Minsk Voivodeship (; ; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in
Grand Duchy of Lithuania
The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was a sovereign state in northeastern Europe that existed from the 13th century, succeeding the Kingdom of Lithuania, to the late 18th century, when the territory was suppressed during the 1795 Partitions of Poland, ...
since 1566Stanisław Kutrzeba: Historia ustroju Polski w zarysie, Tom drugi: Litwa. Lwów i Warszawa: 1921, s. 88. and later in
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth
The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, also referred to as Poland–Lithuania or the First Polish Republic (), was a federation, federative real union between the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland, Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania ...
Minsk
Minsk (, ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Belarus, located on the Svislach (Berezina), Svislach and the now subterranean Nyamiha, Niamiha rivers. As the capital, Minsk has a special administrative status in Belarus and is the administra ...
and subordinate to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the region continued the traditions – and shared the borders – of several previously existing units of administrative division, notably a separate Duchy of Minsk, annexed by Lithuania in the 13th century. It was replaced with
Minsk Governorate
Minsk Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit (''guberniya'') of the Russian Empire, with its capital in Minsk. It was created from the land acquired in the partitions of Poland and existed from 1793 until 1921. Its territory covered th ...
in 1793.
Geography
The voivodeship was stretched along the
Berezina
The Berezina or Byarezina (, ; ) is a river in Belarus and a right tributary of the Dnieper. The river starts in the Berezinsky Biosphere Reserve. The length of the Berezina is . The width of the river is 15–20 m, the maximum is 60 m. The ba ...
and
Dneper
The Dnieper or Dnepr ( ), also called Dnipro ( ), is one of the major Transboundary river, transboundary list of rivers of Europe, rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine ...
rivers, with the earlier river having both its source and its estuary within the limits of the voivodeship, as well as most of its basin. To the north east it bordered
Polotsk
Polotsk () or Polatsk () is a town in Vitebsk Region, Belarus. It is situated on the Dvina River and serves as the administrative center of Polotsk District. Polotsk is served by Polotsk Airport and Borovitsy air base. As of 2025, it has a pop ...
,
Vitebsk
Vitebsk or Vitsyebsk (, ; , ; ) is a city in northern Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Vitebsk Region and Vitebsk District, though it is administratively separated from the district. As of 2025, it has 358,927 inhabitants, m ...
and Mscislaw voivodeships. To the east it bordered with the lands of
Chernigov
Chernihiv (, ; , ) is a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, which serves as the administrative center of Chernihiv Oblast and Chernihiv Raion within the oblast. Chernihiv's population is
The city was designated as a Hero City of Ukrain ...
(on both sides of the Dneper and
Sozh
The Sozh (, ; ; ) is a river flowing in Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine. It is a left bank tributary of the Dnieper. The Sozh passes through Gomel, the second largest city in Belarus.
The river is crossed by the Sozh Floating Bridge at Karma and ...
rivers), while to the south-east it was delimited by the river
Snov
The Snov (; ) is a river in Bryansk Oblast in Russia and Chernihiv Oblast in Ukraine, right tributary of the Desna River (Dnieper basin).
The length of the river is 253 km. The area of its drainage basin is 8,700 km2.land of Kiev. Across the basin of the
Pripyat river
The Pripyat or Prypiat is a river in Eastern Europe. The river, which is approximately long, flows east through Ukraine, Belarus, and into Ukraine again, before draining into the Dnieper at Kyiv Reservoir.
Name etymology
Max Vasmer notes in h ...
Ubort
The Ubort (Russian and Ukrainian: Уборть; , ''Ubarć'') is a river in Zhytomyr Oblast (Ukraine) and Gomel Region (Belarus), a right tributary to the Pripyat in the Dnieper river basin. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .
The Ubort ...
Ptsich
The Ptsich, or Pcič official transliteration (, ) is a river in Eastern Europe. It flows south through Belarus, taking its source near Minsk, and draining into the Pripyat, being its left tributary. It is long, and has a drainage basin of .
river). Further northwards it was bordering the capital of the Grand Duchy, the
Vilnius Voivodeship
The Vilnius Voivodeship (, , , ) was one of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania's voivodeships, which existed from the voivodeship's creation in 1413 to the destruction of the Lithuanian state in 1795. This voivodeship was Lithuania's largest, most p ...
.
History
Minsk had been a capital of a semi-independent duchy at least since 1067. Raided on a yearly basis by the
Lithuanians
Lithuanians () are a Balts, Baltic ethnic group. They are native to Lithuania, where they number around 2,378,118 people. Another two million make up the Lithuanian diaspora, largely found in countries such as the Lithuanian Americans, United Sta ...
, by the 12th century it was made a fief and in the 14th century it was directly incorporated into the Grand Duchy. In 1441 the city of Minsk was granted with a city charter, by the king
Casimir IV Jagiellon
Casimir IV (Casimir Andrew Jagiellon; ; Lithuanian: ; 30 November 1427 – 7 June 1492) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1440 and King of Poland from 1447 until his death in 1492. He was one of the most active Polish-Lithuanian rulers; under ...
. His son,
Alexander Jagiellon
Alexander Jagiellon (; ; 5 August 1461 – 19 August 1506) was Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1492 and King of Poland from 1501 until his death in 1506. He was the fourth son of Casimir IV and a member of the Jagiellonian dynasty. Alexander was el ...
extended the privilege in 1496 and granted the town with
Magdeburg Law
Magdeburg rights (, , ; also called Magdeburg Law) were a set of town privileges first developed by Otto I, Holy Roman Emperor (936–973) and based on the Flemish Law, which regulated the degree of internal autonomy within cities and villages gr ...
s. Since then, the entire region shared the fate of its capital city. In 1773 a post-Jesuit academy had been founded in Minsk by the
Commission of National Education
The Commission of National Education (, KEN, ) was the central educational authority in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, created by the Sejm and King Stanisław August Poniatowski, Stanisław II August on October 14, 1773. Because of its ...
.
Politics
All voivodeships played an important role within the Polish political system, extended to Lithuania by the
Polish–Lithuanian union Polish–Lithuanian can refer to:
* Polish–Lithuanian union (1385–1569)
* Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (1569–1795)
* Polish-Lithuanian identity as used to describe groups, families, or individuals with histories in the Polish–Lithuania ...
s. Following the final
Union of Lublin
The Union of Lublin (; ) was signed on 1 July 1569 in Lublin, Poland, and created a single state, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, one of the largest countries in Europe at the time. It replaced the personal union of the Crown of the Kingd ...
of 1569, the Minsk Voivodeship received two seats within the Senate. The seats were held ''ex officio'' by the voivod and the
castellan
A castellan, or constable, was the governor of a castle in medieval Europe. Its surrounding territory was referred to as the castellany. The word stems from . A castellan was almost always male, but could occasionally be female, as when, in 1 ...
of Minsk. Each of the three powiats organized its own
Sejmik
A sejmik (, diminutive of ''sejm'', occasionally translated as a ''dietine''; ) 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 Poland (before ...
, which had a right to elect two members of
Sejm
The Sejm (), officially known as the Sejm of the Republic of Poland (), is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral parliament of Poland.
The Sejm has been the highest governing body of the Third Polish Republic since the Polish People' ...
each, and two deputies to the
Lithuanian Tribunal
The Lithuanian Tribunal ( or ''Lietuvos Tribunolas''; ) was the highest appellate court for the Lithuanian nobility, nobility of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It was established by the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Grand Duke of Lithuania and King of ...
.
The three cities were also entitled to house local courts. Since 1599, the Tribunal of Lithuania did also held sessions in Minsk (every three years, other cities it visited were Vilnius and
Navahrudak
Novogrudok or Navahrudak (; ; , ; ) is a town in Grodno Region, Belarus. It serves as the administrative center of Novogrudok District. As of 2025, it has a population of 27,624.
In the Middle Ages, the city was ruled by King Mindaugas' son ...
). The court held there served the role of the highest juridical authority for all of ''Ruthenian voivodeships'', that is Minsk, Nowogródek, Vitebsk, Mstislav and Kiev. Following the
first partition of Poland
The First Partition of Poland took place in 1772 as the first of three partitions that eventually ended the existence of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth by 1795. The growth of power in the Russian Empire threatened the Kingdom of Prussia an ...
in 1775, the tribunal abandoned Minsk and held its sessions in
Hrodna
Grodno, or Hrodna, is a city in western Belarus. It is one of the oldest cities in Belarus. The city is located on the Neman River, from Minsk, about from the border with Poland, and from the border with Lithuania. Grodno serves as the ad ...
Aleksander Ogiński
Alexander () is a male name of Greek origin. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history.
Variants listed here are A ...
Jan Sebastian Kęsztort
Jan, JaN or JAN may refer to:
Acronyms
* Jackson, Mississippi (Amtrak station), US, Amtrak station code JAN
* Jackson-Evers International Airport, Mississippi, US, IATA code
* Jabhat al-Nusra (JaN), a Syrian militant group
* Japanese Article Num ...
(1656–67)
*
Kazimierz Białłozor
Kazimierz (; ; ) is a historical district of Kraków and Kraków Old Town, Poland. From its inception in the 14th century to the early 19th century, Kazimierz was an independent city, a royal city of the Crown of the Polish Kingdom, located south ...
Krzysztof Stanisław Zawisza
Krzysztof () is a Polish male given name, equivalent to English ''Christopher''. The name became popular in the 15th century. Its diminutive forms include Krzyś, Krzysiek, and Krzysio; augmentative – Krzychu
Individuals named Krzysztof may choo ...
Tadeusz Burzyński
''Tadeusz'' is a Polish first name, derived from Thaddaeus.
Tadeusz may refer to:
* Tadeusz Bednarowicz (1906–1939), Polish footballer
* Tadeusz Bór-Komorowski (1895–1966), Polish military leader
* Tadeusz Borowski (1922–1951), Polish w ...
(1770–73)
*
Józef Mikołaj Radziwiłł
Prince Józef Mikołaj Radziwiłł () (13 November 1736–1813) was a Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, Polish–Lithuanian noble (szlachcic).
The 8th Ordynat of Kleck, Grand Clerk of Lithuania since 1764, voivode of Minsk Voivodeship since 1773 ...
Much like other Ruthenian lands, the Minsk voivodeship signed its documents with the
Pogoń
The coat of arms of Lithuania features an armoured knight on horseback, wielding a sword and carrying a shield with a Jagiellonian cross. This emblem is known as ''Vytis'' ().
Since the early 15th century, it has served as the official coat o ...
(Chase) coat of arms. The flag was Or, in field Gules a chase Carnation. The official uniform was a crimson
kontusz
A ''kontusz'' (, ; ; ; originally from , ) is a type of outer garment worn by the Hungarian and Polish–Lithuanian male nobility. It became popular in the 16th century and came to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth rule via Hungary from Tur ...
and
żupan
Żupan (; , , , , ) is a long lined garment of West or Central Asian origin which was widely worn by male nobles in the multi-ethnic Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and by the Ukrainian Cossacks in the Cossack Hetmanate. It was a typical upper ...
, with a navy blue collar. The powiat of Rechytsa adopted a white żupan with white collar.