Kurnatowski

The Kurnatowski family were a noble family within Poland and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 14h century into the 20th. Part of the Lodzia clan, the Kurnatowski's were players in politics, arts, military endeavours, and Calvinist cleargymen. As magnates and members of the nobility, the Kurnatowskis had extensive land holdings which were all confiscated during World War II and especially during the Soviet occupation of Poland from 1939 to 1990.

The title of count (hrabia in Polish) was bestowed by Papal edict in 1902 to one of the branches of the family. Another line allegedly received the title of "count" in 1916 from the Tsar Nicholas II.

Until recently, many of the Kurnatowskis were ardent members of the Polish Reformed Church, or Calvinists, producing a number of clergymen, although the Duisina and other family lines stayed Roman Catholic since the 16th century.

Notable members

The more public members of the family include:

Zygmunt Kurnatowski, Born 1778 Died 1858, hrabia, Polish general, aide-de-camp to Napoleon Bonaparte, involved in the November Uprising and in the Polish-Russian War of 1831.

Eryk Kurnatowski, Born 8th October 1883 in Kolwica, Poland and died in Warsaw on 23rd February 1975. Count (since 1916), Polish Senator, established Poland's premier horse-breeding facility on his estate at Łochów

Konstanty Kurnatowski, born 1878 in Birze, today Lithuania, died in Germany in 1968, descended from a line of distinguished Calivinist cleargymen, was himself a pastor in Kielmy, and later the General Superintendent (bishop) of the Lithuanian Brethren, and from 1938 till 1940 of the Polish Reformed Church.