Rodzina Orlików i jej związki z dominikańskimi klasztorami w Krakowie i Raciborzu

Abstract

THE ORLIK FAMILY AND ITS CONNECTIONS WITH THE DOMINICAN MONASTERIES IN KRAKÓW AND RACIBÓRZ

The Orlik family of the Nowina coat of arms originated from Laziska (Łaziska) in the Orońsko municipality in the Szydłowiec district, Mazowieckie province. The presence of this family in the Radom area is confirmed by records from the 1580s at the latest. Stanisław Orlik (1509–1559), a Ruthenian magnate, husband of Katarzyna Komorowska, comes from this family. Both were buried in Kraków’s Dominican Basilica in the chapel of St. John the Baptist, known as the Orliks’ chapel, and today as the Chapel of the Saviour or Przezdziecki Chapel. The chapel owed its name to the foundation of Katarzyna Orlik nee Komorowska, who commissioned a marble tombstone for her late husband and herself. It was made in 1562 by Hieronim (Girolamo) Canavesi. The children of Stanisław and Katarzyna were Jan Krzysztof (d. 1597), chamberlain of Sandomierz, Stanisław Jr (d. 1607) and Barbara. Stanisław Jr married Zofia List in 1581. The two lived to have eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, of whom six sons survived: Jan Krzysztof (1585–1644), Piotr (1586–1643), Mikołaj (1587/1594–1668), Andrzej (1595–1641), Samuel (1598–1659) and Stanisław (1598–1643). Stanisław Jr supported the pretender to the throne of Poland, Archduke Maximilian III of Habsburg. After the Battle of Byczyna on January 24, 1588, Stanisław remained in the pro-Habsburg camp and left Poland with his family for Moravia. The fate of the Orlik family is linked not only to the Dominican Church in Kraków, but also to the Dominican Sisters’ monastery in Racibórz. At the turn of the 17th century, members of the family came there, asking for the intercession of Eufemia (Ofka) Piastówna, the prioress of Racibórz, who died on January 17, 1359 in a saintly aura and was venerated there. In the first half of the 17th century, Jan Krzysztof and Andrzej, grandsons of Stanisław and Katarzyna, came into contact with Kraków Dominicans, intending to take care of the family chapel. It can be assumed that after their deaths, subsequent generations of the Orliks took little interest in the chapel, as by the end of the 17th century it had become the seat of the shoemakers’ guild.