Stanislaw Dziadulewicz
HOW NOBILITY WAS LEGITIMIZED BEFORE THE FORMER
BUREAU OF HERALDRY OF THE KINGDOM OF POLAND
(Jak legitymowano się ze szlachectwa przed byłą
Heroldią Królestwa Polskiego)
in: "Magazyn Heraldyczny" (Heraldic
Monthly), Volume VI, 1913
re-printed: "Verbum Nobile" no. 5/6, 1993
Translated from Polish by: Leon Stevens
In 1836 a most important law was passed, concerning the nobility and its derivation, establishing The Bureau of Heraldry ("Heroldia"), a special office empowered with formal, scrupulous and strict imperatives to examine submitted evidence, and yet worse, it was permitted in preclusion terms to retract all rights and privileges of the noble estate from nobles it declared illegitimate. This set off a major panic among the nobility of the Congress Kingdom of Poland within the Russian Empire. Few families had appropriate papers and documents, whereas a number of families ennobled during the reign of Stanislaw August, as well as a minority consisting of magnatial families possessed a superabundance of archival documents with which to instantly present proofs. So the entire mass of the nobility was left with the impossible task of providing credentials.
How could this happen? Up to that time, a true noble could thoroughly establish his noble descent upon the testimony of his neighbors and friends. The "democratic age," which had begun with the Great Sejm, the Kosciuszko Rebellion, and Napoleon's legions, introduced ideas of equality and fraternity, flowing from France, and bore a substantial impact on general questions of class distinction. The era of 1790-1833, just forty years, raised a generation, which gazed with indifferent eyes upon its noble history, and in many cases, cast aside any notions of tradition bound up with its past. Few knew much about even their recent ancestors, about their clan coats of arms, or, if need be, where to search for proofs of descent, or identify their families' original properties.
We must add to this the sad fact, that as the result of wars and various conflagrations, a large number of archives, especially church archives, were totally destroyed. Surprisingly, other documents perished through sheer neglect, no significance having been accorded to such civil documents as baptismal or marriage records (and let us take a lesson from this today!). These documents were often carelessly assembled, with altered names and surnames, with copious clerical errors, and with dates deleted etc. During the partition period, in some parishes, civil records were not even kept. This is the desperate situation in which the nobility of the Congress Kingdom of Poland suddenly found itself, abruptly being told to legitimize itself on the basis of ancestors having held offices, required to produce archival documents, and to present a whole network of affiliations to accommodate narrow bureaucratic scrutiny.
Such difficulties all the more empowered the Bureau of Heraldry, staffed by bureaucrats loyal to the letter of the law, having neither interest nor competence in Polish heraldry nor in the genealogy of Polish clans. These officials were in no position to make any common-sense judgments. They were unconcerned with the interests of the applicants. They quibbled over the tiniest details, and were disinclined even to the possibility of noble status. What ever was to be done to legitimize nobility?! At the beginning, submissions were routinely rejected. There was a chaotic search for proofs, ancestral offices seemed to appear out of nowhere, and the Bureau of Heraldry was gradually overwhelmed with correspondences, pleas and applications, to the extent that applicants finally changed their strategies. The Bureau had finally become a laughing stock, so much so, that applicants drastically revised the means by which they addressed the situation. They complied with the Bureau's formality, but submitted information about families with similar-sounding names. They used examples extracted from Niesiecki (considered by the Bureau as a source), and started consulting "specialists," who simply falsified documents. These "specialists" multiplied prolifically, operating in the open, without punishment, without borders, and far beyond the competence and reach of the Bureau of Heraldry. Despite occasional doubts, the bureaucrats felt obliged to successfully process applications.
For example, when a minor noblemen from Ozary in the Lomza district, submitted, that their ancestor is Jerzy Ozarowski, Great Camp Leader of the Crown, Heroldia officers found general Antoni Ozarowski, true grandson of mentioned Jerzy, and asked if he is so closely related to those noblemen 1). When he denied, the application was of course refused. Yet only a half year later the applicants from Ozary reappeared with a second submission. Their "solicited associate" had discovered "the missing link." Needless to say, the "ancestor" was once again fictious, but this time, it did not arouse suspicion in the Bureau, so it granted them a patent. Such confirmations of legitimacy, with fictitious ancestors, false coats of arms, and spur-of-the-moment fake documents, were common. For today's heraldic researcher, it creates one of the greatest obstacles to tracing the true descent of a great many families and their genealogical connections.
Legitimacy through the former Bureau of Heraldry of the Kingdom of Poland generated such chaos, confusion, and so many falsifications, that any contents of the official Register of Legitimized Nobility or Armorial of the Kingdom of Poland, published in two volumes, by a certain Pawliszczew, for the study of heraldry, are highly dangerous. The falsification of documents robbed all meaning from such "legitimacy." Rarely was the falsification of documents discovered, because this hardly fell within the capabilities of the bureaucrats, who failed to recognize an imposter. However it did happen that falsification was revealed. One example serves as an excellent illustration of how the unpredictable accident helped to recognize the usurper.
The entire incident resulted from original documents regarding the Smigielski family, located in the St. Petersburg Bureau of Heraldry 2). The incident unfolds as follows: In 1843 the Bureau of Heraldry received a request from Walenty Smigielski, a lieutenant-colonel in the former Polish Army, who claimed to be the Lodzia coat-of-arms bearer and wanted to be recognized by the Bureau as the nobleman and Lodzia coat-of-arms bearer. To receive a patent, he submitted an excerpt from the municipal records of Poznan, demonstrating that in 1757 a certain Tadeusz Smigielski was the burgrave of Kcynia. A second excerpt from the same records stated that Michal Smigielski, the son of Tadeusz, in 1791 was the owner of the village of Strzemkowa, in the province of Inowroclaw. Finally, he presented his act of birth, issued by the parish of Inowroclaw, stating that his father's name is Michal. The Bureau of Heraldry acknowledged these documents as sufficient to recognize the hereditary nobility of Walenty Smigielski in 1844.
Three years later, a certain Maryanna Arendtowa nee Wojnicka approached the Bureau of Heraldry to have it affirm the hereditary nobility of her son Maciej Smigielski, born of her first marriage, of her late husband Maciej Smiegielski, son of Grzegorz, and the grandson of Tadeusz, the burgrave of Kcynia. Due to fact, that Bureau had already awarded a patent to Walenty Smigielski as the grandson of Tadeusz the burgrave - Maryanna presented to the Bureau - acts of birth of her son, husband and husband's father - Grzegorz. The actual text of the latter act was:
"Villa Grembocin. Anno Domini 1760 die 6 Martii Ego Fr. Machajewski, Cur. Ciechocinensis, baptisavi infantem nomine Gregorium, filium Magnificorum Thadaei Burgrabii Kcynensis et Catharinae Szmigielskich. Patrini fuere: Mgs. Thomas Paliszewski Pocillator et Anna Gnaslapp."
Dobrowolski, the counselor of the Bureau, to whom the matter had been given for examination and settlement, found nothing suspicious. Rather, he was happy to find sufficiency of detail. He wrote in his decision, "I rule, due the fact, that the applicant followed appropriate procedures by presenting proofs, record him as proven in nobility back to 1757. He proved his noble descent from his genuine forbear, Tadeusz, even better than Walenty who is already proven." The opinion of counselor Dobrowolski was adopted by all Bureau's members, who, at the session of November 10, 1850, also admitted Maciej Smigielski into the ranks of the hereditary nobility.
Two years after the fact, two new applicants approached the Bureau of Heraldry. They were Antoni Michal and Ludwik Antoni, two brothers of the legitimized Maciej, backed by Jozef Karpinski. Relying on the credentials of their brother Maciej, they applied for the recognition of their nobility. It seemed as if nothing should stand in the way. But at that time, unexpected circumstances placed this matter in a special light. Namely, during the examination of the evidence submitted by the two brothers Smigielski, information drifted in from the Noble Deputation of the province of Augustow, to the effect that a certain Wincenty Rawita-Dabrowski had filed an accusation with this same deputation accusing the Smigielskis of fraudently attempting to enter the nobility. (This information was forwarded in the original by the deputation.) Dabrowski wrote, "There is a candidate with the most detailed "qualifications," who is a pretender to the nobility. He is a secretary of the Manager's Office of the district of Lomza, a certain Ludwik Szmigielski, and he falsely calls himself "Smigielski", hiding the "z" from his father's genuine surname. Everywhere, every responsible thinking person and especially a nobleman and officer, should have a consistent complete surname, free of suspicion, and of his own family."
At that time, refereeing the case of the Smigielski brothers, was the excellent councilor Rostworowski, who did not at first take seriously Dabrowski's tempest. This is clear from the comment he made about the accusation, stating, "Dabrowski's denunciation rests upon a minor difference in the writing of the surname, which hardly deserves attention." However the stubborn accuser raised another accusation, this time, directly to the Bureau of Heraldry, writing, "The legitimacy of the already legitimized Maciej Smigielski, upon which these brothers rely, is itself dishonest, and the change of the family's name "Szmigielski" to "Smigielski" needs to be exposed, and the guilty punished." Doubts arose in the mind of Rostworowski, which culminated in an about-face in his deliberations. He demanded more proof of nobility from the candidates. However, still was a supporter of recognizing them in nobility. The excellent counselor wrote, "In order for the Bureau of Heraldry to act on Dabrowski's denunciation, I submit, that the records of Grzegorz from the year 1760 must be opened and verified, to see if he is mentioned therein as the son of Tadeusz, the burgrave of Kcynia."
The doubts of the counselor were shared by the Bureau, which decided to contact the Judge of Peace of the Lipno district, Gustaw Zielinski, with the request, that he review the register of births for Dobrzejewice, and confirm whether or not the presently submitted excerpt from the records of Grzegorz Smigielski is in agreement with the original record of his birth. The vigorous author of "The Kirghiz" fulfilled the directive of the Bureau, in a manner that was a credit to his efficiency, and communicated an answer to the Bureau in less than two weeks (which was speed unheard of in offices of that epoch!), and it shocked the whole Bureau.
In his report, Zielinski wrote, "In reviewing the birth records, I noticed, that Smigielski's records were written on a page, which had been sewn into the binding of the book at a much later date, judging from the colour of the ink and paper. It should be added, that the village of Grembocin is located in West Prussia, and never belonged to Dobrzejewice parish, and that there was never a "czesnik" named Paliszewski (a Ruthenian family) in the Dobrzyn palatinate. Furthermore, the surname of the newborn's godmother, "Gnaslapp" (instead of "Glasenapp") is obviously misspelled through ignorance. I suggest, that the record of birth was prepared at least a hundred years later, incompetently, and is totally unreliable."
What a lesson in heraldry and genealogy the judge taught that institution, which was supposed to specialize in such things! Initially unwilling to believe Zielinski's report, after lengthy debate, it was decided, that the case of the falsified register should be turned over to the Justice Commission for the eventual punishment of those guilty of wrongdoing. The following individuals finally were summoned to appear before criminal court: Father Machajewski (who was supposed to have baptized Grzegorz in 1760), Marya nee Wojnicka, married Szmigielska and secondly married Arendtowa, the brothers Maciej (already legitimized), Antoni and Ludwik Szmigielski, plus their defender, Jozef Karpinski. Only the last three showed up in court. Maciej was nowhere to be found. Fr. Machajeski (probably a fictional character, who had last appeared in court a hundred years prior!), and the mother of the Szmigielskis could not be present, because they had already died. The accused Szmigielskis prepared a great defence. Antoni and Ludwik Szmigielski, plus defender Karpinski, were acquitted of any complicity in the falsification of the register. The document was pronounced bogus, and the trial suspended. The judgment was passed on November 7, 1861, and communicated to the Bureau of Heraldry, to further process the matter of the Szmigielskis. Needless to say, Antoni and Ludwik were barred from making any future applications. For the already legitimized Maciej, the case proved more difficult, owing to the lack of a precedent. The Bureau was confused. It pondered and debated until 1866 (sixteen years after the initiation of the inquiry), when it at last decided to annul the legitimacy and rescind the diploma. Miraculously, the diploma was actually recovered, because it had been sequestered during the proceedings. However, by then, it was a bureaucratic impossibility to erase Maciej's name from the Official Register of Proven Nobility of the Kingdom of Poland, already in circulation. So the memory of him will remain in them forever, as his having been legitimized by the former Bureau of Heraldry of the Congress Kingdom of Poland.
Notes:
1) The case of the Ozarowskis in the Archive of the St. Petersburg Bureau of Heraldry.
2) After the suppression of Bureau of Heraldry of the Kingdom of Poland, the entire archive of that institution, spanning more the twenty years, was conveyed to St. Petersburg, and added to the Archive of the Bureau of Heraldry of the Russian Empire.
Since November 23rd, 2000
GUESTS