Piinniccy herbu Lubicz a Toruń, czyli jak duże i bogate miasto przyciągało szlachtę
Piumicki Family of the Lubicz Coat of Arms and the city of Toruń. Horn did the Big and Prosperous City Attract Noble Residents?

Summary/Abstract: For the local nobility the big Prussian cities, i.a. Toruń, were a market for the sales of their agricultural produce, as well as a natural place for education and expression of their religious life. However, in case of Piwnicki family of the Lubicz derivative coat of arms, the binds to the city of Toruń were exceptional. The family demesne Piwnice (lo¬cated 9 km from the city) were almost a private enclave situated among the vast municipal properties. The beginnings of the family can be associated with the marriage between Jakub Dobroski of the Lubicz coat of arms with Małgorzata Rusop, heiress of Piwnice. Hence, Piwnicki family in the female line originated from the impoverished urban patriciate. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the family members fitted well into the current political situation of the Commonwealth and Royal Prussia through an active participation in provincial diet {sejmik prowincji), even though the family itself was not prosperous. On the one hand Piwnicki family were the zealous defenders of the province autonomy and the independence of its cities, while on the other their populistic addresses attacked the townspeople resulting in the rising popularity of the family among the local nobility. Loyalty to the Toruń inhabitants and representing their interests in diet and parliament was rewarded by the city with the permanent salary payed to some family members. Such a salary was granted even to the Walerian Józef Piwnicki — the most prominent person in the history of the family, who was an Enlightenment reformer and a friend of the king Poniatowski. Piwnicki’s struggle to keep Toruns autonomy and his close relations with the city led to the loss of family influences and respect among the Prussian nobility.

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