The Swienca family was a medieval

Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...

n noble family which held high offices under various political powers in the

Lands of Schlawe and Stolp The Schlawe and Stolp Land, also known as Słupsk and Sławno Land, is a historical region in Pomerania, centered on the towns of Sławno (''Schlawe'') and Słupsk (''Stolp'') in Farther Pomerania, in present-day Poland. The area is of some his ...

(Sławno and Słupsk) and

Pomerelia Pomerelia,, la, Pomerellia, Pomerania, pl, Pomerelia (rarely used) also known as Eastern Pomerania,, csb, Pòrénkòwô Pòmòrskô Vistula Pomerania, prior to World War II also known as Polish Pomerania, is a historical sub-region of Pome ...

from the mid-13th to the mid-14th centuries. It is named after its founder, Swienca or Swieca (Polish ''Święca'', German ''Swenzo''; referred to as ''Swenzo, Swenso'' or ''Suenzo'' in contemporary documents), the elder of two brothers. In Pomerelia, the Swiencas were transiently the most powerful family after the dukes. In the Lands of

Sławno Sławno ( Kashubian/ Pomeranian: ''Słôwno'', german: Schlawe) is a town on the Wieprza river in Middle Pomerania region, north-western Poland, with 12,511 inhabitants (2019). It is the administrative seat of Gmina Sławno, though not part o ...

(Schlawe) and

Słupsk Słupsk (; , ; formerly german: Stolp, ; also known by several alternative names) is a city with powiat rights located on the Słupia River in the Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland, in the historical region of Pomerania or more specific ...

(Stolp), the region in

Farther Pomerania Farther Pomerania, Hinder Pomerania, Rear Pomerania or Eastern Pomerania (german: Hinterpommern, Ostpommern), is the part of Pomerania which comprised the eastern part of the Duchy and later Province of Pomerania. It stretched roughly from the Od ...

between river Unieść (Nestbach) in the West and the river

Łeba Łeba (pronounced: , Kashubian, Pomeranian and German: ''Leba'') is a seaside town in the Pomeranian Voivodeship of northern Poland. It is located in the Pomerelia sub-region, near Łebsko Lake and the mouth of the river Łeba on the coast of th ...

(Leba) in the East, the border to Pomerelia, they ruled de facto autonomously under various dynasties until finally the sons of Wartislaw IV of Pomerania-Wolgast of the

House of Pomerania The House of Griffin or Griffin dynasty (german: Greifen; pl, Gryfici, da, Grif) was a dynasty ruling the Duchy of Pomerania from the 12th century until 1637. The name "Griffins" was used by the dynasty after the 15th century and had been take ...

made use of their rights as legal sovereigns of the

and limited the power of the Swienca family considerably. The

Puttkamer The House of Puttkamer (also abbreviated to ''v. Puttkamer'') belongs to a widely extended German noble family whose earliest ancestor is first recorded between 1257 and 1260 in Schlawe (Sławno), Farther Pomerania. While some of its branches ha ...

family considers them to be their first documented ancestors. However, historians are divided on this issue.

AncestryDetlev Schwennicke, ''
Europäische Stammtafeln ''Europäische Stammtafeln'' - German for ''European Family Trees'' - is a series of twenty-nine books which contain sets of genealogical tables of the most influential families of Medieval European history. It is a standard reference work for thos ...
. Neue Folge. Band 19. Zwischen Weser und Oder'', Vittorio Klostermann, 2000, table 8,

/ref>

# Swenzo,

palatine A palatine or palatinus (in Latin; plural ''palatini''; cf. derivative spellings below) is a high-level official attached to imperial or royal courts in Europe since Roman times.

and

wójt Wójt is a Polish senior civil administrative officer and the highest representative of the government of a '' rural gmina'', i.e., of a commune (''gmina'') comprising only villages. (Heads of towns and cities are called "burgomaster" (Polish: ''bu ...

## Peter I of Nowe (Neuenburg), "chancellor" and "capitaneus" of

, Lord of Nowe ### Peter II of Nowe, Lord of

Tuchola Tuchola (german: Tuchel; csb, Tëchòlô) is a town in the Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship in northern Poland. The Pomeranian town, which is the seat of Tuchola County, had a population of 13,418 . Geographical location Tuchola lies about n ...

(Tuchel) ## John I (Jasco or Jesco, pl, Jaśko) of Schlawe/Sławno, since 1308 Lord of Schlawe ### Peter III of Schlawe ### Lawrence (Lorenz, pl, Warzyniec) III of Schlawe ## Lawrence (Lorenz) I of Rügenwalde, Lord of Neuenburg, since 1308 Lord of Rügenwalde ### John (Jasco) II of Rügenwalde ### Nathalie (Nathalina) # Lawrence (Lorenz),

castellan A castellan is the title used in Medieval Europe for an appointed official, a governor of a castle and its surrounding territory referred to as the castellany. The title of ''governor'' is retained in the English prison system, as a remnant o ...

of Stolp ## Swenzo junior (Swenska) ### Lawrence (Lorenz) II ## Casimir (Kasimir, pl, Kazimierz) of Tuchel

Coat of arms

The escutcheon of the Swienca family consisted of a griffin the lower half of the body of which is replaced by a sturgeon's tail, a type of arms known in heraldry as a fish griffin (German: ''Fischgreif''). The fish griffin appears also in the escutcheons of the town of Darłowo.

References

People from Pomerania Pomeranian nobility Puttkamer family {{Europe-noble-stub