Kostrovitski

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​Harold Godwinson, King of England, formerly Earl of Wessex, and three of his brothers, Tostig (Earl of Northumbria), Gyrth (Earl of East Anglia, Cambridgeshire and Oxfordshire) and Leofwine (Earl of Kent, Essex, Middlesex, Hertford and Surrey), fell in battle (Stamford Bridge and Hastings (1066)) within a few days of each other. A famous feud between Harold and Tostig brought about the end of Saxon and Danish rule in England. Their sister, Edith of Wessex (1025-1075), had been the Queen of England through her marriage to Edward the Confessor (reign 1042-1066). Their parents were Godwin, Earl of Wessex (Gōdwine Wulfnothsson) and Gytha Thorkelsdóttir, sister of Ulf Jarl, jarl of Skåne and regent of Denmark. Ulf was the son of Thorgil Sprakling (married to Estrid Sveinsdóttir, sister of King Cnut the Great, ruler of England, Denmark and Norway, whose mother was a daughter of Mieszko I of Poland (Piast Dynasty), who brought Poland into Christianity), the father of King Sweyn II of Denmark and progenitor of the House of Estridsen (rulers of Denmark from 1047 until 1412).

 

Their descendants found refuge in Denmark, Norway, Lithuania, Rus (Kiev, Novgorod) and elsewhere in Europe. Gytha of Wesssex, daughter of Harold Godwinson, married Vladimir Monomakh, Prince of Smolensk, in c. 1074/5. The eldest son of Vladimir Monomakh and Gytha of Wessex, Mstislav I of Kiev (1076-1132), who appeared in Norse sagas under the name Harald, that of his grandfather, reigned in Novgorod from 1088 to 1093.

 

In the years that followed the Norman invasion, many English men and women, finding life under the Norman yoke intolerable, sought refuge in eastern Europe. It was recorded that there was an exodus aboard a large fleet of ships that sailed to Constantinople, where many remained in the service of the Roman Emperor of Byzantium, Alexius I Comnenus (1081-1118), and that a large contingent were granted territory across the Black Sea, which territory they named Niwe Englaland (Saxon English), with English place names [i].

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The Kostrovitski Family is a prominent noble family of Belarus and Lithuania [ii], a Ruthenian (White Russian) boyar family with branches using different crests – Bajbuza, Kostrowiec, Prawdzic and Wąż (meaning 'snake'; a wyvern, the symbol and standard of Wessex, originated from the Latin for a viper, adder or asp - see also the crest of the Duchy of Mazovia (under the Piast Dynasty), that added a wyvern from this period - attributed to Magnus Haroldson). The earlier name of this family is Obakunovich (Rus. Обакунович). See the Chronicle of Novgorod 1016-1471 for references to members of the Obakunovich Family, Posadniks (Burgomeisters - see Bogdan Obakunovich and Fedosi Obakunovich), Tysyatski (Thousandmen, army commanders, sometimes translated as dux bellorum or herzog - see Olexander Obakunovich), Centurions (captains) and Boyarin (see also Iev and Vasili Obakunovich) of Novgorod, Lord Novgorod the Great - the Novgorod Republic (1136-1478) [iii].

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Obakun (or Avvakun) means 'Lover of God' in old Rus. Obakunovich means son of Obakun. Godwin derives from 'Godwine', comprised of two Proto-Germanic elements: 'gudą' (god, deity, divine being) plus 'winiz' (friend). The Polonicised name Kostrowicki (var. Kastravitski, Kastravitsky, Kostrovitski, Kostrovitsky, Кастравіцкі) means 'of The Cross' and was used by Protas Kostrowicki (see below) and other family members from the second half of the 16th Century. The Cross can be found on Anglo-Saxon coinage and the crest of the House of Wessex since 838 AD when, at a Council in Kingston (and again later in that year), Ecgberht of Wessex confirmed to the Church certain lands and privileges in return for its ongoing support. The record of the Council of Kingston, and another charter of that year, include the identical phrasing: that a condition of the grant is that "we ourselves and our heirs shall always hereafter have firm and unshakable friendships from Archbishop Ceolnoth and his congregation at Christ Church". See Æthelred I (845/848 to 871), King of Wessex (865-871), grandson of Ecgberht of Wessex, progenitor of the Godwinsons [iv].

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On 8 March 1561, Boyarin Yakov Fedorovich Obakunovich Levtik, accompanied by his son Protas Kostrowicki, Podstarosta of Mstislavl and Courtier, received from King Zygmunt II August (King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (GDL)) a Privilege confirming to him the village of Steckovo (alias Kostrowicze) in Mstislavl Province, first granted by Kniaz Yurij Lukgvenovich Mstislavsky (aka Jurij Semionovich (Lengvenaitis)) (Prince of Novgorod (1432-1440) and Prince of Mstislavl (1431-1442, 1445-1460)) to his Silver Treasurer (Podskarbi) Ivan, Yakov's Grandfather, which Privilege was also later confirmed to Ivan by Kniaz Ivan Yurievich Mstislavsky [v]. Yakov's son Bohdan z Kostrowic Kostrowicki was the father of Wasil Kostrowicki (married to Regina Zambrzycka) who became Secretary to Jan II Kazimierz Wasa, King of Poland and GDL (1648-1668). Wasil's daughter Regina married Samuel Filipowicz (h. Prawdzic - a crest used by a branch of the Kostrowicki Family).

 

Grzegorz Kostrowicki, married to Maryna Iwanowiczówna, was elected mayor of Vilnius on four occasions (in 1667, 1673, 1679 and 1685). Michał Kostrowicki (h. Baybuza), was also a mayor of Vilnius (and owner of the Arnionys (Orniany) estate, where in 1800 he commissioned the building of a classical style palace, stable and outbuildings). Romuald Kostrowicki z Kostrowicz (h. Bajbuza), owner of Mały Możejków, was Marshal of the Nobility for Lida County (from 1823-1846).

 

Samuel Kostrowicki (h. Bajbuza), President of the Polish PEN Club (for writers and poets), is buried at the Hietzinger Friedhof cemetery next to Schonbrunn Palace, outside Vienna [vi]. His daughter Melania Kostrowicka (1813-1889) is nearby, in the same Kostrowicki plot as Fanny Elssler (Fanni Elßler) (1810-1884) [vii], the famous Austrian Ballerina of the Romantic Period, a close friend. The poet, forefather of Surrealism, and art critic who used the pen name Guillaume Apollinaire - Wilhelm Albert Włodzimierz Apolinary Kostrowicki (1880-1918) - was the grandson of Melanie and Napoleon-François-Charles-Joseph Bonaparte, son of Napoleon I and Marie Louise Habsburg [viii]. Jerzy Samuel Kostrowicki (1918-2002), born at his father's estate at Kosceniew, near Lida, and his brother Andrzej Samuel Kostrowicki (1921-2007), both respected professors of Geography at Warsaw University, came from this line.

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The Lew-Ostik Kostrowicki line (four-quartered crest - Pogoń, Kostrowiec, Wąż and Trąby) ('Lew' means Lion), whose home from the 17th Century until 1863 was at Navaselki (New Settlement), near Minsk, Belarus, is that of Grigori Ostik h. Trąby (c. 1535-1580), Court Marshal of The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, whose mother was Princess Marina Mikhailovna Zaslavski - Mstislavski, a Gediminid. The Ostik (variants: Ościk, Oścyk, Oścykowicz, Astikai) Family is descended from Krystyn Ostik of Kernave (1363-1442/4) (ancient capital of Lithuania and UNESCO World Heritage Site), Castellan of Vilnius (from 1419) and progenitor of the Ostik and Radziwiłł families, through two of his sons, Stanislovas / Stanko Ostikowicz and Radziwiłł Ostikowicz.

 

The historian and genealogist Dr. Józef Puzyna (1878-1949) investigated a Lithuanian legend that this family is descended patrilineally from Godwin Haroldson, eldest son of Harold Godwinson by his wife, Edith the Fair (granddaughter of King Aethelred the Unready (by his daughter Wulfhilda and Thorkell the Tall (Havi), made earl of East Anglia and earl of Denmark by Cnut) niece of King Edward The Confessor and the Lady of Walsingham (the line of Alfred the Great) [ix]). Puzyna concluded that either this Godwin, or a son of this Godwin founded a principality, initially known as the duchy of Alsen, also known as Nalška or Nalszczańska, with its capital at Utena, which dynasty in time became that of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania [x], members of which became Kings of Poland, Bohemia and Hungary.

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Dorsprung (brother of Mendog, the only King of Lithuania), via Narimund (a.k.a. Sirputis, Duke of Kernave and brother of Traidenis), left progeny from whom come the Ostiks and Ostikoviches of the crest Centaurus-Hippocentaurus (which crest Narimund changed into 'Pogon' / 'Pahonia', ordering his descendants to wear it on their shields), being, according to Kojalowicz-Wijuk T.J., Herald of XVIIth Century Lithuania, the most ancient Grand Ducal family line of Lithuania.

 

In 1436, GDL Sigismund Kestutaitis granted a privilege over Alanta, in Utena County, to Ona, from a Samogitian princely/ducal family, wife of Krystyn Ostik. The Ostiks were among the largest landowners in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

 

Jerzy Grigorievich Ostik (d. 1546), Court Marshal of Lithuania married Princess Marina Mikhailovna Mstislavska Zaslavska (d. 1563) (her sister, Anastasia (d. 1580) had married Jerzy's brother, Grigory Grigorievich Ostik (d. 1557)), confirming strong ties between these families and Mstislavl, the Lithuanian province that bordered with Novgorod. These sisters were descended on their father's side, Prince Mikhail Ivanovich Zaslavski (Michailas Ivanovičius Zaslavskis) (1499-1534/6, son of Prince Ivan Yurievich Zaslavski, Voivode of Minsk and Vitebsk (1468-1499)), from GDL Jaunutis (Jawnuta), baptised as Ivan in the Orthodox faith, younger son and chosen successor to GDL Gediminas. Maternally they were descended from Juliana, daughter and heiress of Kniaz (Prince) Ivan Yurievich Lukgvenovich Mstislavski (Rus. Мстиславский) (descended from Lengvenis, son of GDL Algirdas, another son of Gediminas, and Juliana of Tver (daughter of Grand Prince Alexander or Aleksandr Mikhailovich (Rus: Александр Михайлович Тверской) (1301-1339), Prince of Tver as Alexander I and Grand Prince of Vladimir-Suzdal as Alexander II (House of Rurik) - both he and his father were canonised and counted among the saints of the Russian Orthodox Church). As his wife's dowry and heritage Mikhail Zaslavski received part of the Mstislavl duchy and the right to be called Mstislavski (Rus.: Mstislavsky; Мстиславский) from Alexander Jagiellonczyk, GDL and King of Poland. Fedor Ivanovich Mstislavsky (d. 1622), who declined the Boyars' offer to take the Russian throne, was the leader of the Seven Boyars who governed Russia between 1610 and 1612 and Chairman of the Zemsky Sobor (Russian Parliament) in 1613. He was the last of the Mstislavski/y male line, then the most senior line of Russian princes. The Romanov Era followed.

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Following the relinquishment of the hereditary rights of his dynasty upon the death of Sigismund Augustus II in 1572 (who had caused elective monarchy to be introduced in Lithuania and Poland after him), the sons of Jerzy Grigorievich Ostik (above), Jerzy Ostik (married to Magdalena Bramowska, from Lomnice (Moravia)) and Grigori Ostik (1535-1580) (married to Jadvyga Nosilovska, daughter of the Voivode of Vitebsk) supported the unsuccessful candidacy of Fedor Ivanovic of Moscow for election to the Polish throne and as GDL. This was to be the undoing of Grigori.

 

Jerzy Ostik, the first Voivode of Mstislavl (1566-1578) and Voivode of Smolensk (1578), died in 1579. In 1580 Grigori was seized by Gabriel Bekesz on the orders of Stefan Bathory, elected King of Poland and GDL, tortured into confession and swiftly tried by the officers of Mikołaj Radziwiłł (who had supported the election of Stefan Bathory) and executed, denied his right to trial by his peers. The validity of these proceedings was questionable [xi]. Alanta, his house in Vilnius at 7 Didžioji gatvė (Street) and many other properties, were confiscated. Alanta and this house were given to Bekesz and later sold.

 

Grigori Ostik's son Jan was imprisoned, released in 1581 and declared innocent. He recovered some family properties and became a land judge and a magistrate in Vilnius and a Royal Courtier. Mikolaj Radziwiłł died in 1584. In 1585 Krzystof Mikolaj 'the Thunderbolt' Radziwiłł), Voivode of Vilnius and Grand Hetman of Lithuania, giving a speech about the differences between Lithuanian and Polish laws in the Senate of the Polish-Lithuanian Republic, spoke of the case of Grigori Ostik and said that "we somehow were too quick to agree that he had to be punished" [xii].

 

In 1586 (after Bathory was dead), Jan Ostik attempted to recover those of his father's estates that had not been returned to him, but was unsuccessful [xiii]. He married Zofia Jundziłł (h. Łabędź)) in 1594, who remarried after his death in 1609 [xiv]. This branch of the Ostik family were helped by their relatives and supporters and assumed the name Kostrowicki (h. Wąż).

 

Stefan (Lew-Ostik) Kostrowicki was Treasurer of Rzezyce, heir to Nowosiołki etc. (Novoselki, comprised of Vialikija Navasiolki (Large Novoselki) (where from the 1830's stood the classical style palace/manor house in a park) and Malyja Navasiolki (Little Novoselki, or Old Novoselki), where for centuries stood a wooden traditional manor house (dvor), was the home of the Lew-Ostik Kostrowicki family from the 17th Century), and to Stankow and Starzynki. Stefan's grandson Ignacy was Adjutant of The Royal Manor (Adjutant Dwor Krolewski) and a General of Artillery. Samuel (Lew-Ostik) Kostrowicki, was a Captain of Artillery, Captain of the Honour Guard of Emperor Napoleon I, President of the Land Courts of Minsk and heir to Novoselki, Jaroszowka near Kojdanow in the District of Minsk and Jucki Uroczyska, Lisie Nory, Dubowka and Prymohilje, site of the family graves.

 

Karol (Lew-Ostik) Kostrowicki (1819-1874), Komisarz Skarbu i Aprowizacji (Commissioner of the Treasury and Food Supplies) of the Minsk District, married to Helena Świętorzecka (Sventarzhetska) (herb/crest: Trąby) owned Malyja Navaselki. The younger brother of Kazimierz, who had sold Vialikija Navasiolki (in 1860), Karol was sent in chains to Siberia, his property confiscated, after, along with other relatives, participating in the January 1863 Uprising against Tsarist Russian rule. Karol's wife, daughter Dorota and son Stanisław later followed him there and in Tobolsk three more children were born, sons Kazimierz Rafał (1868) and Ambroży Samuel (1870) and youngest daughter Maria. Karol was released in 1872, dying soon after his return.

 

Kazimierz Rafał (Lew-Ostik) Kostrowicki is better known under the pen-name Karuś Kahaniec ('The Lamp'), Belarusian poet, playwright, linguist, sculptor, national and cultural activist (1868-1918) [xv]. He endured a hard life, suffering chronic ill health, his spine injured in a childhood accident. His political activities meant that finding and staying in employment was difficult, employers disapproving or fearing reprisal by the authorities. He became one of the founder members of the Belarusian Liberation Movement (Hramada) and a contributor to its newspaper, 'Naša Niva' ('Our Field'), founded in 1906, re-established in 1991. He was also a member of the Belarusian Committee in March 1917 and one of the organisers of the All-Belarusian Congress held in Minsk in December 1917, working closely with his brother, Ambroży. He was married to Anna (Halina) Konstantinowicz Prokopowicz (Prokopovich) from the Mogilev Province in 1899.

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Ambroży Samuel (Lew-Ostik) Kostrowicki (1870-1937) the Belarusian public figure, who in 1917 was Chairman of the Congress of Belarusian National Organizations in Minsk, created by the Belarusian National Committee, was a doctor of medicine, in which capacity he served as a Russian army major in WWI. He was the younger brother of Kazimierz-Rafał. He married Maria Stefania Boguszewska, daughter of Albert Boguszewski of Izabelow (near Minsk) and Alexandra Ostrowska.

 

There are living descendants of these and other lines of this multi-faceted historic family.​

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