Najstarsze dzieje Milewskich (von der Milwe)

• Authors: Wiesław Nowosad

Title variants

EN

The history of the clan Milewski (von der Milwe) in 15th-16th century

• Languages of publication: PL

Abstracts

EN

For many knight families in Prussia the 15th century was the century of choices. The inner situation and nexus in the whole country caused that they had to face a choice of either fighting to improve their situation and therefore going as far as deceiving their hitherto sovereign or staying faithful to their previous suzerain counting on his magnanimity and generosity in dividing dignity and assets. Those choices were never easy since the rate could be the whole fortune or even the life of family members. The Milewski (von der Milwe) clan, the proprietors of Milewo near Nowe upon the Vistula river, is an example of how the accomplished choices eventually pushed the clan aside on the margin of political life, diminishing their assets position. The price of loyalty towards the Teutonic Order in the face of the ultimate defeat in the Thirteen Years War was the existence within the bounds of new-created province – Royal Prussia – and subsequent looking for a better life out of bounds. An indirect consequence was a lack of interest in the family of the modern-era historiographers and heralds, who, to tell the truth, recorded the existence of such family emphasising their antiquity, however they were unable to deliver a more detailed information about them. The main aim of the article is therefore to reconstruct the family interrelationships of the first von der Milwe generations and the assets they disposed and administered as well as to restore memory of them to the contemporary people. Since they were, beside the owners of Bąków (von Banckaw), Kopytków (von Kopitkaw), Frące (von der Francze) or Smoąg (von Smollang), one of major families in the Nowe district. They are also an example of a family who did not limit their assets activity only to estates in close proximity to their main home – Milewo, but who crossed the barrier of Vistula and attempted to invest their funds in properties near Grudziądz or even farther – Prabut, Kisielice and Kętrzyn.

• Publisher: Muzeum w Grudziądzu
• Journal: Rocznik Grudziądzki
• Year: 2011
• Volume: 19
• Pages: 39-56

Contributors

author

Wiesław Nowosad