Polish Nobility Association Foundation

Library History

Riedelski and the College of Arms

For invaluable information on the relationship between Paul Riedelski and the College of Arms of Canada, download The Aryan Order of America and the College of Arms of Canada, 1880-1937 (PDF) by Yves Drolet or visit the Regroupement Des Anciennes Familles website for more information.

The Concept of Pan-Slavism

First appeared in the Polish American Journal authored and researched by Martin S. Nowak. To contact the Polish American Journal for subscriptions info@polamjournal.com or 1-800-422-1275

The Slavic people are thought to have originated in what is now the Ukraine., and dispersed from there in various directions, eventually dividing into three linguistic-cultural groups: the East Slavs (Russians, Belarussians, Ukrainians), the South Slavs (Serbians, Croats, Montenegrans, Bosnians, Macedonians, Slovenes, Bulgarians), and the West Slavs (Poles, Czechs, Slovakians).

Pan-Slavism was a movement to unite the Slavic peoples into a political and cultural union. Its earliest proponent was a Croatian priest, Juraj Krizanic, who in the 1600s put forth the idea that the Slavs should unite in a grand empire under the Muscovite czar as a counterweight against the Germans and Turks.

This concept of union was not given much serious thought until the early nineteenth century. The term Pan-Slavism was coined in 1826 by the Slovak Jan Herkel, and it became prevalent due to the influence of the French Revolution, German romanticism and the fact that most of the Slavic peoples except Russians were subjugated by other, non-Slavic peoples.

A Pan-Slav Congress was held in Prague in June 1848, presided over by the Czech Frantisek Palacky. It was attended by mostly Czech delegates. Though Palacky favored a union of Slavs under the Austrian crown, the Congress as a whole had a decided anti-Austrian and anti-Russian flavor to it.

Concepts of Pan-Slavism were as varied and numerous as the Slavic nationalities themselves. Some favored a union within Austria; others thought Russia needed to be included in any such federation, others were suspicious of Russia. Still others rejected the idea entirely.

Pan-Slavism was a movement to unite the Slavic peoples into a political and cultural union. By the late nineteenth century, Russia had come to dominate the debate over Pan-Slavism. With the largest Slavic population and a huge land mass, as well as being a powerful empire, Russia was always the “eight hundred pound gorilla in the room.” Pan-Slavism was seen by many slavs to be a capitulation to the czar, for surely Russia would control any union in which it was included. Russia and later the USSR, did indeed attempt to use Pan-Slavism as a propaganda tool for extending its control over East Central Europe, though the czars often looked at the movement with suspicion.

The Concept of Pan-Slavism

The Poles generally did not support Pan-Slavism, and many considered the movement’s Polish adherents to be traitors to the cause of Polish reunification and independence, Poland then being partitioned and occupied by Prussia, Austria and Russia. Some Poles supported Pan-Slavism only if Poland were given the leading role in any union, without the participation of Russia. But leading Polish intellectuals and romantics were far more concerned with regaining Poland’s independence than in any such federation.

The movement gained traction in the Balkans. After Serbia became independent of the Turkish Ottoman Empire in the early 1800s, it pushed for unity of all Southern Slavs under its rule. These people at the time were subjects of either the Austrians or Turks. Following World War 1, the Serbian dream came true. Under the Serbian crown, the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes was formed and encompassed all South Slavic lands except Bulgaria. This union remained largely intact after the Second World War and was renamed Yugoslavia, which means Land of the Southern Slavs.

Pan-Slavism lost most of its appeal elsewhere after World War 1 due to the fact that self-determination for Slavic lands was a result of its aftermath. The Treaty of Versailles supported a newly independent Poland, the Serbian Kingdom and a joint state for Czechs and Slovaks.

Amidst the ruins of World War 11, the USSR extended its control over all of East Central Europe, including all Slavic homelands. This was the only time in history, from 1945-48, that all the European Slavic peoples were united, though forcibly, under a single authority. Yugoslavia’s break with Moscow to follow its own brand of communism quickly put an end to such unity.

The Concept of Pan-Slavism

Some exiles from Soviet bloc countries advocated a federation of East Central European countries once independence from Moscow was achieved.

Though the USSR used a Pan-Slavic argument as a justification for its domination over Eastern Europe, it was a weak point and not fervently pursued, for even the Soviets could see the Poles and others would never accept such an excuse for Russian control of their countries.

Following the demise of communism, the idea of Pan-Slavism died almost completely. The USSR collapsed and new Slavic states of Ukraine and Belarus were formed. The Czechs separated from the Slovaks. Yugoslavia fell apart into six different independent Slavic countries. In Belarus in 2000, a committee was formed to promote Pan-Slavism, but it was just a move by the dictatorial Belarussian government to justify close ties to Russia.

What should we make of the idea of Pan-Slavism? Should those of us of Polish descent emphasize our Slavic roots? Should we be proud that Slavs put the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit, and that the first words spoken from outer space were Slavic, albeit Russian? Should we not revere the writings of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy, and the music of Dvorak and Tchaikovsky? Admire the architectural beauty of Prague and the natural wonder of the Slovene mountains and Dalmatian coast? Enjoy Bulgarian folk dances or the Bolshoi Ballet? Is this not a heritage that is also ours as Slavic Americans?

This article ties into the reflects the new PNAF web (PNAF.US) on the Home Page, “UPDATING OF PNAF HISTORY.”

Louise Warfield & Count Włodzimierz Ledóchowski

By Thomas L. Hollowak

Baltimore women are renowned for their beauty and two are remembered for their marriages to nobility – Elizabeth “Betsy” Patterson married the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, though he later abandoned her and Wallis Warfield Simpson to England’s King Edward VIII, later Duke of Windsor. Less known is the marriage of Wallis’ older cousin Louise Warfield, daughter of Edwin Warfield, Governor of Maryland (1904-1908) to Count Włodzimierz Ledochowski.

Louise Warfield & Count Włodzimierz Ledóchowski; Herb (Coat of Arms) SZALAWA

The couple met at Peking, China while Louise early on a trip around the world with her brother Edwin, Jr. Edwin introduced them at a foreign embassy entertainment. Since she didn’t speak Polish and he did not know English they conversed in French, a language in which they were both fluent. After a brief courtship they became engaged. When she returned home in December 1912 she was reticent to speak about the rumored engagement. Apparently the former Governor opposed the match because of the brevity of the couple’s courtship and she had a large fortune. After she was able to convince her father it was a true “love” match the engagement was announced and the wedding set for May.

Count Ledóchowski was a nephew of the late Cardinal Mieczysław Halka Ledóchowski, Primate of Poland and prefect of the Propaganda at the Vatican. The Ledóchowski family lineage began in 1457 in the Volhynian Voivodeship where the boyar knight Nestor Halka took the name of his estate, Ledóchow, as his own. It is believed that the dynastic family Halka dates to the time of the Kievan Rus in 971. As direct descendants of these boyar knights the family bears the same Coat of Arms with the name Szalawa (Herb Szalawa). The Halka Family’s used the official Austrian title of Halka von Ledóchow Count Ledóchowski.

On May 8, 1913 the couple was wed at the Warfield home, 1223 Linden Avenue in Baltimore City, Maryland. It was a simple ceremony because the bride’s maternal grandmother had recently died. Only relatives and a few personal friends were invited. The couple was married by Rev. William A. Fletcher, rector of the Cathedral. Cardinal Gibbons witnessed the ceremony, and in bestowing his blessing, said to the Count and the Countess: “Other contracts may be broken, but not that of marriage, which can be dissolved only by death. There can be no dissolution of this tie, even if you could or would desire it.”

Then, the Cardinal spoke of his friendship and high regard for the Count’s uncle and expressed the hope that the young man would emulate the civic and personal virtues of his family. After a wedding breakfast the couple left for New York to take a steamship to return to Poland.

On February 23, 1914, Louise gave birth to a daughter, Therese at the family estate. Located near the Austrian border, an eight-hour journey from Moscow and twelve-hours from Vienna it was in the midst of the zone of war that erupted on July 28, 1914.

Louise and Therese Warfield

On August 19, the Warfield family received a cablegram form Włodzimierz dated August 18, Ostropol, Russian Poland “Situation uncertain. Louise safe with cousins.” There was no news from her until October when the family received several letters relating the disruption the war was causing and Włodzimierz’s having a bomb proof cellar dug to protect the family and valuables. Louise’s letters appealing for medical and surgical supplies, as well as clothing and blankets prompted the former Governor to establish the Russian Poland Red Cross Relief Fund Committee. The local Polish Community rallied to his support and by December the first of several boat loads of supplies were sent to Poland. She returned to America in 1918 and worked for Polish War efforts while her husband remained in Poland and was involved with recruitment for the Polish army.

The couple’s second daughter, Marya Jadwiga was born in 1918 and the following year a son Leon Stanislaw was born. After the war they divided their time between Europe and America until 1922 when she returned to America to obtain a divorce that was granted on November 25, 1922. Although Ledóchowski protested the right of a local county court to issue a divorce he did not appear and she was given custody of the three children. The following year she renounced her title to regain U.S. citizenship and took back the name Warfield. Louise would later marry Charles Davis Morgan and find herself in France during World War II.

Tykocin Castle

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Tykocin Royal Castle is a 15th-century castle located on the right bank of the river Narew in Tykocin, Poland. It fell into ruin in the 18th century and its reconstruction began in 2002.

Zamek Tykocin- Exterior

The castle was built in 1433 for the Lithuanian noble Jonas Goštautas, voivode of Trakai and Vilnius, replacing the original wooden fortress. In the 1560s, upon the death of the last member of the Goštautas family the castle became the property of King Sigismund II Augustus, who expanded it to serve as a royal residence with an impressive treasury and library as well as the main arsenal of the crown. In 1611-1632 the castle was rebuilt again by Krzysztof Wiesiołowski, starosta of Tykocin.

During the Deluge in 1655 the Radziwiłł army occupied the castle. On December 31, 1655, when the castle was besieged by troops of the Tyszowce Confederation, Janusz Radziwiłł, one of the most powerful people in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth considered by some as the traitor, died here. Ultimately, the castle was captured on January 27, 1657.

Zamek Tykocin- Interior

In later years the castle and surrounding lands were donated to Stefan Czarniecki, who rebuilt it after 1698. In November 1705 the meeting between the king Augustus II the Strong and Peter the Great took place here and the Order of White Eagle was established.

In 1734 the castle was destroyed by fire. Since that time, no inhabited building began to fall into disrepair. In 1771 remains of the castle were destroyed by flood and in 1914, during World War I, the material from the remaining walls was used by the German soldiers to build roads.

Zamek Church of the Trinity, facing Czaniecki

For more information of the Royal History, Radziwill connection to Tykocin Castle, go to Wikipedia.com and search Tykocin Castle.

Article on Heraldry & Nobility by Michael Subritzky-Kusza, PNA

Click here to read the article.