| Vilnius Voivodeship | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voivodeship ofGrand Duchy of Lithuania (part of the federativePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth since 1569) | |||||||||
| 1413–1795 | |||||||||
 Vilnius Voivodeship in red. Voivodeship's borders did not change since theUnion of Lublin. | |||||||||
 Vilnius Voivodeship in thePolish–Lithuanian Commonwealth | |||||||||
| Capital | Vilnius | ||||||||
| Area | |||||||||
• | 44,200 km2 (17,100 sq mi) | ||||||||
| History | |||||||||
| 1413 | |||||||||
| 1795 | |||||||||
| Political subdivisions | counties (aka. pavietas,powiat): five | ||||||||
| |||||||||
| Today part of | Lithuania Belarus Latvia¹ | ||||||||
| ¹ Small portion aroundAknīste | |||||||||
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TheVilnius Voivodeship (Latin:Palatinatus Vilnensis,Lithuanian:Vilniaus vaivadija,Polish:województwo wileńskie,Belarusian:Віленскае ваяводства) was one of theGrand Duchy of Lithuania's voivodeships, which existed from the voivodeship's creation in 1413 to thedestruction of the Lithuanian state in 1795.[1] This voivodeship was Lithuania's largest, most politically and economically important.[1]
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The Vilnius Voivodeship was created instead of the Vilnius Viceroyalty (Lithuanian:Vilniaus vietininkija) during thePact of Horodło in 1413.[1]
The core of the Vilnius Voivodeship was the Vilnius County, which was composed of the Vilnius Bailiwick (Lithuanian:Vilniaus tijūnija), which was composed of the manors ofVilnius,Nemenčinė,Švenčionys,Dysna and other places, in addition to almost all of Lithuania on both side ofNeris.[1] Also included was the Breslauja Viceroyalty (Lithuanian:Breslaujos vietininkija),Svir, the lands of the dukesGiedraičiai and the counties of the so-calledLithuanian Rus', which includedMaladzyechna,Hajna [be],Minsk,Barysaw,Rechytsa,Svisloch [be],Propoysk‑Chachersk.[1] In the Upper Dnieper, the Vilnius Voivodeship had half of theHorval [be],Liubushany [be] andBabruysk parishes, whose remaining part belonged to theTrakai Voivodeship.[1] FromVitebsk's lands, the Vilnius Voivodeship receivedMogilev, which belonged to theGrand Duchess of Lithuania,Knyazhytsi [be],Tyatseryn [be] andAboltsi [be].[1] Moreover, the Principalities ofAlšėnai,Kletsk [be],Novogrudok [be],Slutsk,Trobos andIzyaslavl were part of the Vilnius Voivodeship.[1] Novogrudok became a separateVoivodeship in 1507.[1]
The Vilnius Voivodeship was the location of many large estates.[1] These were centred on the following places and owned by those families:Goštautai ownedHieraniony, theRadziwiłłs hadNyasvizh andDubingiai,Zaberezinskiai had Zaberezinas, while theAstikai hadVyžuonos.[1]
In 1566, during the administrative and judicial reforms of 1564–66, Vilnius Voivodeship was divided into the counties ofVilnius [lt],Ashmyany [be],Braslaw [be],Lida [be] (assigned fromTrakai Voivodeship),Vilkmergė [lt].[1] Simultaneously, Vitebsk' lands, the Upper Dnieper, most of the Lithuanian Rus', the Principalities of Kletsk and Sluck were separated from the Vilnius Voivodeship.[1]
After thepartitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Vilnius Voivodeship was occupied by theRussian Empire.[1] Most of the territory became theVilna Governorate. In 1843, its northern part was assigned toKovno Governorate.
AfterWorld War I, the lands of the former Vilnius Voivodeship were fought over by theLithuanian Army,Central Lithuania with itsArmy, thePolish Army, and theRed Army. Following the annexation of Central Lithuania by Poland, during theInterwar, most of the former Voivodeship ended up under theSecond Polish Republic while the rest was ruled by Lithuanians. According to theSoviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty in 1920, most of the former voivodeship should have been part of Lithuania. After World War II, the occupying Soviet Union assigned most of the voivodeship's territory that was previously under Polish rule to theByelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic.
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Geographically the area was centred on the city ofVilnius, which had always been the capital of the entity and the seat of avoivode. However, the actual territory of the voivodeship varied over time. Together with theTrakai Voivodeship it was known asLithuania propria. Until thepartitions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth the voivodeship, also known as a palatinate, was composed of fivecounties (Lithuanian: plural -pavietai, singular -pavietas):
The Voivode of Vilnius was ranked first in importance among the secular members of theLithuanian Council of Lords.[1] In the voivode hierarchy of Poland-Lithuania, established by theUnion of Lublin in 1569, the Voivode of Vilnius, who was also a senator of thePolish–Lithuanian Sejm, took the fourth place and theCastellan of Vilnius - the sixth place.[1]
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54°40′58″N25°16′12″E / 54.682738°N 25.269943°E /54.682738; 25.269943
