Alphabetical Index Series Index

1. Adam Boniecki : Herbarz polski. Tom 1-16 i Uzupełnienia. Warszawa, 1899-1913


Title Page

Preface


In 1872 Adam Józef Feliks Boniecki-Fredro (1842 - 1909), lawyer and civil servant, started his research on heraldry and genealogy in Poland. His first work was Kronika rodziny Bonieckich (1875), and his second - Poczet rodów w Wielkiem Księstwie Litewskiem w XV i XVI wieku (1887). In 1899, after many years of research, he began publication of Herbarz Polski.

Boniecki's work is more a genealogy of Polish nobility than of typical baronage. The author focuses on history of families as well as biographies of certain members. Although less attention is given to coats of arms, pictures of these are included. Entries are arranged according to names of families rather than names of coats of arms. In his reaserch Boniecki used only primary sources. This distinguished his work from many others which were based on family reports, that is, based on unverified sources. Volume 1 Spis ¬ródeł... (Index of Sources) contains descriptions of 130 documents where the author found information about specific people, including their public duties, and family connections. All reviewers emphasized Boniecki's unusual precision and reliability of information. This is especially important today since many archival sources were destroyed during World War II. The citations used in Herbarz are the only remaining sources of information.

It was Boniecki's intent that Herbarz consist of two parts: a section devoted to the history of Polish families; and a section containing chronological lists of civil servants. Because of his death these plans were not fullfilled. He was published only 13 volumes of part I (through entry "Lasocki"). The next 3 volumes (through entry "Makomascy") were published by his colleague, Artur Reiski. After World War I work on Herbarz was discontinued, although archives of both Boniecki and Reiski still exist. In 1928 these archives were token over by Włodzimierz Dworzaczek.

Although never completed, Boniecki's Herbarz remains the basic work in genealogy and heraldry of Polish nobility.