Swienca family


The Swienca family was a medieval Pomeranian noble family which held high offices under various political powers in the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp and Pomerelia from the mid-13th to the mid-14th centuries. It is named after its founder, Swienca or Swieca, the elder of two brothers.
In Pomerelia, the Swiencas were transiently the most powerful family after the dukes. In the Lands of Sławno and Słupsk, the region in Farther Pomerania between river Unieść in the West and the river Łeba 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 made use of their rights as legal sovereigns of the Lands of Schlawe and Stolp and limited the power of the Swienca family considerably.
The Puttkamer family considers them to be their first documented ancestors. However, historians are divided on this issue.

AncestryDetlev Schwennicke, ''[Europäische Stammtafeln]. Neue Folge. Band 19. Zwischen Weser und Oder'', Vittorio Klostermann, 2000, table 8, https://books.google.com/books?id=5m5k3csBpAwC&pg=PT16&dq=swenzonen&lr=&as_brr=3&client=firefox-a#PPT32,M1

  1. Swenzo, palatine and wójt of Pomerelia
  2. # Peter I of Nowe, "chancellor" and "capitaneus" of Pomerelia, Lord of Nowe
  3. ## Peter II of Nowe, Lord of Tuchola
  4. # John I of Schlawe/Sławno, since 1308 Lord of Schlawe
  5. ## Peter III of Schlawe
  6. ## Lawrence III of Schlawe
  7. # Lawrence I of Rügenwalde, Lord of Neuenburg, since 1308 Lord of Rügenwalde
  8. ## John II of Rügenwalde
  9. ## Nathalie
  10. Lawrence, castellan of Stolp
  11. # Swenzo junior
  12. ## Lawrence II
  13. # Casimir 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. The fish griffin appears also in the escutcheons of the town of Darłowo.