Hello again
First a fistfull of interesting things about our ancestors, but not confirmed by any documents, only family spoken history
Did You ever heard about the bishop of Cracow, St. Stanisalus from Szczepanow (
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Станислав_Щепановский)? He was killed by the order of the king Bolesław Szczodry (
https://be.wikipedia.org/wiki/Баляслаў_II_Смелы) in the church. The family legend says, that one of the king's men (there were 4 of them) who had killed the bishop was our ancestor. Unfortunately his name is unknown, I think this is obvious why
After that the family moved from Cracow area to Sandomierz area (where Rytwiany are). After that they were the vassals of the prince Henryk Sandomierski (
https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Генрих_(князь_Сандомирский)). Prince Henry took a part in a crusade to the Holy Land, so it is very much probable, that our ancestor was participating in this escapade as well. But we have no proof for that...
As for Belarus. In the year of 1342 or 1343 the Lithuanian prince of Pinsk, Narymunt (Narimuntas) has invited Polish nobility to settle Polesie. Our ancestor Dersław IV Jastrzębiec of Łubnica has used this offer, so this is how we have our village in Belarus - Rytwińszczyzna (Rytwińszczyna). The village existed till 1939, it was by the road between Małecz and Prużana. I know exactly where it was, it means I know the place. However, our family has lost this village (as well as Rytwiany).
Further, in XVth and XVIth century our family ancestors were given more lands in todays Belarus by the king of Poland (ex. Bronisław and Laurenty Rytwiński), what is prooved by the documents.
Most of our family members were living in that area starting from XVIth century, later the area of Kleck (since XVIIth c.).
Important: not all the people who have our family name are the members of our family. There are lets say, two types of Rytwiński.
First are the members of the family, they are all catholics (or of catholic origin), they are Poles and noblemen.
Second are the descendants of our pesants, they are from orthodox church ande of pure Belarusian origin. This is well documented in Russian files from XIXth c. Our nobility was also confirmed by the Czar with the highest level of nobility (ancient nobility).
So there are a lot of Rytwinskis in Belarus and Russia, but they don't have much to do with our family. Our family members live now mostly in Poland and Belarus, some of them also in the USA.
It is also worth to say, that our ancestors in XV, XVI and XVIIth centuries were of high and rich nobility, but later we became poorer and with no significant role in history. Unfortunately...
To be continued...
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