" Nowotaniec, with Zagorzany, a small town in the county of Sanok, lies in a wooded, hilly area on the highway from Zarszyn to Bukowsko (5.6 km (3 mi). away). The town itself consists of a marketplace and several streets in the valley of the Pielnica River, a tributary of the Wislok on the right bank, elevation 363 metres (1,191 feet) above sea level. Several streams flow into the Pielnica there from nearby hills, namely, on the west from Wysoka gora (432 m (1,417 ft)), and on the east from Bukowica (541 m (1,775 ft)). To the north the village of Nadolany and to the south the village of Nagorzany create a kind of suburb. Nowotaniec itself has 595 inhabitants, 428 Roman Catholic, 11 Greek Catholic, and 156 Jews. A Roman Catholic parish is headquartered there, with a beautiful church made of stone; there are also an elementary school, a manor transformed from an ancient castle, and a brewery. There is a weekly market held every Mon-day, as well as four annual fairs: on the Monday after the feast of the Holy Trinity, and on 1 May, 2 August, and 11 November. The major estate has 16 morgs of farmland; the minor estate [land owned by peasants] has 496 morgs of farm-land, 40 of meadows, and 35 of forests.
We do not know much about the history of Nowotaniec. The date of its founding is unknown. In the 15th century there was a German settlement there called Lebetanz, and Piotr, its noble owner, signed his name to the document founding the parish in Humniska. Later the name was changed to Nebetanz, and finally to the one it bears today. In the 16th century the latter name had already come into general use, spelled Nowothancze or Nowotancze. The Archiwum grodzkie i ziemskie (vol. IX, Lwow 1885) contains two documents signed by Stanislaw Bal and Maciej Bal, castellans of Sanok. Nowotaniec remained in the Bals' possession until the time of King Stefan Batory. Jan Bal, cupbearer of Sanok, founded a parish there in 1492. Later Nowotaniec came to be owned - partly by way of inheritance, partly through purchases - by the Hungarian family de Stano related to the Bals. The 16th century was marked by intensified conflicts caused by the worsened living conditions in villages. Arian and Calvinistic (Nowotaniec) congregations were established, promoting protestant ideas. Hieronim de Stano was a religious dissenter and converted the church into a Helvetian congregation [i. e., Calvinist or other Swiss Protestant sect], and he paid for a minister for the congregation; but in 1613 it was returned to the Catholics. In 1643 the Sejm wanted to elevate this settlement, and for this reason established a warehouse there for Hungarian wine. During Bishop Denhoff's inspection visit in 1699 it was recorded that on one side of the church stood the castle of Aleksander de Stano, and on the other a congregation of dissenters. Several years later Boguslaw Stan sold Nowotaniec to Bukowski, royal chamberlain, and he built the church that still exists today, which was consecrated by Bishop Sierakowski in 1745 under the name of St. Mikolaj [St. Nicholas].
The parish belongs to the diocese of Przemyśl, deanery of Sanok, and includes Darow, Nadolany, Nagorzany, Pielnia, Pulawy, Wola Jaworowska, and Wola Selkowa [this is probably Sekowa Wola], with a total of 1,960 Roman Catholics and 156 Greek Catholics. Not far from Nowotaniec lies the castle of Zborsko, built in 1529 by Odnowski, palatinate of Krakow. After the Bukowskis, Nowotaniec was owned by the Bronieckis, and currently Wiktor Pozniak owns the major estate and the exclusive right to produce and sell alcohol on its grounds". [Mac. (Dr. Maurycy Maciszewski) Vol. VII, pp. 290-291]. Warsaw. [in] : [1]. Translated by William Fred Hoffman, PGSA Fall 2001 Rodziny
