Herb Breza
Research Heraldry Herb Breza
Herbarz Polski translation
Breza herb
The following is a direct translation from the classical genealogical and heraldic reference "Herbarz Polski" by Kasper Niesiecki, S. J., Lipsk edition, 1839-1846.
Neither Paprocki nor Okolski wrote about these arms. The shield is divided into three fields, of which one is white, broader at the bottom of the shield and gradually coming to a point as it rises. The second is blue, on the left side of the shield, and the third is red. On the subject of the arms' origin and the time of their conferral, there is silence among the authors. The Brezas use the arms in greater Poland. The family moved to us from France, where B. Priolus de rebus Galliae attests that the family flourished among the most powerful houses, and even the highest admiralcies were in their hands more than once. In more recent times, the days of Wladyslaw IV, de Brézé acted as envoy in our Poland from the French king, and all in all it seems to me that it was his posterity that settled in these parts.
Wojciech Konstantyn Breza -Poznan voivode, Nowy Dwór starosta, and senator, known for his sound advice and graceful eloquence -signed from Goraj to the general convocation after King Michael's death, and served as envoy from greater Poland to the coronation congress. His fatherland used him in various capacities, such as commissioner for frontier disputes, from Silesia and Moravia, from the margraviate; and he succeeded in resolving them all to the satisfaction of the commonwealth. In the fiscal courts of the Radom tribunal and in the case of Piltyn and the Curish episcopate, he conducted himself as a son who loves his fatherland, and blessed justice ensued. On these occasions this experienced man was given, first, the castellanate of Poznan, soon after the voivodeship of Kalisz, and finally that of Poznan. He was no less generous to God than to his fatherland: The Walcz residence of the Society of Jesus counts him among its benefactors. He lined with brickwork the Skrzetusz church in his starostwo from its foundations, fashionably and magnificently, at great expense, for the greater honor of Our Lady's miraculous image there, for which he also made a foundation by auction, which the constitution approved 1685 fol. 16. He died in 1698. He was survived by his wife, née Opalinska, who buried him in Poznan at the Barefoot Carmelites' cloister, of whom he was a significant benefactor. His first marriage was to Cecylia Donhoff, daughter of the Pomeranian voivode, but had no children by her. The nephews of this same voivode, Mikolaj, Antoni, Wladyslaw, and Wojciech, also became Sadek castellans, and one of them was Poznan canon in his day. A little later I also read of Barbara Brezianka, who married Piotr Bninski of Lodzia arms in 1647
Dominik Breza, Sadek castellan, had five sons by Grudzinska, daughter of the Poznan castellan. The first, Józef Breza, regent of Poznan district, died childless. Dominik's second son, Ludwik Breza, had one daughter by Urbanowska. The third son of the Sadek castellan, Michal, Lubaczów master of the pantry, had three sons by Zurawska: 1. Stanislaw, envoy one time from Kalisz province to the Grodno sejm and a second time to the Warsaw sejm; 2. Antoni, His Majesty's chamberlain, married Czarnecka Staroscianka Dunczewska; 3. Maciej; and one daughter, Ewa, who married Wojnarowski. The fourth son of Sadek castellan Dominik Breza was Onufry, Wlodzimierz sword-bearer, deputy to the Lublin tribunal under the staff of Olizar, royal master of the pantry in 1780; he was born of Kierska, daughter of the Rogozno castellan, and married Helena Jawikiewicz, daughter of the Mscislaw cup-bearer, by whom the first son was Konstanty Breza, lieutenant of the national cavalry of Karwicki's regiment. After completing the campaign at Zielence, Dubienka, he died in Dubno on 26 March 1792, having begun his 26th year; he was riding to his mother on account of the sudden news of the death of his father, and he was beloved in the army, in the citizenry, and family. There was a second son, Stanislaw, a minor, and a daughter, Franciszka. The fifth son of Sadek castellan Dominik, Walenty, married Krzetowska, by whom there is a son and a daughter. - Heraldyka Wleladka.
Copyright © 1991 William F. Hoffman. Used by permission. This article originally appeared in Polish Genealogical Society Newsletter (Vol. XIV, No. 1, Spring 1991), the bulletin of the Polish Genealogical Society.
;