Wenden Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo wendeńskie) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the

Duchy of Livonia The Duchy of Livonia ( or ; lt, Livonijos kunigaikštystė; la, Ducatus Ultradunensis; et, Liivimaa hertsogkond; lv, Pārdaugavas hercogiste; german: Herzogtum Livland), also referred to as Polish Livonia or Livonia ( pl, link=no, Inflanty) ...

, part of the

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 ...

. It was formed in 1598 by King

Sigismund III Vasa Sigismund III Vasa ( pl, Zygmunt III Waza, lt, Žygimantas Vaza; 20 June 1566 – 30 April 1632 N.S.) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1587 to 1632 and, as Sigismund, King of Sweden and Grand Duke of Finland from 1592 to ...

, out of Wenden Presidency (Province), which had been created in 1582 by King

Stephen Báthory Stephen Báthory ( hu, Báthory István; pl, Stefan Batory; ; 27 September 1533 – 12 December 1586) was Voivode of Transylvania (1571–1576), Prince of Transylvania (1576–1586), King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania (1576–1586) ...

, after the

Truce of Yam-Zapolsky The Truce or Treaty of Yam-Zapolsky (Ям-Запольский) or Jam Zapolski, signed on 15 January 1582 between the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Tsardom of Russia, was one of the treaties that ended the Livonian War. It followed t ...

. The voivodeship remained in the Commonwealth until the

Swedish Empire The Swedish Empire was a European great power that exercised territorial control over much of the Baltic region during the 17th and early 18th centuries ( sv, Stormaktstiden, "the Era of Great Power"). The beginning of the empire is usually ta ...

's conquest of

Livonia Livonia ( liv, Līvõmō, et, Liivimaa, fi, Liivinmaa, German and Scandinavian languages: ', archaic German: ''Liefland'', nl, Lijfland, Latvian and lt, Livonija, pl, Inflanty, archaic English: ''Livland'', ''Liwlandia''; russian: Ли ...

in the 1620s. The unconquered remainder of Livonia was named

Inflanty Voivodeship The Inflanty Voivodeship ( pl, Województwo inflanckie), or ''Livonian Voivodeship'', also known as Polish Livonia, was an administrative division and local government in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, since it was formed in the 1620s out ...

, and continued to be part of the Commonwealth until its first partition in 1772. Officially, Wenden Voivodeship belonged to Poland–Lithuania until the

Treaty of Oliva The Treaty or Peace of Oliva of 23 April (OS)/3 May (NS) 1660Evans (2008), p.55 ( pl, Pokój Oliwski, sv, Freden i Oliva, german: Vertrag von Oliva) was one of the peace treaties ending the Second Northern War (1655-1660).Frost (2000), p.183 ...

in 1660. Its capital was Wenden, where local

sejmik A sejmik (, diminutive of ''sejm'', occasionally translated as a ''dietine''; lt, seimelis) was one of various local parliaments in the history of Poland and history of Lithuania. The first sejmiks were regional assemblies in the Kingdom of ...

s of the nobility (see

szlachta The ''szlachta'' (Polish: endonym, Lithuanian: šlėkta) were the noble estate of the realm in the Kingdom of Poland, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, and the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth who, as a class, had the dominating position in ...

) took place. Wenden Voivodeship elected two deputies to the

Sejm of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth The General Sejm ( pl, sejm walny, la, comitia generalia) was the bicameral parliament of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. It was established by the Union of Lublin in 1569 from the merger of the Sejm of the Kingdom of Poland and the Sei ...

. Even though it no longer belonged to the Commonwealth after the Swedish conquest, its

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 continued to be named by Polish kings until the final partition of Poland (1795), as the so-called "fictitious titles" (). Major cities, towns and castles of Wenden Voivodeship were:

Cēsis Cēsis (), (german: Wenden, liv, Venden, et, Võnnu, pl, Kieś) is a town in Latvia located in the northern part of the Central Vidzeme Upland. Cēsis is on the Gauja River valley, and is built on a series of ridges above the river over ...

(''Kies, Wenden''),

Riga Riga (; lv, Rīga , liv, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the ...

, Koknese (''Kokenhausen''), Salaspils (''Kircholm''),

Daugavpils Daugavpils (; russian: Двинск; ltg, Daugpiļs ; german: Dünaburg, ; pl, Dyneburg; see other names) is a state city in south-eastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city gets its name. The parts of the ...

(''Dyneburg''),

Rēzekne Rēzekne (, ; German: ''Rositten'') is a state city in the Rēzekne River valley in Latgale region of eastern Latvia. It is called ''The Heart of Latgale'' (Latvian ''Latgales sirds'', Latgalian ''Latgolys sirds''). Built on seven hills, Rēzekn ...

(''Rzezyca, Rositten''),

Viļaka Viļaka ( lv, Viļaka, ; ltg, Vileks; german: Marienhausen; russian: Виляка, ''Vilyaka''; Yiddish: ויליאקי, ''Vilyaki'') is a town in Balvi Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia. The population in 2020 was 1,223. Viļaka is loc ...

(''Marienhausen''),

Gulbene Gulbene (; german: Schwanenburg) is a town in northeastern Latvia. It is an administrative center of Gulbene Municipality. The area of this region is , with a population of 29,797 inhabitants (69,369 sealen, 10,015 urban, 19,782 rural populati ...

(''Schwanenburg''), Ludza (''Lucyn''), Krustpils (''Kreutzburg'').

Voivodes of Wenden

The seat of the

was Wenden (

). *1598–1602

Jürgen von Farensbach Jürgen von Farensbach (1551–1602) (russian: Юрий Францбек, da, Georg Farensbach, pl, Jerzy Farensbach) was a Baltic German nobleman and Livonian general. Sent as the Ambassador of Livonian Confederation to Czar Ivan IV of Russi ...

*1620–1622

Teodor Denhoff Teodor is a masculine given name. In English, it is a cognate of Theodore. Notable people with the name include: *Teodor Muzaka III, Albanian nobleman who was born in 1393. * Teodor Andrault de Langeron (19th century), President of Warsaw * Teodor ...

*1627–1641 Joachim Tarnowski *1641–1643

Tomasz Sapieha Tomasz Sapieha (1598 – April 1646) was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth noble and politician. Voivode of Wenden (1641–1643), Voivode of Nowogródek (1643–1646). Biography He was the son of Mikołaj Sapieha, brother of Kazimierz Miko� ...

*1643–1648

Gerard Denhoff Gerard is a masculine forename of Proto-Germanic origin, variations of which exist in many Germanic and Romance languages. Like many other early Germanic names, it is dithematic, consisting of two meaningful constituents put together. In this ca ...

*(died 1659) Nikolaus Korff

References

{{coord, 57.309343, 25.272847, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark Voivodeships of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Duchy of Livonia 1598 establishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth 1621 disestablishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth States and territories disestablished in the 1620s Organisations based in Livonia