory of his generosity. funding two benefices, one theological and one juridical, and a third in Kalisz. He set up an altar in Leczyca, returned regular canons to Klodawa, and named their church to the collegiate church, and left this world in 1436, an important, judicious man and a great lover of his country, as Dlugosz and Damalew. praised him in Vitae Archiepisc. Gnesn. and Starowol. in Vitae Episc. Cracov. He had amassed considerable money, which he left his successors, and while yet alive bought for them Rytwiany in Sandomierz district and Borzyslawice in Leczyca district, where he funded benefices for both these places. However there was suspicion of him to some extent, that the curate of the Poznan cathedral had shown him the collection and treasury of the ancient Kings of Poland, of which the curates had passed on knowledge in secret, each to the next, until that time. From that time on his successors began to sign their names as “z Rytwian” [from Rytwiany]: his brother was Scibor, Leczyca voivode, and he had twenty sons, and Paprocki saw all their portraits in the Bensowa church, but the signatures under them could not be read. Eight of them [i. e., the sons] were lost in the Prussian war, the other twelve were various castellans.
Families Using These Arms
____ Abrahamowicz, Adamowski, Albinowski, ____Balinski, Baranowski, Bartoszewski, Bedzislawski, Bekierski, Beldowski, Belkowski, Belzecki, Beski, Biejkowski, Bielewski, Bierczynski, Bninski, Bobrowski, Boguslawski, Bolesz, Borowski, Boruta, Brodecki, Bromirski, Brudkowski, Brudnicki, Brzechfa, Brzeski, Brzezicki, Brzozowski, Brzuchanski, Budkowski, Bukowski, Bylecki, Byszewski, ____Charbicki, Chelstowski, Chmielecki, Chmielowski, Chochol, Chorczewski, Choszczewski, Chudkowski, Chwalibowski, Chwedkowicz, Chylewski, Chylinski, Cieklinski, Ciesielski, Cieszewski, Ciolkowski, Cudzinowski, Czajka, Czepowski, Czernicki, Czeski, Czeszowski, ____ Dabrowski, Debowski, Dobrski, Domaradzki, Domaszewski, Doranski, Dragowski, Drochowski, Drozdowicz, Drozdowski, Dziebakowski, Dziegielowski, Dzierzgowski, Dziewanowski, ____Falecki, ____ Gaszynski, Gembart, Geraltowski, Gibowski, Glinski, Gliszczynski, Gloskowski, Godziszewski, Golanski, Golawski, Golocki, Gorecki, Gostynski, Goszycki, Grabkowski, Grabowski, Grazimowski, Grebecki, Grodecki, Grzebski, Grzywienski, ____ Hermanowski, Hoholewski, ____ lwanski, ____ Janikowski, Jankowski, Janowski, Jasinski, Jastrzembecki, Jastrzembski, Jedrzejowski, Jez~ewski, Jodlownicki, Jurkowski, ____ Kaczynski, Kaminski, Karski, Karsznicki, Kepski, Kierski, Kierznowski, Klembowski, Kliszewski, Konarski, Konopnicki, Koperni, Koscien, Kosilowski, Kosmaczewski, Kosnowie, Koziebrodzki, Kozlowski, Krasowski, Krzesimowski, Krzywanski, Kucharski, Kuczkowski, Kudbryn, Kukowski, Kul, Kuropatwa, Kuz~micki, ____ Lawdanski, Lazicki, Lazienski, Leszczynski, Letkowski, Lukomski kniaz, Lutomirski, Lysakowski, ____ Maciejowski, Maczynski, Makomeski, Malewski, Maloklecki, Maluski, Mankowski, Marszewski, Maszkowski, Matczynski, Mayer, Miedzyleski, Mierzynski, Mietelski, Milanowski, Milewski, Mirski, Mniewski, Mojkowski, Mojski, Morski, Mysliszewski, Myszkowski, ____ Nagora, Necz, Niedroski, Niegoszewski, Niemira, Niemsta, Niemyglowski, Niemyski, Niesmierski, Nieweglowski, Nowiewski, Nowomiejski, Nowowiejski, ____ Oblow, Ocieski, Olizarowski, Olszanski, Orlowski, Osiecki, Paczowski, Pakosz, Papieski, Paprocki, Pawlowski, Peclawski, Pelczycki, Pelka, Peszkowski, Pilchowski, Pniewski, Polikowski, Polubinski kniaz~, Poplawski, Porczynski, Poreba, Powczowski, Preisz, Przedpelski, Przedzynski, Przeradzki, Psarski, ____ Rachanski, Racibor, Raczynski, Rebiecki, Rembiewski, Rodecki, Rogowski, Rozembarski, Roznowski, Rucki, Rudnicki, Rychlowski, ____ Sadzynski, Sarnowski, Sasin, Sek, Siemietkowski, Skopowski, Skorycki, Skrzetuski, Skrzyszowski, Sladkowski, Slawecki, Slugocki, Smolski, Sokolnicki, Srokowski, Starczewski, Stawiski, Strzelecki, Strzembosz, Strzeszkowski, Stuzenski, Suchorski, Sulaczewski, S~wiecicki, Szaszewicz, Szczyt, Szeczemski, Szomanski, Szulenski, Szumski, ____ Taczanowski, Tanski, Tlokinski, Tlubicki, Trzebinski, Trzepienski, Turlaj, Tynicki, ____ Uchacz, Ulatowski, ____ Wakczewski, Wawrowski, Wazenski, Wez~yk, Wierzbicki, Wierzbowski, Wiewiecki, Wiktorowski, Witoslawski, Witowski, Wnuczek, Wodzinski, Wolecki, Wroblowski, Wydzga, Wyrozebski, ____ Zadorski, Zakrzewski, Zalesicki, Zarski, Zawadzki, Zawidzki, Zawilski, Zawistowski, Zberowski, Zborowski, Zdan, Zdunowski, Zdzieszek, Z~egocki, Z~ernowski, Zielonka, Zukowski, Z~ytkiewicz
[Addition to Niesiecki’s text by the 19th-century editor, J N. Bobrowicz: In addition to the families listed, later heraldists such as Kuropatnicki, Malachowski, Wieladek and others add the following to these arms:
____ Borejko, Brühl, Butkiewicz, ____ Chilewski, Cieszcjowski, ____ Grzegorzewski, ____ Jezowski, ____ Koczanski, Koczkowski, Kopeszy, ____ Lemnicki, Lgocki, ____ Mosakowski, Mszczuj, ____ Nasiegniewski, Niemirowicz, Niemyglowski, Niezdrowski, ____ Opatkowski, ____ Paczynski, Pakowski, Palczycki, Pelczewski, Pet, Pininski, Protaszewicz, Przedpolski, ____ Raciborowski, Rytwianski, ____ Sasiewicz, Sasinski, Siemiatkowski, Skorczycki, Skorski, Skubajewski, Skubniewski, Skurski, Sulenski, Sumowski, Szczemski, Szczepkowski, Szwab, ____ Tarnawiecki, Tlubinski, Trzeszewski, ____ Waszkowski, Wolicki, Worainski, Wykowski, Wzdulski, ____ Xiaz~ki, ____ Zakowski, Zawadzicki, Zolkowski, Zub, Zub Zdanowicz]
However not all those listed here use the Jastrzebiec arms in the same form: some bear the Goshawk standing in a red field on two horseshoes, with three ostrich plumes on the helmet. With others the hawk or raven on the helmet holds a ring in its beak, not a horseshoe in its talons, for instance, Kierski, Konopnicki, and Lesczynski. The Rudnickis have the Goshawk holding a horseshoe in his beak on the helmet. In Miedzyrzycz near Ostrog I saw a coat of arms which had above the horseshoe and cross, as are usually seen in the Jastrzebiec arms, an added star, and on the helmet three ostrich plumes. On the headstone of Jan Rokiczana, pseudo-bishop of Prague, a horseshoe was shown, in its center was a star, not a cross, as Balbinus attests (book 5, chapter 10), but some say of him that he was a smith’s son. Haubicki and Plachecki bear the hawk in another form, as is discussed under the letter H. The Niemyskis have an arrow inside the horseshoe, instead of a cross, with its head pointing straight up but split on the bottom. There are some who have a raven standing above the horseshoe and cross, with its beak pointing to the right side of the shield and holding a ring in in it, with the diamond pointing downward. Others place an arrow without feathers above the horseshoe, or on an apple, or on the world, with three ostrich plumes on the helmet, such as the Mirskis; each of these is discussed in its place. Others add a hunter’s horm over the horseshoe, without attachments, with three ostrich plumes on the helmet, as for instance the Kierznowskis. Others place two arrows and a cross in the center of the horseshoe, as do the Szaszewiczes. Others put three stars over the horseshoe, with three ostrich plumes on the helmet, as do the Turlajs. I spoke of the Domaszewskis of Jastrzebiec arms in their place, here I will add this. N. Domaszewski had three daughters by Kochanowska, of whom two, Justyna and Urszula, were Bernardine nuns; the third and forth were Suffczynskas, the fifth was Anna Kielczewska, wife of the Lublin sub-altern judge, the sixth Nowosielska, the seventh Rudzinska; and three sons. Kazimiers, Luków swordbearer, had by Marcyanna Marchocka, Zolkiewski’s widow, two daughters – one Justyna, who in her first marriage wed Wlodek, Z~ydaczew master of the hunt, and in her second Alexander Wronowski; the other Konstancya, who married Michal Wronowski – and five sons, Mikolaj Bossy, a Carmelite, Franciszek, unmarried, Jan, whose wife was Strzelecka, Michal, a Franciscan friar, and Bernard, a Jesuit. Stanislaw, Radom judge, the second son by Kochanowska, connected himslef for life with Podkanska, she bore him two daughters – of whom Katarzyna was married to Balcer Brzezinski, Radom citadel judge, and the second, Angela, devoted her life to God in the order of the Bernardines – and five sons, of whom Franciszek married Kobylecka, and of their offspring Wojciech was a clergyman and Balcer died in our order in Ostróg in 1718. Jan and Antoni, Radom scribe, whose wife was Dunin. Jakób, Sandomierz chamberlain, the third son by Kochanowska, married Brodowska, and their four sons were the Jesuit Franciszek (died in Poznan in 1724), Stanislaw, Tomasz and Mikolaj; of their daughters one was Konstancya. I have placed some of these under the Nieczuja arms, loc. cit., but they belong here.
Translated by Leonard J. Suligowski; first appeared in the May 1994 issue of “Rodziny, The Journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America”.
JELITA ARMS
Arms: Gules, three lances, or, two in saltaire points to chief, one in pale, point to base. Argent. For a crest: out of a ducal coronet a demi goat rampant proper.
There should be three lances of gold (or yellow), displayed in the design of a star on a red field, so that two on the sides are shown with their ends and points upward and the center lance with its point straight downward. on the helmet is a demi goat leaping with its forepaws upward, facing to the right, with horns on its head. Thus Paprocki in Gniazdo, p. 1082, 0 herb., p. 191; Okolski, vol. 1, p. 335, Klejnoty, p. 54.
All date the origins of the arms as described here to the year of our Lord 1331. After Wladyslaw Lokietek defeated 40,000 Teutonic Knights in such triumph that of his people only some forty fell on the field [this is a reference to the battle of Plowce – Ed.], the next day he was riding around the battlefield, when among the Polish corpses he came upon one of his knights, Floryan Szaryusz, who, having fought valiantly in this battle and been weakened by many wounds, was pushing his bowels back inside with his own hand. [In Polish the word jelita means “bowels, guts.” – Ed.] The King saw him and in compassion said to his attendants, “Oh, the torment that this valiant soldier is suffering!” And he, gathering almost his last strength, answered, “What the King sees does not afflict and torment me so much as the evil neighbor who lives in the same village as I do.” “Do not worry, if you recover from this blow, I will free you from this neighbor’s captivity,” said Lokietek, and did free him and gave him a lord’s estate. Some understand that his ancestral arms had a goat on the helmet, and that he [the King] added to the shield the three lances with which he had seen him pierced. But Dlugosz does not tell of this, and in fact Paprocki thinks that if such a change had been made to his coat of arms, it would not have been omitted from older historians and would have been reported. Dlugosz explicitly writes, first, that he was not struck with three lances, but was slashed with many wounds, and then adds that from this time the arms “Koilerogi” [= goat horns] (as they had been called before) received from Szaryusz the new name “Jelita,” and there is no mention of a change in the arms. It is evident, then, that these arms, as the Jelita clan uses them now, are more ancient than that battle. Furthermore, if anyone had used a goat in his arms before then, even today one could still find some descendants who would have used both that and this form in their seal, inasmuch as, when this Szaryusz was alive, there were already many houses with these arms, as you will see below, and the conferring of a new coat of arms would not have been used by them all but only by the actual descendants of Szaryusz.
So this is a very old coat of arms, and evidently highly regarded for its bearers even during the days of the pagan monarchs in Poland; but from what it originated is hard to guess, in view of its antiquity. I know this much, that previously the lance was a sign of royal status – as in Virgil’s Aeneid, “Bina manu lato crispantem hastilia ferro memorat” [“He recalls him brandishing spears of iron in both hands” – Editor]. According to Plutarch Lysippus put a spear in Alexander the Great’s hands when he made his statue; and the superstitious pagan ages put spears in the hands of the gods, such as Mars, Pallas, etc., as a sign of their divinity and authority, says Cyrill. We know of the Feast of Pompeius that spears were distributed to knightly folks as a sign of their valor, and similarly Lucius Scinius Dentatus received 18 spears for the courage he showed on various occasions, for which see Valer. Maximus, book 3, chapter 2, p. 136, and Lipsius de milit. Roman, book 5, p. 448. I also know that at one time there was a Sarus, King of the Goths, who struck Radagas on the head and beat the slaves away from him, circa 406. Parisius in Slavia understands that the name Szary was spread in Poland by descendants of this Sarus. He also tells that this coat of arms was acquired during war with the Romans from one of the Sarmatians, pierced by three spears, and he proves that Polish spears are longer, Roman spears shorter and more like the forms shown in the arms, and they are called “Sarissae.” I do not know whether anyone uses similar arms in other countries, except that Petra Sancta in chapter 63 states that the Carloveuses in Britain bear three gold spears with silvered tips in their arms.
The Ancestors of this House
Zdzislaw, the 16th archbishop of Gniezno, although it is true that Janicius ascribes to him the arms Ciolek, but I agree with the majority of authors that he belongs here. As a Gniezno canon he ascended that see in 1184, where for 15 years he became for all the model of the good pastor, for he increased ecclesiastical penalties for the clergy and enriched the cathedral church with rich items of gold, silver, and pearls. In addition he cleared many woods and brush and founded many villages and towns in empty and overgrown fields; he went to the Lord for the reward for his labors in 1199. In his Historya Dlugosz ascribes to him the synod of Leczyca, at which excommunication was issued on all ecclesiastical estates, but Damalew. in Vitae Archiep. Gnesn. proves with apt arguments that this was the work of his predecessor, Piotr.
Tomasz, bishop of Wroclaw in Silesia, appointed 1232, of whom Dlugosz says in his Historya that he was a man of uncommon learning and sense; but he suffered much in his pastoral function at the hands of Boleslaw the Bald, prince of Legnica. For he was seized at the Gorka estates of the abbey of S. Maria de Aranda, to which he had gone to consecrate the church, and imprisoned, along with the pastor Bogufal and the canon Herkard, in the castle of Ulaj. There the prince mercilessly tormented the bishop, who was well advanced in years, until he obtained from him what he wanted. Not long after Tomasz returned from this imprisonment, he passed on into the freedom of the sons of God in 1267. He had administered that see for 35 years in great piety. See Dlugosz, Hist.
Bernard, archbishop of Lwów, received the miter about 1380, and was keenly involved with the estates and laws of the church. See Scrobiszov. in Vitae Archiep. Halicien. et Leopol. He died circa 1391. N. Schary, starosta of Bobrowniki in Dobrzyn province during the reign of Wladyslaw, Prince of Opole, 1396. See Dlugosz. Piotr, castellan of Sandomierz, 1336.
All the Jelita clan regard as their oldest nest Mojkowice [now called Majkowice, according to the Slownik Geograficzny – Ed.] in Sieradz province, Piotrków district, at which there is a castle not far from the river Pilica, old and made of brick, called Surdega; it is now destroyed, but it was the property of the knight Floryan Saryusz, of whom see above. Among the Jelitas were Zegota z Mojkowice, Sieradz standardbearer in 1433, see Lask., Statut. page 52, and Mikolaj, also Sieradz standardbearer in 1451, see Lask., page 83. Paprocki mentions Floryan and Zegota, brothers and heirs to Mojkowice, saying that Floryan received Wroników and Wozniki, and Zegota received Mojkowice and Laski by a division in 14 10.
Families Using these Arms
____ Anszenski, ____ Bielski, Biesiad, Boglewski, Borzobochaty, Borzymski, ____ Chilchen, Cieszanowski, Czeczel, Czerkawski, Czerminski, ____ Dabrowski, Dabowski, Dobrzynski, Dziduski, Dzieciatkowski, Dziewaltowski, Dziuglowski, ____ Fanuel, Francuz, ____ Gajewski, Gawlowski, Geometer, Gerdud, Glowa, Golocki, Gomolinski, Gorlewski, ____ Jajkowski, Jelitowski, ____ Kalinski, Kamisowski, Kamocki, Kobielski, Korytko, Kossowski, Kozlarowski, ____ Lasochowski, Litoslawski, Luczelinski, Lacki, Lapczynski, Lazninski, Lochynski, Lukowski, ____ Malecki, Makowski, Marcinowski, Michalowski, Mietelski, Mirski, Misiowski, Modrzewski, Mokrski, Morawicki, Mrowinski, Mysliborski, ____ Pacholowiecki, Paczanowski, Pajewski, Paprocki, Pieczkowski, Pieniazek, Piwakowski, Postekalski, Prumienski, ____ Radogoski, Rajski, Romiszowski, ____ Secygniowski, Serny, Sielnicki, Skokowski, Skorkowski, Sokolnicki, Stokowski, Strumienski, Sypniowski, Szczekocki, Szydlowski, ____ Tarnowski, ____ Wegleszynski, Wielkolucki, Wierzejski, Wilczkowski, Wilkowski, Wolski, Wrzeszynski, ____ Zakrzewski, Zaleski, Zamojski, Zeromski
[Added note to Niesiecki’s text by the 19th-century editor, 1. N. Bobrowicz.]
In addition to the families mentioned, there are many others whom Niesiecki himself includes in these arms later in his work, and there are still more whom Kuropatnicki, Malachowski, and Wieladek give. They are the following:
____ Bialecki, Bielawski, Biesiadecki, ____ Dziaduski, Dzyryll, ____Frank, ____ Hilchen, ____ Jaklinski, ____ Kicki, Koziaroski, Kozierowski, Krainski, ____ Lasota, Lazinski, Libicki, Lnezelinski, ____ Pijakowski, ____ Raciborowski, Remiesz, Romer, ____ Skapski, Sliwicki, Slawianowski, Slowinski, Slupski, Stawowski, Szczepankiewicz, Szczerbicz, ____ Witowicz, Wojciechowski, Wyrzejski, ____ Zawisza, Zelechonski, Zielinski
Translated by Leonard J. Suligowski; first appeared in the August 1995 issue of “Rodziny, The Journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America”.
JEZIERZA ARMS
Arms: Gules, a cross patee concave argent, surmounted of a raven sable, holding in its beak a ring or. Whereupon is set for a crest: out of a ducal coronet three ostrich plumes proper.
There should be a Knight’s cross on a red field, on the cross is a raven holding in its beak a gold ring, its head facing the right side of the shield. On the helmet are three ostrich plumes: thus Okolski decribes it, but others do not write that it is a raven on the cross, but only a bird. Bielski fol. 172, M. S. P. Kojal. The Frenchman Willibaldus, first archbishop of Gniezno, is supposed to have brought these arms with him to Poland; he ascended that seat in 966 and occupied it for four years, dying in 970, although others would include this Willibald under the arms Krucynia.
Families Using These Arms
Boguslawski, Cwiklowski, Drozdowski, Galczewski, Szczycienski, Szymanowski, Z~elazo
[Addition to Niesiecki’s text by the 19th-century editor, J. N. Bobrowicz.] Kuropatnicki, Malachowski and others give the following families as using these arms: Jezierzynski, Niemierza, Niemira.
Translated by Leonard J. Suligowski; first appeared in the November 1994 issue of “Rodziny, The Journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America”.
JUNOSZA ARMS
Arms: Gules, on a mound vert, a ram argent, stained with blood from the sinister flank. Whereupon is set for a crest: out of a ducal coronet, five ostrich plumes proper.
A white ram in a red field, facing the right side, standing on a green patch of turf, with blood stains on its side and horns on its head; on the helmet are five ostrich plumes, see Okolski tom. 1 fol. 354 and Rutka in MS. But Paprocki o herbach fol. 248 and Kojalowicz in MS. and MS. drugi o familiach Pruskich have half a ram emerging, so that only the forelegs show, on the crown crest. There are a great many variations of these arms. Some use in their arms a ram with a small banner, and from the ram’s side blood flows into a chalice. I placed these arms in volume one, for Wielun district uses these arms in its seal: similar arms are to be seen in Paprocki fol. 564, where, of the Teutonic Knights’ banners collected after the victory at Grunwald, he writes that the 31st banner was that of the post of commander of the city of Sluchowo, which was held by Arnold de Beden, under whom were the szlachta of this county. Another one, the 46th in the series, was of the see of Alspersg and of the city of Alsperg, which had a similar ram on it. Yet others have the ram without horns, some in a rose bush, some with the ram looking toward the rear.
Some find the origins of these arms as coming from Germany, saying that they were brought to Poland from there, and there is a certain similarity that seems to confirm their idea, for in German Jungszchoff means “young ram,” and they say the Polish accent may have changed this word so that they were called Junosza or Junoszyc. Others say the arms were born in Poland, as Paprocki says, from Dlugosz, under these circumstances. A Polish knight riding in a small retinue to go fetch his wife came upon an enemy outpost, which he succeeded in defeating, and then from the prisoners he had taken he learned about the whole army and attacked and defeated them by taking their horses while they were scattered about grazing. The friends of this Junosza knight had come to an agreement, and as soon as they saw him returning the next day, stained with the foe’s blood, they reported his courage to the King, for which these arms were conferred upon him. Others add that when the Junosza knight left, a ram came out after him; seeing the ram crying out and jumping around, they took this as an omen that they had taken the path of good fortune: and in commemoration of this he asked for this emblem.
He would speak best who said that this emblem is ancient: supposedly it came to Poland along with Lech, inasmuch as the ancient holy patriarchs use this sign, witness Flavius Josephus in Antiquit.; and here in Poland Baszko Poznan kustosz, ancient historian of Poland, mentions in 1253 a count Baran [baran means “ram” or sometimes “sheep” – Translator’s note] for having taken his nets on the river Warta, for which Baszko filed a suit against him. Miechowita praises Domin of Baran arms, court hetman, with these words: Petrus Domin de domo Agnorum, regil exercitus Capitaneus, simili et majori fortuna usus, prope oppidum Pucko, exercitum Pruthenicum conflixit. [Peter Domin of the house of Agni (literally “lambs”), head of the king’s army, possessed of similar and greater fortune, clashed with the army of the Teutonic Knights near the town of Puck]. But this was Dunin, not Domin, of the house of Cygni [in Polish Labedz, “swan”], not Agni [Baran, “ram” or “lamb”], for that is how all other historians write about Dunin. Mikolaj Scibor Szarley was Inowroclaw voivode in 1457.
Families Using These Arms
____ Bielinski, Bojanowski, Borkowski, Borowski, Borukowski, ____ Chadzenski, Chociszewski, Chrapunski, Cieslinski, ____ Dabrowski, Dolecki, Dorpowski, Drewnowski, Druzbic, Dubkowski, ____ Galecki, Giganski, Gliniecki, Goslinowski, Gostkowski, Grochowski, Gulczewski, Gzowski, ____ Hermanowski, Horyszewski, Humiecki, ____ Jankowski, Junosic, Kamieniewski, Karnkowski, Kiernoski, Kijowski, Kisielewski, Klinski, Kolo, Koninski, Konopacki, Kormanicki, Kosmaczewski, Kowalewski, Krosnowski, Krzykowski, Kuszkowski, ____ Lelowski, Lipicki, Lempicki, Lochocki, Lugowski, ____ Malicki, Mieszkowski, ____ Odnodzki, Ojrzanowski, Omiecinski, Oparski, Orlowski, Osinski, ____ Piaskowski, Pijanowski, Piotrowski, Podoski, Polikowski, Poniatowski, Przedzowski, Przerownicki, ____Radziejowski, Rosciszewski, ____ Saporowski, Segrowski, Sep, Skoroszewski, Sluszkowski, Smogorzewski, Starzynski, Stepkowski, Suchodolski, Szaniawski, Szetynski, ____ Trojan, ____ Ubniewski, ____ Wielicki, Wolski, Wojslawski, Wscislicki, ____ Zaliwski, Zaluski, Zawadzki, Zawlocki, Zukowski
[Addition to the text by the 19th century editor, J. N. Bobrowicz:] Kuropatnicki, Malachowski, Zaluski’s Manuskrypt ref. koron. and other later heraldists add the following families to these arms:
____ Badzynski, Baranowicz, ____ Chadzewski, Chodecki, Chudzewski, ____Domin, ____Janicz, ____Janiszewski, ____ Kisielinski, Komarnicki, Koniuski, Kostkowski, Kurdwanowski, ____ Lipnicki, ____ Nijowski, ____Orwitowski, Ostrzakowski, Oswiecinski, ____ Pieskowski, Podolski, Przedojowski, ____ Rahanski, Runowski, Rzenski, Rzeszotarski, ____ Sergowski, Sliwinski, Stefanowski, Stoinski, Szarlenski, Szarzynski, ____ Tabacz, Zakowski, Zamojski, Zdrojewski
Translated by Leonard J. Suligowski; first appeared in the November 1994 issue of “Rodziny, The Journal of the Polish Genealogical Society of America”.