Swienca family


The Swienca family was a medieval Pomeranian noble family which held high offices under various political powers in the Słupsk and Sławno Land and Gdańsk Pomerania from the mid-13th to the mid-14th centuries.

History

It is named after its founder, Swienca or Swieca, the elder of two brothers.
In Gdańsk Pomerania, the Swiencas were transiently the most powerful family after the dukes. In the Lands of Sławno and Słupsk, the region in Farther Pomerania between river Unieść in the West and the river Łeba in the East, the border to Pomerelia, they ruled de facto autonomously under various dynasties until finally the sons of Wartislaw IV of Pomerania-Wolgast of the House of Pomerania made use of their rights as legal sovereigns of the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp and limited the power of the Swienca family considerably.
The Puttkamer family considers them to be their first documented ancestors. However, historians are divided on this issue.

Ancestry

Source:
  1. Święca, palatine and wójt of Pomerelia
  2. # Peter I of Nowe, "chancellor" and "capitaneus" of Pomerelia, Lord of Nowe
  3. ## Peter II of Nowe, Lord of Tuchola
  4. # John I of Sławno, since 1308 Lord of Sławno
  5. ## Peter III of Sławno
  6. ## Lawrence III of Sławno
  7. # Lawrence I of Darłowo, Lord of Nowe, since 1308 Lord of Darłowo
  8. ## John II of Darłowo
  9. ## Nathalie
  10. Lawrence, castellan of Słupsk
  11. # Święca junior
  12. ## Lawrence II
  13. # Casimir of Tuchola

Coat of arms

The escutcheon of the Swienca family consisted of a griffin the lower half of the body of which is replaced by a sturgeon's tail, a type of arms known in heraldry as a fish griffin. The fish griffin appears also in the escutcheons of the town of Darłowo.