Gentry in Końska

The study is an attempt to summarize the current state of research on the history of noble houses of Końska (and the subsequent owners of the estate) from the turn of the 16th and the 17th centuries to the early years of the 20th century, with some added information based on source material and press dating from the last part of this period. Therefore some new facts concerning the owners of Końska and their „heirs” have been introduced and some false assumptions have been verified. The article covers 400 years of the rule of the gentry in Końska. During that period the village was owned by several families: the Sobek family from Kornice (1503–1665), related families of the Paczyńskis and Wilczeks (1686–1791), the Beess family (1791–1894), and for short periods also by some other families acting as landowners. The study records data on the noble houses and particular owners who controlled Końska through the centuries. Several generations of the landowners of the village have been reconstructed, which includes members of the Sobek family of Kornice (Wacław [I], Wacław [II], Melchior, Jerzy, Sebastian, Jerzy [II], Karol and Jan Jerzy, and the widow Zuzanna Sobek née Larisch) and the Skrbeński family of Hrzisztie (Weikhard Maksymilian Bernard Skrbeński and his descendants and heirs) as well as some other families and nobility, who were mentioned as being present in Końska (Helena Matiaszowska, Karol Leonard Berger of Berg, Velen Szarowiec of Szarów, Fryderyk and Wacław Larisch, Jan Teodor Goczałkowski of Goczałkowice, Adam Wacław Paczyński of Tęczyn and Wielka Paczyna) in the second part of the 17th century. A few generations of the landowners of the Wilczek family from Dobra Ziemica and Hulczyn (Henryk Wilhelm, his son Józef Maria Kasper and the grandson Franciszek Józef), and the Beess family from Chrostin (Jerzy II, Karol I and Karol II), who were the last noble keepers of the village, were also described. The article also depicts the situation of the gentry estate of Końska after the changes of the year 1848 (the abolition of serfdom and so on) and the sale of the property to the merchant family of Grohmanns (Gwidon and Karolina Grohmann) and the subsequent possessors (Teschen Land Company – Spółka Ziemska Cieszyńska), who were Polish activists and farmers associated with the Agricultural Society of the Duchy of Cieszyn (Towarzystwo Rolnicze Księstwa Cieszyńskiego). They wanted to establish a school in the manor house for local (Polish speaking) inhabitants. It was not possible to present conclusively all the landowners. For example the problem concerning family relations of the Klochs from Ustroń still requires further research and might finally verify the thesis that Mikołaj III, Jan and Henryk II were the owners of Końska at some point. The article also describes the changes to the mansion of the landowners of Końska. It was founded in middle of the 17th century as a Baroque residence by the last owners of the Sobek family. It was rebuilt in the 1830s by the famous architect Josef Kornhäusel and during the interwar period it served as a school (Żeńska Szkoła Gospodarstwa Wiejskiego – Women’s College of Agriculture) and as a prison during the Second World War. Since 1949 it has served as offices of the steelworks of Trzyniec. The building has lost its historical features due to the extent modifications, but it still refers to the nobility in Końska