Mstislaw Voivodeship or Mścisław Voivodeship (; ; ; ) was a unit of administrative division and local government in the

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, ...

(from 1569 the

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 ...

), since the 15th century until the

Partitions of Poland The Partitions of Poland were three partition (politics), partitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth that took place between 1772 and 1795, toward the end of the 18th century. They ended the existence of the state, resulting in the eli ...

in 1795.

Zygmunt Gloger Zygmunt Gloger (3November 184516August 1910) was a Polish historian, archaeologist, geographer and ethnographer, bearer of the Wilczekosy coat of arms. Gloger founded the precursor of modern and widely popular Polish Tourist and Sightseeing Socie ...

in his monumental book Historical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland provides this description of the Mscislaw Voivodeship: “Mscislaw (Mscislavia), which lies at the Wiechra river, was probably founded in the late 13th century, and named after Duke of

Smolensk Smolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River, west-southwest of Moscow. First mentioned in 863, it is one of the oldest cities in Russia. It has been a regional capital for most of ...

, Mstislav Romanovich the Old. In the 14th century, it was captured by the

, and for a while remained a

fief A fief (; ) was a central element in medieval contracts based on feudal law. It consisted of a form of property holding or other rights granted by an overlord to a vassal, who held it in fealty or "in fee" in return for a form of feudal alle ...

(...) By 1538, the Duchy of Mscislaw was already governed by a

starosta Starosta or starost (Cyrillic: ''старост/а'', Latin: ''capitaneus'', ) is a community elder in some Slavic lands. The Slavic root of "starost" translates as "senior". Since the Middle Ages, it has designated an official in a leadersh ...

, who during the reign of King

Zygmunt August Sigismund II Augustus (, ; 1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania, the son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. He was the first ruler of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and ...

was renamed into a

voivode Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

, while the Duchy was turned into a

voivodeship A voivodeship ( ) or voivodate is the area administered by a voivode (governor) in several countries of central and eastern Europe. Voivodeships have existed since medieval times and the area of extent of voivodeship resembles that of a duchy in ...

. First Voivode of Mscislaw was Jerzy Oscik, Traby coat of arms. The Voivodeship of Mscislaw was not divided into counties (see

powiat A ''powiat'' (; ) is the second-level unit of local government and administration in Poland, equivalent to a county, district or prefecture (Local administrative unit, LAU-1 ormerly Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics, NUTS-4 ...

). Its

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 ...

s took place at Mscislaw, where two deputies to the

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' ...

were elected, and two to the Lithuanian Tribunal (...) It ceased to exist in 1772, when after 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 ...

, Mscislaw Voivodeship was annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

". Voivodeship Governor (

Wojewoda Voivode ( ), also spelled voivod, voievod or voevod and also known as vaivode ( ), voivoda, vojvoda, vaivada or wojewoda, is a title denoting a military leader or warlord in Central, Southeastern and Eastern Europe in use since the Early Mid ...

) seat: * Mścisław

Voivodes

Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz Janusz Skumin Tyszkiewicz () ()(1570–1642) was a noble of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, a politician, a sponsor of Baroque music and a writer (1610+). He held numerous political offices, including voivode of Mścisław (1621–1626), v ...

(1621-1626) * Mikołaj Kiszka (1626-1636) * Krzysztof Kiszka (1636–1639) * Józef Korsak (1639–1643) * Mikołaj Abramowicz (1643-1647) * Fryderyk Sapieha (VIII 1647–1650)

Administrative division

* the voivodeship was not divided into counties

References

Mscislaw Voivodeship, description by Zygmunt Gloger
{{coord, 54.018155, 31.725593, format=dms, display=title, type:landmark Voivodeships of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Voivodeships of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania 1566 establishments in Europe 1566 establishments in Lithuania 1772 disestablishments in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth Early modern history of Belarus