Z Górnych Węgier do Krakowa. Sylwester Joanelli – kariera Włocha, dzierżawcy zamku niedzickiego
From Upper Hungary to Kraków. Sylwester Joanelli – the Career of an Italian Tenant of the Niedzica Castle

Summary/Abstract: The paper presents the biographical and genealogical aspects of Sylwester Joanelle de Telvana’s life and activity. It also discusses the heraldic issues concerning his family, originating in Gandino near Bergamo. Joanelli, who originally was probably a Viennese merchant, moved to Upper Hungary. He worked closely with his cousin, Johann Andreas Joanelli, from whom he received a lease of Smolniki in Slovakia along with its ore mines. He was also one of the greatest copper traders in Kraków. In 1664, he married Katarzyna Formankowiczówna (Furmankowiczówna), the daughter of Jan, a councillor in Kraków. Around 1670, he leased the Dunajec castle in Niedzica. As a devout Catholic and Habsburgs’ supporter, he used to come into conflict with Hungarian Protestants. Forced to leave Smolnik, he settled in Niedzica. In 1683 he was fighting the Kuruc army under Imre Tököly for five weeks after which he fell into captivity. Redeemed from captivity, he made his way to Kraków, where he died after a few months. His wife funded him a splendid gravestone in the Italian Chapel located in the Church of St. Francis in Kraków. It still exists. Sylwester’s descendants owned the properties in Niedzica for next several dozen years, selling them out gradually after they moved to castellum in Łapsze.

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