House of Wiśniowiecki

House of Wiśniowiecki
Country Poland
Titles King of Poland
Grand Duke of Lithuania
Grand Duke of Ruthenia
Grand Duke of Prussia
Grand Duke of Masovia
Grand Duke of Samogitia
Grand Duke of Livonia
Grand Duke of Smolensk
Grand Duke of Kiev
Grand Duke of Volhynia
Grand Duke of Podolia
Grand Duke of Podlasie
Grand Duke of Severia
Grand Duke of Chernihiv
Founded Free election, 1669
Final ruler Michał Korybut Wiśniowiecki (Michael I)
Current head Extinct
Ethnicity Polish, Ruthenian

House of Wiśniowiecki (Ukrainian: Вишневе́цькі, Vyshnevetski; Lithuanian: Višnioveckiai) is the name of a Polish princely family of Ruthenian/Lithuanian origin, notable in the history of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. They were powerful magnates with the estates predominantly in Ruthenian lands of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, who held the Polish coat of arms Korybut. The family traditions would trace their descend to Gediminids, but modern historians believe there is more evidence for them to have descended from the Rurikids.[1] According to the Gediminids relation theory, the ancestor of the family was Duke Kaributas (Ruthenian: Dymitr Korybut), a son of the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Algirdas. His son Fedor of Nieśwież started the family.

The name of the family can be traced to their estates in Wiśniowiec in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland (now Vyshnivets, Ukraine).[1]

From their days as Ruthenian nobility they held the Kniaz (prince) title. By late 16th century, the family converted from Orthodox to Catholicism and became Polonized.[1] They gained much importance in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, with vast possessions in the 16th to 18th centuries on the territories of today's Ukraine, particularly the town of Vyshnivets (Wiśniowiec). Their estates were so vast and their position so powerful that they were known as the most powerful of magnates – the "little kings" ("królewięta"). Their ancestral seat was the Vyshnivets Castle.

The family's Golden Age was the 17th century, when its members accumulated much wealth and influence, held numerous important posts within the Commonwealth.[1] Likely the most notable members of this family were Michael I, king of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1669 to 1673,[1] and his father Jeremi Wiśniowiecki.

Coat of Arms

The Coat of Arms of the House of Wiśniowiecki was Korybut.

Notable family members

Possessions of Wiśniowiecki family are marked in red

Estate

See also

External links

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Jerzy Jan Lerski, Piotr Wróbel, Richard J. Kozicki (1996). Historical Dictionary of Poland, 966-1945. Greenwood Publishing. p. 654. ISBN 978-0-313-26007-0.
  2. http://www.wilanow-palac.pl/kniaziowie_wisniowieccy.html
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