Volhynian Voivodeship (, , , ''Volynske voievodstvo'') 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 1566 until 1569 and of the Polish Crown within 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 ...

from the 1569

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 ...

until the Third Partition of Poland in 1795. It was part of the

Ruthenia ''Ruthenia'' is an exonym, originally used in Medieval Latin, as one of several terms for Rus'. Originally, the term ''Rus' land'' referred to a triangular area, which mainly corresponds to the tribe of Polans in Dnieper Ukraine. ''Ruthenia' ...

n lands in the Lesser Poland Province.

Description

The voivodeship was established based on the Łuck Eldership (starostvo) in 1566 with the

. Following the 1569

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 ...

, 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 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 ...

of Volhynia 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 Volhynia. Volhynian Voivodeship was divided into three counties: Luck, Wlodzimierz and Krzemieniec. Local starostas resided in the three capitals of the counties, while

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 Luck. The voivodeship had two deputies in the Polish

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' ...

, and one deputy in the Lesser Poland Tribunal in

Lublin Lublin is List of cities and towns in Poland, the ninth-largest city in Poland and the second-largest city of historical Lesser Poland. It is the capital and the centre of Lublin Voivodeship with a population of 336,339 (December 2021). Lublin i ...

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 Volhynian Voivodeship:

Administration

Seat of Voivodeship Governor and regional sejmik: * Łuck Regional council ( sejmik generalny) for all Ruthenian lands * Sądowa Wisznia

Administrative division

Counties (powiats)

* Luck County (Powiat Łucki), Łuck * Wlodzimierz County (Powiat Włodzimirski), Włodzimierz * Krzemieniec County (Powiat Krzemieniecki), Krzemieniec

Free royal cities

Kowel Kovel (, ; ; ) is a city in Volyn Oblast, northwestern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Kovel Raion within the oblast. Population: Kovel gives its name to one of the oldest runic inscriptions which were lost during World War II ...

* Krzemieniec * Łuck * Milanowicze * Ratno * Świniuchy * Włodzimierz * Wyszniwka

Selected voivodes

Janusz Ostrogski Prince Janusz Ostrogski () (1554 – 17 September 1620 in Tarnów) was a Polish-Lithuanian noble and statesman. He served as a voivode of Volhyn (1584-1593), as a castellan of Kraków (from 1593 on), and as a starosta of Bohuslav (from 1591), ...

(since 1558) * Aleksander Ostrogski (since 1593) * Adam Aleksander Sanguszko (1630–1653) * Mikołaj Hieronim Sieniawski (since 1679) * Franciszek Salezy Potocki (in 1755 only) *

Józef Kanty Ossoliński Józef Jan Kanty Ossoliński (1707–1780) was a magnate in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Supported Stanisław Leszczyński, although abandoned him in 1733 when his cause looked worse and from 1735 he became a supporter of August III th ...

(1757–1775; resigned)

Sources

Volhynian Voivodeship, description by Zygmunt Gloger

''Central European Superpower''
Henryk Litwin, ''BUM Magazine'', October 2016.