The history of the origin of the genus

The origins of the Dunin-Barkovsky family come from the Dunin clan in Denmark. The surname "Dunin" comes from the Polish word "Dunski", that is, "Danish". "Shveno" is a variant of the word "swan" in Danish. All descendants of the Dunins use the family coat of arms "Swan".

Description of the coat of arms. Excerpt from the General Coat of Arms:
"The shield, which has a purple field, depicts a swan in a golden crown floating on water. The shield is topped with a noble helmet and a crown, on the surface of which a swan in a crown is visible. The namet on the shield is purple, lined with silver."

Volume and sheet of the General Coat of Arms: VII, 168
Part of the family tree of the book: VI
Founder: Peter Vlast

Citizenship: The Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria, the Austrian and Russian Empires.

The common origin of all the clans attributed to the Dunin clan has not been established according to documents. Jan Dlugosz has a legend about the origin of the Dunins from the famous Galician boyar of the XII century Peter Vlostovits, supposedly nicknamed Dunin.

In later sources, they came up with the following pedigree for him: "the son of William Schweno, a Danish nobleman at the court of Eric the Dark, married to a Danish princess."

One branch of the Dunins became Russian citizens after the annexation of Smolensk (1655). The Smolensk nobleman Martin Skryn Dunin was ordered to continue to own the Smolensk estate (1655), which was given to him by the Polish King Vladislav. His descendants are listed in the genealogical book of the Smolensk and Tver provinces.

The other, descended from Nicholas, castellan of Polanetsky (1680), migrated to Russia (1702). From this branch, Ivan Petrovich Dunin was an anshef general (1795) (Gerbovnik, VII, 168 and XI, 40). In addition, the Rayevskys descended from the Dunins-Rayetsky, who left a noticeable mark on Russian history and culture of the 19th century.

The coat of arms of the Dunin family is included in Part 7 of the General Coat of Arms of the noble Families of the All-Russian Empire, p. 168. The coat of arms of the Dunin-Borkovsky family is included in Part 9 of the General Coat of Arms of the Noble Families of the All-Russian Empire, p. 9.

In the Habsburg Empire, four Dunin families and one Dunin-Borkovsky family confirmed their noble origin in the kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria.

In the Little Russian provinces, there is a surname of the Dunins, from the same family, but he writes his name without adding the first name; from this surname, Ivan Petrovich Dunin served, under Catherine the Great, as a lieutenant general and had an Alexander ribbon, and under Emperor Paul he was a general of cavalry.

Dunins are attributed in Poland to the coat of arms of the swan (labędz): in a red field, a swan going to the left with a beak and golden paws. The coat of arms is noble: a helmet and a crown, from which a swan turns to the left. The namet is red, lined with silver.

The Counts of Dunin-Barkovsky have the same coat of arms, only on the helmet, instead of the noble crown, the count's crown, and at the bottom of the coat of arms the motto: tout pour 1'honneur.

The Little Russian branch of the Dunins has the following coat of arms (General Russian Coat of Arms, Part VII, No. 168): in a purple field, a swan with a noble cow on its head floats to the left along the river. The coat of arms is noble: a helmet and a crown, from which a swan, facing to the left, comes out, with a noble crown on its head. The namet is purple, lined with silver.

The question of the form of the Dunin-Barkovsky surname, which differs from the form of the Dunin-Borkovsky surname from the Chernigov branch, is interesting. Although third parties often confuse these forms, clear rules should be followed in official documents and in self-writing.

For the Dunins-Borkovskys from the Chernigov branch, the surname is written with an "o" and both halves are inclined. At the same time, for our Dunin-Barkovsky branch, the surname is written with an "a" and the first half of the surname is not inclined.

The original Polish surname is definitely written with an "o": Dunin-Borkowski. In the signature, which is formed in youth and is written almost automatically, the letter "o", the Latin letter "k" and the tail at the end are also visible, although it may look like "i", but definitely not like "iy". However, the documents and reports always indicate "Dunin-Barkovsky".

Different explanations for this spelling of one's own surname may include an error in the document, an attempt to confuse the tracks, or a desire to distance oneself from a certain branch of the family. This spelling of the surname through the "A" and with the indescribable first part was introduced into practice and accepted by the family.

R.E. Dunin was Deputy director of the Alexandrinsky Theater (formerly the Pushkin Academic Theater), Deputy Director for the Construction of the State Hermitage Museum, and head of the St. Petersburg State Monument Protection Inspectorate. In 1991, he returned to the position of Deputy Director of the State Hermitage Museum for Construction. R.E. Dunin oversaw the reconstruction of the Hermitage Theater and numerous historical sites in St. Petersburg.

"The whole museum Petersburg knows the deceased well. He solved all issues related to the construction, repair and maintenance of the Hermitage."- quoting an article from the official NTV website

"Dunin was a man you could always turn to for help," says Georgy Vilinbakhov, Russia's Chief Heraldmaster.
- It was easy and pleasant to communicate with him.

Dunin-Barkovsky Daniel Dmitrievich, the great-uncle of Dunin Richard Evgenievich, restored the family's historical surname in 2021, after they changed their surname during the repressions, removing the name of the noble coat of arms.

Dunin-Barkovsky Daniel Dmitrievich thanks the Russian Noble Assembly in the person of Demin Stanislav Vladimirovich for assistance in the investigation and provision of metric books of the noble family Dunin-Barkovsky.