The Kutitskies and Vasichinskies in Galicia in the 15th century: on studying noble families of Rusinian origin

Abstract

The article deals with the genealogy of noblemen of Rusinian origin in Galicia, Russian Voivodeship of the Polish Kingdom in the 15th century (the east of Chervonaya (Red) Rus, now Ivano-Frankivsk Region of Ukraine mainly). The author analyses the specificity and flaws of sources on this topic. The high proportion of small landowners of Rusinian origin is emphasized as an important feature of the Galician gentry, which explains why, after the introduction of Polish law (and gentry self-government) in Chervona Rus, the Galician judge and arbitrator were for many years the gentry of Rusinian origin Ignat Kutitsky (1438-1471) and Stibor Vasichinsky (1435-1459). The author studies the history of these two families in the 15th century: their blood ties, landowning, relations with neighbors. Before 1435, their members converted from Orthodoxy to Catholicism, but failed to polonize in the second half of the 15th century. The confirmation of the forged act of the Galician-Volhynian Prince Lev to the ancestor of the Vasichinskies by the King in 1550-1558 shows that the polonized descendants of the Galician boyars remembered about their Rusinian roots even in the middle of the 16th century.