Ethnicity Poles | Current region Poland | |
 | ||
Place of origin Eastern Europe
Kingdom of Poland | ||
The Staniewski family (plural: Staniewscy) is a Polish aristocratic and noble family of the Starykoń coat of arms. Members of the family were heirs to part of the Grodno region of modern-day Belarus. Members of the house are also heirs to parts of the Horodyski family estate, the rights to which were relinquished after World War I. The family has distant ties to various other Polish noble and royal families including the Zamojski family. Their ancestry can be traced back to either Russian or Bulgarian boyars. Many important documents regarding the family's history were either lost or destroyed during both World Wars.
Contents
- Notable members
- Wodzimierz Staniewski
- Franciszek Staniewski
- Henryk Staniewski
- Marcin Staniewski
- Coat of arms
- References
The family is attributed to founding the world's first stationary circus in Warsaw, Poland. The functioned from 1882 to 1939, when burned down during the bombing of Warsaw during World War II.
Notable members
Włodzimierz Staniewski
Włodzimierz Staniewski (born in 1950 in Bardo, Poland) is a Polish theatre and film director, founder and director of the Gardzienice Centre for Theatre Practices. Author of international programs, actor training, essays, and plays.
Franciszek Staniewski
Franciszek Staniewski (1876–1955), served in the Imperial Russian Army for approximately six years, within Moscow. He was gamekeeper of the Skaryszew forest for 18 years and was a member of the Skaryszew Volunteer Fire Department Band. Franciszek married Aniela Iwańska, of the Ostoja coat of arms, they had six children. Franciszek died in Skaryszew, Poland on the 8th of February, 1955.
Henryk Staniewski
Henryk Adam Staniewski (grandson of Franciszek Staniewski) is a transport engineer and currently CEO of Signalbud sp. z o.o. in Lublin. Until 2006 he worked in the PKP Polish Railway Lines as the General Director of the Regional Branch in Lublin. Henryk Staniewski was honored with various awards for professionalism and achievements throughout his career; in 1998, he received the Gold Cross of Merit of the Republic of Poland. In 1970, he married Barbara Kucaj, granddaughter of Julia Horodyska, a member of the House of Horodyski. Together they have two children: Anna (b. 1971) and Małgorzata (b. 1976), and five grandchildren, Jakub (b. 2000), Zuzanna (b. 2006), Dominik (b. 2005), Wiktor (b. 2010) and Piotr (b. 2014).
Marcin Staniewski
Marcin Waldemar Staniewski (great-grandson of Franciszek Staniewski, nephew of Henryk Staniewski) graduated from Aleksander Poniatowski Secondary School in Sandomierz with a humanistic profile. In 2000, he obtained a master's degree with a specialization in human resources management from the Leon Koźminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management in Warsaw, where he started working as an academic employee as an assistant at the Center for Management Studies. In 2005 he began working at the University of Finance and Management in Warsaw as an assistant professor in the Department of Human Resources Management. In 2005–2006 he served there as Deputy Director of the Office of Student Affairs, and since 2007 he has been the Director of Development. In 2006 he was awarded the degree of doctor of economic sciences in the field of management science, given by the Senate of the Koźminski Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management in Warsaw. He is the winner of the prestigious Committee of Organization and Management in the national competition work in the field of management science.
Coat of arms
Traditionally, the House of Staniewski uses the Starykoń coat of arms, which according to heraldic legends, originated in the 11th century. The coat of arms was first mentioned in writing in 1320, when a document proving the nobility of Gregory of Wronin was signed by Grand Duke of Lithuania, King of Poland, Władysław II Jagiełło. There exists a legend regarding the origins of the coat of arms:
There were three brothers of the Topór crest – Sędziwój, Nawój and Żegota. When Żegota after a long journey back home, it turned out that Sędziwój and Nawój had divided amongst themselves all the property of his father, renouncing his brother. Seeing this, Żegota proved his right to birth and fortune before the king. The monarch, in order to compensate him for the harm he suffered, distinguished him from his brothers by giving him a new coat of arms – a white horse, on which Zegota left his family home. But to reference that he was descended from the Toporczyk family, an ax from the old coat of arms was elevated to the helm.