Chodkiewicz

The Chodkiewicz (Belarusian: Хадкевіч, Polish: Chodkiewiczowie, Lithuanian: Chodkevičius, Kadkevičius, Katkevičius, Katkus) family was one of the most influential noble families of Ruthenian descent in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th–17th centuries. Chodko Jurewicz, chamberlain to Grand Duke Vytenis, was probably the ancestor of the whole clan and gave it the name Chodkiewicz, meaning "son of Chodzko". Surnames were not used in that time, but apparently later in history, the name Chodzko became a surname after Christianization of Chodzko Juriewicz, father of Iwan (Jan) Chodkiewicz. They bore the Chodkiewicz coat of arms. In 1572, Jan Hieronimowicz Chodkiewicz abandoned Calvinism for the Roman catholicism with his two sons, which made them first polonized generation of the once Ruthenian family. Emperor Charles V granted the title of Count of the Roman Empire to the whole family.