Vitebsk Voivodeship ( be, Віцебскае ваяводзтва, pl, Województwo witebskie, la, Palatinatus Vitebsciensis) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the

Grand Duchy of Lithuania The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a European state that existed from the 13th century to 1795, when the territory was partitioned among the Russian Empire, the Kingdom of Prussia, and the Habsburg Empire of Austria. The state was founded by Li ...

(from 1569

Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, formally known as the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and, after 1791, as the Commonwealth of Poland, was a bi-confederal state, sometimes called a federation, of Crown of the Kingdom of ...

) from the 15th century until the

partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place toward the end of the 18th century and ended the existence of the state, resulting in the elimination of sovereign Poland and Lithuania for 12 ...

in 1795. Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of the Witebsk Voivodeship: “Witebsk (in Latin Vitebscum), located on the Dvina river, was one of main gord of the Principality of Polotsk. In the second half of the 12th century, it emerged as a local center of government. Conquered by one of the sons of

Mindaugas Mindaugas (german: Myndowen, la, Mindowe, orv, Мендог, be, Міндоўг, pl, Mendog, c. 1203–1263) is the first known Grand Duke of Lithuania and the only crowned King of Lithuania. Little is known of his origins, early life, or r ...

in ca. 1239, it became a permanent part of the

since the times of Gediminas. In ca. 1342 Witebsk was already the seat of a

starosta The starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', german: link=no, Starost, Hauptmann) is a term of Slavic origin denoting a community elder whose role was to administer the assets of a clan or family estates. Th ...

, who in the early 16th century were named

voivode Voivode (, also spelled ''voievod'', ''voevod'', ''voivoda'', ''vojvoda'' or ''wojewoda'') is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe since the Early Middle Ages. It primarily referred to the me ...

s. First voivode of Witebsk was Jerzy Chlebowicz (...) The Dvina river divided the voivodeship into two parts, of which northern one was smaller. Since the town of Witebsk was located in the middle of a sparsely populated province, at first the voivodeship was not divided into counties. Later on, however, the County of

Orsza Orsha ( be, О́рша, Во́рша, Orša, Vorša; russian: О́рша ; lt, Orša, pl, Orsza) is a city in Belarus in the Vitebsk Region, on the fork of the Dnieper and Arshytsa rivers. History Orsha was first mentioned in 1067 as Rsha ...

, which had been part of

Smolensk Voivodeship Smolensk Voivodeship ( la, Palatinatus smolencensis, be, Смале́нскае ваяво́дзтва, pl, Województwo smoleńskie, lt, Smolensko vaivadija) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the Grand Duchy of Li ...

, was attached to Witebsk Voivodeship (...) Witebsk Voivodeship remained in the Commonwealth until September 1772, when most of it was annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. What remained was southern part of the Land of Orsza, which belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania until 1793 (...)

Starosta The starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', german: link=no, Starost, Hauptmann) is a term of Slavic origin denoting a community elder whose role was to administer the assets of a clan or family estates. Th ...

s resided at Witebsk and Orsza, while local sejmiks took place in both towns. Altogether, Witebsk Voivodeship elected four deputies to the

Sejm The Sejm (English: , Polish: ), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (Polish: ''Sejm Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej''), is the lower house of the bicameral parliament of Poland. The Sejm has been the highest governing body of t ...

- two from each county. After the first partition, the sejmiks were moved to the town of Cholopienicze, located in Minsk Voivodeship”. Voivodeship Governor ( Wojewoda) seat: * Vitebsk Voivodes: Samuel Sanguszko (1629- XI 1638),

Paweł Jan Sapieha Paul John Sapieha ( lt, Povilas Jonas Sapiega) (1609–1665) was a Polish–Lithuanian nobleman (szlachcic). Sapieha became a Hussar Rotmistrz in 1633, courtier in 1635, Obozny of Lithuania in 1638, Podstoli of Lithuania in 1645, voivode o ...

(15 VIII 1646-) Administrative division: * since the Truce of Andrusovo (1667), Vitebsk Voivodeship consisted of two counties (

powiat A ''powiat'' (pronounced ; Polish plural: ''powiaty'') is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture ( LAU-1, formerly NUTS-4) in other countries. The term "''powia ...

s): Witebsk and Orsza. The first was lost to the

in 1772, and only a little part of the second belonged to the Commonwealth until 1793.

Sources

Witebsk Voivodeship, description by Zygmunt Gloger
{{coord, 55.197983, 30.177482, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark Voivodeships of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Former voivodeships of Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1503 establishments in Lithuania 1772 disestablishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Early Modern history of Belarus