Y-DNA polskiego rycerstwa [Y-DNA of Polish knights - in Polish]

[Tomenable]

"Pochodzenie, pokrewieństwo i etnogeneza polskiego rycerstwa w świetle badań DNA":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqOSGnjjpR0

[Tomenable]

And here is a sample from FTDNA Mazovian Nobility Project, as of June 2014:

R1a - 77 (52,74%)
R1b - 23 (15,75%)
I2 - 14 (9,59%)
I1a - 8 (5,48%)
J2b2a - 7 (4,79%)
C3b - 5 (3,42%)
E1b1b1a2 - 4 (2,74%)
G2a - 3 (2,05%)
R2 - 2 (1,37%)
N1c1a - 2 (1,37%)
Q - 1 (0,68%)

More details:

R1a1a1b1a* (Z282+ M458- Z280- Z284-) - 1
R1a1a1b1a1* (M458+ L260- L1029-) 'Central European II' - 5
R1a1a1b1a1a (M458+ L260+) 'West Slavic' - 19
R1a1a1b1a1b (M458+ Z2953+ L1029-) 'Central European' - 8
R1a1a1b1a1b1 (M458+ Z2953+ L1029+) 'Central European' - 12
R1a1a1b1a2* (Z280+ CTS1211- Z92-) - 2
R1a1a1b1a2a (Z280+ Z92+) 'Baltic' (Pruss-Yatv.) - 7
R1a1a1b1a2b3* (Z280+ CTS3402+) 1. 'Pomeranians' & 'Prussians' - 3
R1a1a1b1a2b3* (Z280+ CTS3402+) 2. descendants of Gedeyt de Kobylino - 3
R1a1a1b1a2b3* (Z280+ CTS3402+) 3. 'Awdaniec Clan' - 2
R1a1a1b1a2b3* (Z280+ CTS3402+) 4. 'Rola Clan' - 5
R1a1a1b1a2b3* (Z280+ CTS3402+) 5. 'Carpathian' cluster - 1
R1a1a1b1a2b3* (Z280+ CTS3402+) 5. 'Croatian' cluster - 2
R1a1a1b1a2b3a (Z280+ CTS3402+ L365+) 'Eastern Pomeranian' - 1
R1a1a1b1a2b3b (Z280+ CTS1211+ L366+) - 5
R1a1a1b1a2b3c (Z280+ CTS1211+ L1280+) - 1

==============

R1b1a2 (M269+) Unassigned (NEED SNP test) - 8
R1b1a2a1a1a (L11+ U106+) and subclades - 2
R1b1a2a1a1b3 (L11+ P312+ U152+) and subclades - 6
R1b1a2a1a1b4 (L11+ P312+ L21+) and subclades - 4
R1b1a2a2 (Z2103+ L11-) and subclades - 1
R1b1a2a2 (Z2103+ L11-) PREDICTED (SNP test needed) - 2

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I2a2 (M423+ L621+) 'Northern' cluster - 6
I2a2 (M423+ L621+) 'Southern' cluster - 6
I2a2 (M423+ L621+) unknown cluster - 1

I2b1 (M223+) - 1

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I1a (DF29+) (other SNPs not tested) - 4
I1a1* (Z2336+) 'Polish' cluster - 3
I1a1b (Z2336+ L22+) 'Northern Cluster' - 1

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J2b2a (M241+, L283+) - 7

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C3b (M217+ L1373+ F1756+) - 5

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E1b1b1a2 (V13+) - 4

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G2a (P15+) - 3

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R2 (M479+) and subclades - 2

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N1c1a (M178+) - 2

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Q - 1

[Tomenable]

^ It seems that knights had similar haplogroup frequencies as the general population.

It is not really so surpising, considering what historian Henryk Samsonowicz wrote in his book titled "Złota Jesień Polskiego Średniowiecza" ("The Golden Autumn of the Polish Middle Ages") on page 80:

Translated:

"(...) Moreover - it is a phenomenon significant and specific for entire Polish Middle Ages - the nobility was not an exclusive group. Commoners could become nobles, but also nobles could cease being nobles and move to another legal community. As it seems, it was dependent mainly on two factors, strictly interconnected with each other: 1) one's financial status, and 2) participation in regional or state authorities. In the mid-13th century duke of Cuiavia, Casimir, enacted the rates of man price [weregild] (fine for wounding or killing) for three groups of privileged population. That law was in the 14th century confirmed by the statutes of king Casimir III: 'Militi famoso, sexaginta marcas, scartabello triginta marcas, militi creato de sculteto vel kmetone quindecim marcas pro capite' ('Head of a noble/knight is worth 60 marks, head of a lesser noble/knight is worth 30 marks, head of a provost/village governor or a common peasant who has been turned into a noble/knight is worth 15 marks'). That last group was an intermediary category between commoners and nobles/knights. Those poorer knights, distinguishing themselves in battles, serving for more famous knights, or enganging in trading as merchants, could become rich and influential nobles. But under unfavourable circumstances they could also get impoverished and either decline into peasant status again, or preserve their noble status as knights without landed estates, so called 'naked nobility'. (...)"

^ Such "flexible" situation as described above, persisted even until roughly the mid-16th century. It was only throughout the 16th century that nobility became a strictly defined legal category. However, even after the establishment of a more rigidly defined noble class, class mobility didn't cease entirely.