Albert Constantin Breza, h.wł.

1657, Oberstküchenmeister der Königin von Polen 1658, Landjägermeister von Posen 1673, Kgl. Poln. Gesandter am Schwedische Hofe 1692, Wojewode von Posen, Herr auf Goray, Gr. u. Kl. Münche, Gralewo, Minknasz, Dombrowka, Zempelburg, Wisniewo, Wisniewko, Sikora, Nichoric, Ludom, Wierdanki, Neudorf, Kamionka, Hammer-Mühle, usw.

Wojciech Konstanty Breza herbu własnego (zm. 1698) – wojewoda poznański.

Wojciech Konstanty Breza urodził się w rodzinie pochodzenia francuskiego i był synem Mikołaja Tytusa i Zofii Żychlińskiej. Jeden z najwybitniejszych przywódców szlachty wielkopolskiej i wielokrotnie posłował na sejmy. W 1661 był łowczym poznańskim i od Jana Kazimierza otrzymał starostwo nowodworskie. Należał do stronnictwa regalistycznego w sejmie za panowania Michała Korybuta Wiśniowieckiego. W 1673 odbył do Szwecji bezskuteczne poselstwo, którego celem było uzyskanie posiłków na wojnę z Turcją. Wraz z Władysławem Rejem na wieść o śmierci króla Michała wystąpił z projektem elekcji na tron polskiego księcia Jerzego duńskiego. Posłował po powrocie do kraju w 1674 na sejm konwokacyjny. Początkowo był zwolennikiem kandydatury duńskiej, ale w końcu poparł Jana Sobieskiego. Posłował nadal na sejmy i był również wybierany do wielu komisji, a zwłaszcza dla spornych spraw z Brandenburgią. Podczas początkowych lat rządów Sobieskiego był przeciwnikiem profrancuskiej polityki króla i jego planom odzyskania Prus Książęcych przy pomocy Francji. Był zagorzałym stronnikiem elektora i nie bezinteresownie informował go o sprawach Rzeczypospolitej. Wraz z Krzysztofem Grzymułtowskim obiecywał w 1678 nie dopuścić do ataku na Prusy Książęce. Przeciwnik reform wewnętrznych, które Sobieski zamierzał przeprowadzić, a w elektorze upatrywał zaś obrońcę swobód szlacheckich. W 1681 po zbliżeniu się do króla uzyskał kasztelanię poznańską. Nie zrywając z elektorem, w 1683 poparł na sejmie politykę Jana III i sojusz z cesarzem. W 1684 pomyślnie odprawił poselstwo do Berlina w sprawie posiłków na wojnę turecką. Otrzymał w 1687 województwo kaliskie, a w 1692 poznańskie. Fundator kościoła w Skrzetuszu (k. Wałcza).

W 1697 roku był elektorem Augusta II Mocnego z województwa poznańskiego[1].

Zmarł w 1698 i został pochowany w Poznaniu (u karmelitów?).

Był kolejno żonaty: z Katarzyną Jadwigą Denhoffówną, Anną Konstancją Wejherówną i Teresą Konstancją Opalińską, a jego małżeństwa były bezdzietne.

Wojciech Konstanty z Goraja Breza

Wojciech (b. ? - d. 1698) was a grandson of Ernst v. Briesen, of Zibelle. ["Wojciech" is rendered as 'Adalbert,' honoring the 10th C. martyr. It is not a translation; but, Czech Vojtek appended the name of his mentor, Bishop Adalbert of Magdeburg , to his own.} Ernst, younger brother of Christoph, whom we believe to have remained at Zibelle and whom we understand to be our ancestor, acquired a number of estates in Poland, in the area of Posen / Poznan, in the early 1590s. The principal estate was Goraj / Goray. There appear to be records surviving from these transactions and numerous land transactions thereafter, some of which involve brother Christoph "de Cyballin" (of Zibelle).

"Gotha" of 1917, shows Ernst and Christoph as sons of a Joachim vB, while other sources place them as sons of Adam vB, whom you 'know' as the armored subject of the carved stone "Epitaphe" in the church at Zibelle. All of the Polish sources, save one, which I used to augment our knowledge of the Breza lines give their parents as Jan Krzysztof Breza and Anna Kotwicz. [The lone exception happens to take as starting point, members of the Great, or Four-year, Parliament of the 1790s. Stanislaw Breza had been a Senator in that conclave.] There is nowhere any suggestion that our family was represented in Poland prior to Ernst's adventures; and, thus, I would look for a Hans Christoph vB married to an Anna v. Kottwitz, in Zibelle.

Wojciech held a number of important positions, in addition to managing his several estates. He was several times a Senator (representative to the Sejm, or parliament). He was a Starosta of Nowy Dwor (Neuhof, near Deutsch Krone, now Walcz), Kasztelan (Schloßhauptmann , Chatelain) of Poznan, and, later Wojewoda of Poznan (a provincial governor). A family tree prepared by Count Jozef v. Briesen called Breza, in 1920, given to me by his correspondent, Ernst vB of Bergen bei Celle, back in 1959, tells of Wojciech being Oberküchenmeister (Master of the Pantry) to the Queen of Poland. In Polish, this is more simply kuchmystrz. [Pause here and reflect on the fact that it has been a longer time since 1959 than it was from 1920 to that point.] He was also Royal "Oberstallmeister," something like "Keeper of the Horses." He also served as ambassador to Sweden. Of course, in the 17th C., Sweden played an enormous role in Polish affairs, some their ruling house, Vasa, being elected Kings of Poland-Lithuania.

We know of three wives for Wojciech: Katarzyna Jadwiga Denhoff (v. Dönhoff), Anna Konstancja Wejher (v. Weyherr), and Teresa Konstancja Bnin-Opalinska. The Opalinskis were an immensely powerful clan. Teresa's niece would marry Stanislaw Leszczynski, twice elected King of Poland. Their daughter Marie would, in turn, marry Louis XV of France. Louis, after siring enough children, pretty much abandoned Marie for his mistresses, chief among which was Mme. de Pompadour.

UPDATED I thought we had info on at least one child of our subject. This was from an excerpt of a doctoral dissertation concerning the use of the elements of the Eucharist in Polish folklore and witchcraft practices. However, the author of the dissertation informs me that the Wojciech of whom he writes is nephew (bratenek) to Wojciech Konstanty. There is a nephew , son of Adam, Mikolaj, or Wojciech Mikolaj, who was known to have a son Franciszek, as in the witchcraft story related in the dissertation.

Wojciech made several significant charitable benefactions: a Jesuit house in Walcz, a hospital there, and the rebuilding of the pilgrimage church in Skrzatusz. This place was made into a shocking pink Rococco cupcake, as I call it. The object of the pilgrims was the viewing of the medieval pieta statue protected in the little church.

After reading of a portrait here, in a contribution on a Rootsweb mailing list for Posen, I wrote to this church at Skrzatusz and received not one, but two, digital images of portraits of Wojciech. The first one (in which he has long wavy 'to die for' hair) is painted on the wall, directly. I found this shot on the web which shows it's situation on the trompe l'oeil wall of the church.

Here is the shot of the magnificent oil portrait on canvas, of Wojciech.

Wojciech was buried at "a Carmelite church in Posen." I found evidence of only one, on the web, and in Polish tour books. Saint Joseph's appears to be headquarters for the order, in the region. It is a large Baroque building; and, it was completed a few years prior to Wojciech's death

UPDATE Alas, I have just received word from the Carmelites at sw. Jozefa's that there is nothing there concerning Wojciech. Moreover, the Discalced Carmelite nunnery of which Wojciech was known to be a benefactor, is no longer in existence. Perhaps, some image of the interior survives somewhere and shows a monument to Pan Breza.

-- Jon von Briesen, 2007

Note: Breza herb

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.

Sources

• Dick von Briesen, Briesen, et al.
• Wikipedia: Polish