Volhynian Voivodeship (1569–1795) Explained

Conventional Long Name:Volhynian Voivodeship
Common Name:Volhynian
Native Name:Latin: Palatinatus Volhynensis
Polish: Województwo wołyńskie
Ukrainian: Волинське воєводство
Subdivision:Voivodeship
Nation:Lithuania (1566–1569)
and then Poland (1569–1795)
Year Start:1566
Event1:To Polish Crown
Date Event1:1569
Event End:Annexed by Russia
Year End:1795
Date End:24 October
P1:Grand Duchy of Lithuania
S1:Volhynian Governorate
Image Map Caption:The Volhynian Voivodeship (red) in
the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, 1635
Capital:Lutsk (Polish: Łuck)
Stat Area1:38324
Political Subdiv:counties

3

Footnotes:1 Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Voivodeship of Grand Duchy of Lithuania before 1569.

Volhynian Voivodeship (Polish: Województwo wołyńskie, Latin: Palatinatus Volhynensis, Ukrainian: Волинське воєводство, Volynske voievodstvo) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania from 1566 until 1569 and of the Polish Crown within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth from the 1569 Union of Lublin until the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. It was part of the Ruthenian lands in the Lesser Poland Province.

Description

The voivodeship was established based on the Łuck Eldership (starostvo) in 1566 with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Following the 1569 union of Lublin, it was ceded to the Crown of Poland as part of the Lesser Poland (Malopolska) Province.

The capital of the voivodeship was in Łuck (presentday Lutsk), and it had three senators in the Senate of the Commonwealth. These were the Bishop of Luck, the Voivode of Volhynia and the Castellan of Volhynia. Volhynian Voivodeship was divided into three counties: Luck, Wlodzimierz and Krzemieniec. Local starostas resided in the three capitals of the counties, while sejmiks took place at Luck. The voivodeship had two deputies in the Polish Sejm, and one deputy in the Lesser Poland Tribunal in Lublin.

Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of Volhynian Voivodeship:

Administration

Seat of Voivodeship Governor and regional sejmik:

Regional council (sejmik generalny) for all Ruthenian lands

Administrative division

Counties (powiats)

Free royal cities

Selected voivodes

Sources

See also

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