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| Bracław Voivodeship | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voivodeship ofPoland¹ | |||||||||
| 1566–1793 | |||||||||
 Coat of arms | |||||||||
 The Bracław Voivodeship (red) in thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1635. | |||||||||
| Capital | Bracław | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• | 31,660 km2 (12,220 sq mi) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
• Established | 1566 | ||||||||
| 24 October 1793 | |||||||||
| Political subdivisions | counties: 2 (3 since 1791) | ||||||||
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| Today part of | Ukraine Moldova² | ||||||||
| ¹ Voivodeship of the Kingdom of Poland in thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Voivodeship ofGrand Duchy of Lithuania before 1569. ² NorthernTransnistria. | |||||||||
TheBracław Voivodeship (Latin:Palatinatus Braclaviensis;Polish:Województwo bracławskie;Ukrainian:Брацлавське воєводство,Braclavśke vojevodstvo) was a unit ofadministrative division of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Created in 1566 as part of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania, it was passed to theKingdom of Poland in 1569 following theUnion of Lublin. AfterSecond Partition of Poland in 1793 the voivodeship was taken by theRussian Empire and replaced with theBratslav Viceroyalty.
In 1648-57 the territory of voivodeship was a part ofCossack Hetmanate following theKhmelnytsky Uprising andTruce of Andrusovo, while in 1672-99 it became part ofOttoman Ukraine which was a vassalOttoman Empire (see:Treaty of Buchach andTreaty of Karlowitz).
Together with thePodolian Voivodeship it formed the historical region ofPodolia and part of a biggerLesser Poland Province of the Kingdom of Poland.
Officially, the capital of the voivodeship was in Braclaw (todayBratslav), but localvoivodes also resided in Winnica (Vinnytsia). It was divided into County of Braclaw and County of Winnica. The County of Braclaw itself was divided into two districts—Braclaw and Zwinogródek (some sources claim there was a separate County of Zwinogródek). In 1791, theGreat Sejm also created Boh County (Polish: powiat nadbohski), but it was never created due to thePolish–Russian War of 1792. Braclaw Voivodeship had two senators—the Voivode and theCastellan of Braclaw. It also had six deputies to theSejm—two from Braclaw County, two from Winnica County, and two from District of Zwinogródek. Localsejmiks took place in Winnica. Today the region belongs toUkraine andTransnistria inMoldova.
Zygmunt Gloger in his monumental bookHistorical Geography of the Lands of Old Poland gives a detailed description of Braclaw Voivodeship:
After theUnion of Lublin, the province ofPodolia was annexed by theKingdom of Poland. Soon afterwards, Ukrainian Podolia, located lower thanPodole Voivodeship, between theDniestr and theBoh rivers, was turned into Braclaw Voivodeship. It had three castles at Braclaw, Winnica and Zwinogrod (...) In 1570, a special royal commission was created to mark the borders of the voivodeship. Its western boundary was marked by the Murachwa river, and in the southeast, it was separated fromWallachia by the Dniestr. The commission marked northern border of the voivodeship along the Black Tatar Trail, and to settle arguments between Braclaw and Kijow Voivodeships, KingStefan Batory in 1584 stated that boundary line was to be marked by the Uhorski Tykicz river (...)
In the late 16th century, most of Braclaw Voivodeship was a depopulatedwild field. Political and social life existed only in the agricultural belt, located in the immediate vicinity of royal castles. Settlers however began to move into the desert, even along southern border of the province, in the area called Pobereze (...) After theUnion of Lublin, when Ukrainian lands were annexed by theCrown of the Kingdom of Poland, life became more organized, with Polish-stylestarostas, voivodes,nobility,sejmiks, and courts (...)
The County of Winnica was smaller, but more populated. It had the area of 200 sq. miles, in northwestern corner of the voivodeship, along theBoh river. The County of Braclaw had the area of 420 sq. miles, and consisted of two districts - Bracław and Zwinogrod. The district of Zwinogrod covered the desert of the Blue Waters (see alsoBattle of Blue Waters), but due to destruction of the Zwinogrod Castle, it did not emerge as a separate county (...) In 1584,Stefan Batory divided this area between Braclaw and Kijow Voivodeship, along the Hirskyi Tykicz river (...)
In 1569, firstvoivode of Braclaw was Prince RomanSanguszko, while first castellan wasKnyaz Jedrzej Kapusta. In 1589 PolishSejm ordered that all official documents in Braclaw Voivodeship should be written inOld East Slavic language (...) The voivodeship had two senators (the voivode and the castellan of Braclaw), six deputies to the Sejm, and two deputies to theLesser Poland Tribunal atLublin. Furthermore, like in neighbouringPodole Voivodeship, Braclaw had its own border judges, who cooperated with officials of theOttoman Porte and theCrimean Khanate, solving conflicts between citizens of the two countries (...)
In 1598 the Sejm ordered that all courts andsejmiks be moved from Braclaw to Winnica. As a result, Winnica came to be regarded the capital of the voivodeship. Since in the 18th century the population of the region grew, in 1791 the Sejm created another county, called Boh County, increasing number of deputies from the voivodeship from six to eight. After thePartitions of Poland,Russian authorities created Braclaw Governorate (1793 - 1796), whose lands were then divided betweenPodolia Governorate,Volhynian Governorate, andKiev Governorate (...)
According to the 1625 census, Braclaw Voivodeship had 285 villages, but its population grew so fast that in the early 1790s, the number of villages grew to 1,500 (...) Before theUnion of Lublin, there were some 30 castles, forts and strongholds in the province. Fifty years after the union, the number of castles grew significantly. Most of them were private, with the strongest one beingUman (...) In the 18th century, the voivodeship had several grand residences of Polishmagnates, among them was Zofiowka of thePotocki family, located in close proximity to Uman.
Voivodeship Governor (Wojewoda) seat:
Regional council (sejmik generalny) for all Ruthenian lands
Regional council (sejmik poselski i deputacki) seats:
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48°49′10″N28°56′41″E / 48.819433°N 28.944850°E /48.819433; 28.944850
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