Svyatopolk-Mirsky family

Svyatopolk-Mirsky (Belarusian: Святаполк-Мірскі, Russian: Святополк-Мирский, Polish: Światopełk-Mirski, also transliterated as Swiatopolk or Mirskii) is a family of Russian and Polish nobility that originated from present-day northwestern Belarus.

They first appeared in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania in the late 15th century as "Mirski," a name probably derived from the town of Miory in the former Kievan Rus principate of Polotsk, although it is possible that the family had been local rulers for some centuries beforehand. The memoirs of Prince Pyotr Vladimirovich Dolgorukov assert that the Svyatopolk-Mirsky family were nobility descending from Rurik who submitted to Gediminas and became magnates. The Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility () states that the Svyatopolk-Mirsky family descends from a younger branch of the Princes of Turov. Two members of the family Bogusław and Stanisław were representatives at the Great Sejm in 1791.

Tomasz Bogumił Jan Światopełk-Mirski (1788-1868) fought in the 1830 November Uprising near Suwalki and fled into exile in Paris, where he both represented the interests of the exiled Poles in France and attempted to seek pardon from the tsar. He was an active participant in the French colonization of Algiers, where he received a large grant of land and allegedly suggested the formation of the French Foreign Legion in order to reduce the burden of Polish exiles on the French state. He converted to Orthodoxy from Roman Catholicism, was regarded as a traitor by his fellow Polish rebels for his outspoken support of Pan-Slavism. He was eventually allowed to return to Russia, where he remained under house arrest until his death. His sons Dmitry (1825—1899) and Nikolai (1833—1898) were educated as members of the Russian nobility and had distinguished military careers.

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