My FamilyTree DNA Project Website Title- Background

Background

Contemporary estimates of the portion of the population of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth belonging to the noble estate, and consequently being armigerous, typically run in a range between 5 and 10%. It is believed that in regions, like Masovia and Southern Lithuania, the armigerous portion of the population was even higher.

The heraldry of Poland was clan-based, i.e., the same coat of arms was used by a number of different, but theoretically-related by blood or adoption, families using different surnames.

Over time, larger clans tended to absorb smaller clans, particularly those using similar heraldic charges. Polish arms were shared by adoption with Lithuanian families in the period following the 1410 Vicory at Grunwald. Polish heraldic usage was not regulated by the state, and numerous informal adoptions, and simple usurpations of the right to bear arms undoubtedly occurred. Nonetheless, published armorials provide ample evidence of the proliferation of new locational(and sometimes patronymic)surnames over the centuries as earlier families developed conceptually separated branches.

There are consequently many interesting cases of heraldic relationships which might also represent concealed relationships of shared ultimate paternal descent.

There are several hundred prominent Polish armorial clans. Many contain hundreds of different families using different surnames. The most numerous clan (Jastrzebiec) has more than 800 different families.