Ksiazyk in Herbarz
All references on one single page
Herbarz books are armorial books that list Polish families with nobility. In Poland, the concept of "nobility" (Szlachta) is rather extensive and confusing. About 10% of the Poles claimed this statute before the partition of Poland at the end of the 18th century. Moreover, authors of herbarz books tend to duplicate the same information. Therefore, these sources are no definitive evidences and should be taken with much caution.
This page presents the Książyk references in some of the most usual Herbarz books available. This research work was done in the following organizations: Biblioteka Narodowa (Warsaw), Archiwum Główne Akt Dawnych (Warsaw), Biblioteka Raczyńskich (Poznan).
According to the local History of the Bielsk Podlaskie region, the Paprzyca Knights were a prominent family from the Kuszaba Clan. They settled in Niewino (Podlaskie) during the early 16th century and became the Niwiński family. After a couple of generations, a branch of the Niwiński used the nicknames "Chreba" and “Książyk” to differentiate. These nicknames became rapidly new family names. Consequently, herbarz books specify that the Książyk family is a branch of the Niwiński from the Paprzyca Clan. The archaic spelling "Xsiążyk" is sometime used.