Branicki (Gryf)

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Gryf coat of arms of the Branicki family

The Branicki family (plural: Braniccy) was a Polish szlachta (nobility) family. Since Polish adjectives have different forms for the genders, Branicka is the form for a female family member.

History[]

The Branicki family, also called the "Griffin Clan" (Gryfici), was a magnate family, originating from Branice and Ruszcza^[1] in the Kraków Voivodeship. One of the most prominent members of the family was Field and Great Crown Hetman Jan Klemens Gryf Branicki. Jan was one of the most powerful and influential magnates in Poland during the 18th century. He was the owner of 12 cities, 257 villages, 17 palaces and two primeval forests.

In 1726, he built the Branicki Palace, the "Versailles of Podlasie". He also laid out the central part of the town of Białystok with its triangular market. He started in the King's election of , but was beaten by his brother-in-law, Stanisław Poniatowski.

Jan Klemens Branicki

Coat of arms[]

The Branicki family used the Gryf coat of arms.

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  Seal of Białystok used by Izabela Branicka after the death of Jan Klemens Branicki with the initials IB and the Griffin (beginning of the 18th century).

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  Coat of arms of Choroszcz with the Griffin and Ciołek of Izabela Branicka née Poniatowska

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  Former coat of arms of Choroszcz with the initials KB (Jan Klemens Branicki) and the Griffin

Notable members[]

• Grzegorz Branicki (1534−1595), Łowczy, burgrave of Kraków, married h. Kotwicz
  • (c. 1568−1612), courtier, Łowczy of Kraków, castellan of Żarnów, married h. Jastrzębiec
  • (1474-1520), Miecznik of the Crown, married h. Topór, daughter of Jan Tarło h. Topór
    • (died 1657), podkomorzy of Kraków, married Anna Beata Wapowska h. Nieczuja
      • (c. 1624−1673), Court Marshall of the Crown, married h. Łodzia, daughter of Hetman Stefan Czarniecki h. Łodzia
        • (1640–1709), Great Stolnik of the Crown, Voivode of Podlasie, married Princes h. Lis, daughter of Hetman Prince Jan Kazimierz Sapieha h. Lis
          • Jan Klemens Branicki (1689–1771), Field and Great Crown Hetman, the last male representative of the Branicki of Gryf family. He married firstly Princess Katarzyna Barbara Radziwiłł h. Trąby, granddaughter of Hetman Michał Kazimierz Radziwiłł, secondly h. Szembek and thirdly Princess Izabella Poniatowska h. Ciołek, sister of King Stanisław August Poniatowski
        • (1658–1720), married to Johann Heinrich von Altenbockum, mother of Ursula Katharina Lubomirska
  • Anna Branicka (died 1639), married to Count Sebastian Lubomirski Jennah Karthes de Branicka, the German TV presenter and reporter of the Middle East with Lithuanian ancestors,
    • (born in Warsaw 1941), Protests of 1968, belongs among others, to the last actual descendants of the noble family "Branicki". The Branicki family has made its name in the Polish history.

Palaces[]

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  Renaissance manor house in Branice

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  Manor house in Choroszcz

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  Palace in Białystok

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  Branicki Palace in Białystok (1752)

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  Branicki Palace in Warsaw

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  Tykocin Castle

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  The "Hetman" tenement house in Kraków (with the Gryf arms on the top)

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  Ruins of the Kamieniec Castle near Korczyna

References[]