Borcke

The Borcke were an old Pomeranian noble family of Wendish origin. Their presumed ancestor Bork was killed between 1170 and 1187 in Duke Bogislaw I's wars against Brandenburg; his grandson Borko II was burgrave of Kolberg until 1255 and lord of Lobis in 1271. The personal name Borko became a family name, first used by Nikolaus Borko in 1297.

Their Farther Pomeranian estates formed a lordship known as the Borcke Circle until 1817, where the family exercised full jurisdiction. Heinrich Borcke, the black knight, added Falkenberg in 1479 and bought Pansin Castle in 1493. The family refused homage to the Griffin dukes for their ancestral lands until 1567.

Sidonia von Borcke was beheaded at Stettin after a witch trial in 1620. Adrian Bernhard von Borcke became a Prussian field marshal and minister under Frederick William I, receiving a comital patent in 1740.