The
following is a direct translation from the classical genealogical
and heraldic reference "Herbarz Polski" by Kasper
Niesiecki, S. J., Lipsk edition, 1839-1846.
Neither Paprocki nor Okolski wrote about these
arms. The shield is divided into three fields, of which one is
white, broader at the bottom of the shield and gradually coming
to a point as it rises. The second is blue, on the left side of
the shield, and the third is red. On the subject of the arms'
origin and the time of their conferral, there is silence among
the authors. The Brezas use the arms in greater Poland. The
family moved to us from France, where B. Priolus de rebus
Galliae attests that the family flourished among the most
powerful houses, and even the highest admiralcies were in their
hands more than once. In more recent times, the days of Wladyslaw
IV, de Brézé acted as envoy in our Poland from the French king,
and all in all it seems to me that it was his posterity that
settled in these parts.
Wojciech Konstantyn Breza -Poznan voivode, Nowy Dwór starosta,
and senator, known for his sound advice and graceful eloquence
-signed from Goraj to the general convocation after King
Michael's death, and served as envoy from greater Poland to the
coronation congress. His fatherland used him in various
capacities, such as commissioner for frontier disputes, from
Silesia and Moravia, from the margraviate; and he succeeded in
resolving them all to the satisfaction of the commonwealth. In
the fiscal courts of the Radom tribunal and in the case of Piltyn
and the Curish episcopate, he conducted himself as a son who
loves his fatherland, and blessed justice ensued. On these
occasions this experienced man was given, first, the castellanate
of Poznan, soon after the voivodeship of Kalisz, and finally that
of Poznan. He was no less generous to God than to his fatherland:
The Walcz residence of the Society of Jesus counts him among its
benefactors. He lined with brickwork the Skrzetusz church in his
starostwo from its foundations, fashionably and magnificently, at
great expense, for the greater honor of Our Lady's miraculous
image there, for which he also made a foundation by auction,
which the constitution approved 1685 fol. 16. He died in
1698. He was survived by his wife, née Opalinska, who buried him
in Poznan at the Barefoot Carmelites' cloister, of whom he was a
significant benefactor. His first marriage was to Cecylia Donhoff, daughter of the Pomeranian
voivode, but had no children
by her. The nephews of this same voivode, Mikolaj, Antoni, Wladyslaw, and Wojciech, also became Sadek castellans, and one of
them was Poznan canon in his day. A little later I also read of
Barbara Brezianka, who married Piotr Bninski of Lodzia arms in
1647.
Dominik Breza, Sadek castellan, had five
sons by Grudzinska, daughter of the Poznan castellan. The
first, Józef Breza, regent of Poznan district, died
childless. Dominik's second son, Ludwik Breza, had one
daughter by Urbanowska. The third son of the Sadek castellan, Michal, Lubaczów master of the pantry, had three sons by
Zurawska: 1. Stanislaw, envoy one time from Kalisz province
to the Grodno sejm and a second time to the Warsaw sejm; 2.
Antoni, His Majesty's chamberlain, married Czarnecka
Staroscianka Dunczewska; 3. Maciej; and one daughter, Ewa,
who married Wojnarowski. The fourth son of Sadek castellan
Dominik Breza was Onufry, Wlodzimierz sword-bearer, deputy to
the Lublin tribunal under the staff of Olizar, royal master
of the pantry in 1780; he was born of Kierska, daughter of
the Rogozno castellan, and married Helena Jawikiewicz,
daughter of the Mscislaw cup-bearer, by whom the first son
was Konstanty Breza, lieutenant of the national cavalry of
Karwicki's regiment. After completing the campaign at Zielence, Dubienka, he died in Dubno on 26 March 1792, having
begun his 26th year; he was riding to his mother on account
of the sudden news of the death of his father, and he was
beloved in the army, in the citizenry, and family. There was
a second son, Stanislaw, a minor, and a daughter, Franciszka.
The fifth son of Sadek castellan Dominik, Walenty, married Krzetowska, by whom there is a son and a daughter. - Heraldyka
Wleladka.
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