Around 1650 King John II Casimir awarded the Cossack Ataman Skrebeciowicz one half of the estate of Sielec, Drohobych Raion, as well as the right to bear the Sas coat of arms for his loyal services to the crown during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. After the Austrian partition of southern Poland in 1772, the Skrebeciowicz de Sielecki family's noble status was reaffirmed by the Habsburg emperor in Vienna who gave the hereditary title of "Ritter" (Knight). Members of the family were either Greek or Roman Catholic.